Oeldorf Group

The Oeldorf Group was a musicians' collective active in Germany in the 1970s. Based in the village of Oeldorf, near Cologne, their performances emphasized live-electronic music.

The Oeldorf Group was founded in 1972 or 1973 and remained active until about 1978 or 1979. Live-electronic music was a particular emphasis, though they also performed all kinds of new and avant-garde music, as well as traditional repertory (Custodis 2004, 189; Montague 1991, 197). In fact, contrast of old and new music was an essential feature of the Oeldorf Group’s concerts (Becker 1976, 117).

The group took its name from the village of Oeldorf (a part of the municipality of Kürten, 40 kilometers east of Cologne and seven kilometers from the central village of Kürten), where they lived and worked in a rented farmhouse (Maiguashca 2007). They had their own studio for electronic music and studio productions, and in the barn adjacent to the house they were able to present concerts for audiences up to about 300 people, although they also performed in various other places. They also published their own music. The core members were Peter Eötvös (at that time best known as a composer) who performed electronics and keyboards, the violinist/violist and composer Joachim Krist, electronics specialist and composer Mesías Maiguashca, who also played keyboards, and Maiguashca's wife, the cellist Gaby Schumacher. They were closely associated with the Cologne-based Feedback Studio, consisting of David C. Johnson, Johannes Fritsch, and Rolf Gehlhaar (Montague 1991, 197; Kurtz 1992, 200).

Through their long-standing contact with the Westdeutscher Rundfunk, the Oeldorf Group was able to receive commissions for compositions, invitations to perform in the Musik der Zeit concert series, as well as having many of their summer concerts recorded for the late-night broadcasts of WDR3 (Custodis 2004, 189–90). One example was Oeldorf 8 by Mesías Maiguashca, a two-year retrospective portrait of the Oeldorf Group commissioned by the WDR. It consists of a series of eight short pieces for four instrumentalists (clarinet, violin, cello, electric organ/synthesizer) and tape, which may be played either simultaneously or continuously without a break. The score is dedicated to Maiguashca's three Oeldorf colleagues who, together with the composer, premiered the composition at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse in 1974 (Maiguashca n.d.; Zink 2010).

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