Hiroko Huemer - Early Music

Viennese Flute Music in Benedictine Monasteries of Upper and Lower Austria, 1750-1780

When researching flute works by composers active in Vienna during the investigated research period, such as F. L. Gassmann, J. Haydn, L. Hofmann, J. B. Vanhal, G. C. Wagenseil and others, one comes across the fact that many of the most important manuscripts can now be found in the music archives of Austrian monasteries - Melk, Göttweig, Kremsmünster and Lambach. The Benedictines experienced a musical heyday under Maria Theresa and maintained close contact with Viennese composers. During this period, the flute gradually changed from being the preferred instrument of aristocratic music lovers, with Frederick the Great as their role model, to an instrument of bourgeois musical practice. One aim of the research project is to explore flute playing in these monasteries as a representative case study of historical performance practice of the period by examining primary and secondary sources in the monasteries or their surroundings.

As the second main research project, the sound of the flute in these works or in the monastic environment will be researched on the basis of the knowledge gained in an intensive playing practice. The focus will be on the artistic examination of the transverse flutes in question.

The research questions are:

What was the historical performance practice for Viennese flute music in the Benedictine monasteries? What special features do the flutes used there have and how do they affect the sound aesthetics of the works researched?

At the end of the project, which is intended to contribute to closing the considerable gap in research on the transverse flute in Vienna before 1780, the flute works in the possession of the Fathers will be performed in collaboration with other musicians at original locations in the Benedictine monasteries.

Firstsupervisor: Univ. Doz. Dr. Claire Genewein, ABPU
Second supervisor: Univ. Prof. Dr. Martin Eybl, mdw
Third supervisor: Prof. Dr. Barthold Kuijken, Belgium

Hiroko Huemer is a musician and teacher specialising in transverse flute. Born in Tokushima, Japan, she first completed her bachelor's degree in flute at the Tokyo College of Music before continuing her education at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where she graduated with distinction with a master's degree. At the Anton Bruckner Private University Linz, she completed her master's degree in transverse flute with Claire Genewein - again with distinction.

This was followed by a postgraduate in transverse flute and historical performance practice at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels from 2012 to 2014 with Barthold Kuijken on the subject of "1728 & 1732. works, flutes and composers and their times with a focus on Hamburg, Paris, London and Amsterdam." This experience led to an intensive study of how political and socio-economic developments influenced music - from performance practice to sound aesthetics - in different regions. She has given guest lectures on this topic, including "Maria Theresa - Regent, Soprano, Music Reformer" at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main and at the Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität Linz.

Hiroko Huemer gained orchestral experience under Sigiswald Kuijken, Ton Koopman, Martin Haselböck, Michi Gaigg and Heinz Ferlesch, among others. She is internationally active with various baroque orchestras and baroque ensembles and is, among other things, co-founder of the ensemble "L'Entretien des Muses".