Peter Förtig

Peter Förtig (15 March 1934 – 12 April 2024) was a German composer and music theorist. Life and career Born in Pforzheim, Förtig received his first piano lessons at the age of eight with Hedwig Fuchs and from the age of 11 onwards he received lessons in piano and music theory from Georg Mantel and Heinrich Casimir in Karlsruhe. He made his first public appearances at the age of ten, during which time he wrote his first compositions. 1951 saw the premiere of a composition for the Southwest German Chamber Orchestra Pforzheim; in the same concert he appeared as soloist in Beethoven’s first piano concerto in C major. After graduating from the Reuchlin Gymnasium in Pforzheim, he studied from 1953 to 1955 at the Musikhochschule Karlsruhe, where Josef Schelb was his piano and composition teacher. Afterwards he worked as a freelance pianist for two years. In 1957 he continued his studies at the Freiburg Music Academy, where Carl Seemann (piano) and Wolfgang Fortner (composition) were his teachers. In 1961 he became a lecturer, later a docent and from 1969 until his retirement professor for music theory at the University of Music in Freiburg. There he largely restructured the teaching of th