On June 22, 2026, Edition Peters and Wise Music Group are delighted to celebrate the centenary of Ruth Zechlin (1926 – 2007) one of the most important female composers of her time. Her oeuvre includes more than 300 mostly commissioned works of which around 40 are published by Edition Peters: Catalogue - Wise Music Classical.
Born in Saxony/Germany, Zechlin came from a music-loving family and dedicated her life to music from a young age. She studied composition, choral conducting, piano and organ at the Leipzig Academy of Music from 1943 to 1949. After teaching in Leipzig for one year, she moved to the newly founded Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in East Berlin in 1950, where she was appointed full professor in 1984.
Further to her teaching and composing, Zechlin was an internationally renowned organist and cembalist. She joined the Academy of Arts of the GDR, at first as associate member in 1969, then as full member in 1970 and later as vice president of the Academy.
Her early work was characterized by the cultural deficit that was brought on by the Nazi regime and the regulated information she received as a composer in the GDR. As a result, she did not start exploring innovative composition techniques until later in her carrier and created a personal musical style that explored traditions and matured up until the 1980s. Next to Arnold Schönberg, Alban Berg or Bela Bartók, her compositional role models were Witold Lutosławski and Hans Werner Henze and, above all, Johann Sebastian Bach. It is his music that Zechlin keeps returning to and with which she identifies most as a composer[1]:
“Bach is and always will be my anchor. The depth, clarity, warmth, lack of sentimentality, and grandeur of his music are beyond my reach. His music is the only thing I can listen to in any situation.”
She dedicated several of her works to Bach, including her orchestral piece Musik zu Bach, which she composed for the Bach anniversary in 1985.
Marking her anniversary, there are several concerts taking place throughout June:
June 22, “For Ruth Zechlin on her 100th birthday“, Händelhaus Halle, Germany
June 23, “ In Memory of Ruth Zechlin and Carl Maria von Weber“, Philharmonie Berlin, Germany
June 26 – 28, “Symposium and concert: Ruth Zechlin 100 – Aesthetic and Political Constellations“, Schloss Belvedere, Weimar, Germany
If you want to learn more about the life and work of Ruth Zechlin please see her website Ruth Zechlin - Komponistin.
[1] Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, #2_2026, „Zwischen den Stühlen? Ruth Zechlin und das politische des unpolitischen“, S. 60
