René Staar

Monsieur Moderne op. 14/Nr. 13

The music critic, an indispensable figure in the history of music between instinctive cosmopolitan curiosity, modern nature, and also an acquired know-it-all attitude, is now a dying species. Asked to contribute a short piano miniature for a concert in the Alte Schmiede in honor of the prominent Viennese music critic Karlheinz Roschitz, I wrote my piano piece Monsieur Moderne in May 2019. The impulse for the piece and its title was given by the originality of its dedicatee, who was very aware of his vocation—and who knew how to defend his opinion with the vigor that one encounters in influential and notorious representatives of his profession to this day.