Initiated in 1946 by Wolfgang Steinecke, the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik (Darmstadt new music summer courses), held annually until 1970 and subsequently every two years, encompass both the teaching of composition and interpretation and include premières of new works. After Steinecke's death in 1961, the courses were run by Ernst Thomas (1962–81), Friedrich Hommel (1981–94) and Solf Schaefer (1995–). Thanks to these courses, Darmstadt is now a major centre of modern music, particularly for German composers. Among the many distinguished lecturers to have appeared are Adorno, Krenek, Leibowitz, Messiaen, Varèse, the Kolisch Quartet, Steuermann, Babbitt, Berio, Boulez, Cage, Henze, Ligeti, Maderna, Nono, Stockhausen, and Xenakis. Max Horkheimer (front left), Theodor Adorno (front right), and Jürgen Habermas in the background, right, in 1965 at Heidelberg. ... Ernst Krenek Ernst Krenek (August 23, 1900 – December 22, 1991) was an Austrian-born composer of Czech ancestry; throughout his life he insisted that his name be written Krenek rather than KÅ™enek, and that it should be pronounced as a German word. ... René Leibowitz (February 17, 1913 – August 29, 1972) was a French composer, conductor, music theorist and teacher born in Warsaw, Poland. ... Olivier Messiaen. ... This article is in need of improvement. ... Eduard Steuermann (June 18, 1892 - November 11, 1964) was an American pianist and composer of Polish birth. ... Milton Byron Babbitt (born May 10, 1916) is an American composer. ... Luciano may refer to: Fábio Luciano, Brazilian footballer born 1975. ... Pierre Boulez Pierre Boulez (IPA: /pjɛʁ.buˈlÉ›z/) (born March 26, 1925) is a conductor and composer of classical music. ... John Cage For the character of John Cage from the TV show Ally McBeal see: John Cage (Character) John Milton Cage (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American experimental music composer, writer and visual artist. ... Hans Werner Henze (born July 1, 1926 in Gütersloh, Westphalia, Germany) is a composer well known for his sometimes controversial political beliefs. ... György Sándor Ligeti (May 28, 1923 – June 12, 2006) was a Jewish Hungarian composer born in Romania who later became an Austrian citizen. ... Bruno Maderna (1920-1973) was an Italian composer of 20th century music. ... Luigi Nono (29 January 1924 - 8 May 1990) was an Italian composer of contemporary music. ... Karlheinz Stockhausen (born August 22, 1928) is a German composer. ... Iannis Xenakis Iannis Xenakis (Ιάννης Ξενάκης) (May 29, 1922 Brăila – February 4, 2001 Paris) was a Greek composer and architect who spent much of his life in Paris. ...

During the late 1950s and early 1960s the school gained a certain infamy for its lack of interest in any music not matching the uncompromisingly modern views of Pierre Boulez. This led to the use of the phrase 'Darmstadt School' as a pejorative term, implying a stale, juiceless, rule-based music.

Richard Taruskin believes that the Darmstadt New Music Summer Couses were started in order to maintain allied control over the intellectual elite in Germany at the end of World War II. Richard Taruskin is an American musicologist and music historian specializing in theory of performance, Russian music, twentieth-century music, nationalism, theory of modernism, and analysis. ... Combatants Allies: Soviet Union, United Kingdom, France/Free France, United States, China, Canada, India, Australia, Poland, New Zealand, South Africa, Greece, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, Bulgaria, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Burma, Slovakia Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8...