Movere

Movere Movere is a term from the Roman Rhetoric School, meaning to move or shake. The Movere excites strong emotions such as fear or hatred. These emotions can excert a strong manipulative power. The audience is persuaded emotionally, not logically. "Plura enim multo homines iudicant odio aut amore aut cupiditate aut iracundia aut dolore aut laetitia aut spe aut timore aut errore aut aliqua permotione mentis quam veritate aut praescripto aut iuris norma aliqua aut iudici formula aut legibus." ("People decide much more out of hatred or out of love, desire or anger, pain or joy, hope or fear, out of a mistake or emotion, than according to the truth or rule, according to any rule of law or procedural formula or law.") Born in Stuttgart in 1957, Axel Ruoff studied composition,music theory and piano in Stuttgart, Kassel and Helsinki from 1975 to 1979 and graduated with honours. In 1984, his graduation was followed by a master in composition. From 1983 to 1985 Ruoff taught music theory at the State Conservatory of Music in Trossingen, from 1985 to 1987 he received a scholarship from the Japanese Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs in order to study at the National University of Fine Arts and Music of Tokyo. During this time he was a visiting professor at several Japanese universities. Since 1992 Axel Ruoff has been Professor of Music Theory and Score Playing at the State University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart. From 2006 to 2010, he was Vice Dean, from 2010 to 2014 Academic Dean. Ruoff’s oeuvre covers a wide range of genres. He was a scholar of the Kunststiftung Baden-Wuerttemberg and the Kuenstlerhaus Boswil Foundation in Switzerland. Ruoff has won several prizes in composition including the Landesmusikrat Baden-Wuerttemberg,the Valentino Bucchi Prize in Rome, the Ensemblia Moenchengladbach competition, the Pro Loco Corciano competition in Perugia and the ICONS Prize in Turin. In 1988, he was chosen for the Forum junger deutscher Komponisten (Young German Composers’ Forum) in Berlin. His works have since been performed in important festivals, such as the Petersburg Spring and Tokyo Summer. In 2002 he was awarded the Church Music Award of the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg, and in 2011 he received the first prize in the Saarlouis Composition Competition. In 2013 he was awarded the GEMA special prize and the BDMV award at the 5th German Music Festival in Chemnitz. 2014 he also won the second prize in the 3rd Uuno Klami International Composition Competition fororchestral works, in Finland. In 2015, Axel Ruoff was Artist in Residence at the Aichi University of Arts and Music in Nagoya, Japan.