In the early 1960s, Fricke befriended future film directorWerner Herzog. In the 5th issue of David Elliott's fanzineNeumusik, in 1981,[4] Garry Scott related that the two young men "shared similar ideas and beliefs" and "dreamed of changing the world."
One day, in the 1960s, while in the Munich University's library, Fricke and Herzog came across a religious book of the Maya, titled Popol Vuh.[6] In 1969, Fricke co-founded the eponymous band along with sound designer Frank Fiedler and percussionist Holger Trülzsch. He was one of the first musicians to own and use a Moog III synthesizer, with which he recorded Popol Vuh's first two albums Affenstunde ("Hour of the Monkey") and In den Gärten Pharaos ("In Pharaohs' Gardens").
Fricke is considered a "pioneer of electronic music."[3] Critic Mark Lager found the LP In den Gärten Pharaos "otherwordly" and "the most mind-blowing mystical experience."[7] In 1972, Tangerine Dream’s founder Edgar Froese, "intrigued by Florian Fricke’s music," invited him to play in the opening track “Birth of Liquid Plejades” of the band's LP Zeit ("Time").[3]
Although initially in his musical career, Fricke had accepted the moniker of kosmische Musik that had been applied by critics and fellow artists to his mostly instrumental compositions, since he regarded his music as being "fundamentally" far from the "space sounds" produced at the time, he came to entirely reject the term as soon as by the early 1970s. He declared that the "beautiful and honest way" for composers would be to free their minds without the use of technology.[2]: 194 Around the same time, he repudiated the use of the Moog synthesizer and, in December 1975, he sold his Moog to electronic-music pioneer, composer, and musician Klaus Schulze. From then on, he concentrated mainly though not exclusively on acoustic music.[7]
The same year, he performed for the final time in a Popol Vuh LP, titled Seligpreisung ("Beatitudes"), their 4th, composing all tracks and playing an ecclesiastic organ, with the music recorded inside a church by Dieter Dierks' Mobile Studio and mixed in Cologne.[8]
Solo work and collaborations
Fricke was a Marxist in his youth.[2]: 188 In later years, he moved beyond Marxism and saw himself as a representative of an "anti-capitalist, universalist, and anti-consumerist variant of Christianity." He wanted to combine a non-denominational form of the Christian religion with Hinduterminology, though he never laid claims to some "inner wisdom."[2]: 195 In the years 1973-74, Fricke, together with guitarist Danny Fichelscher, was a member of former Popol Vuh guitarist Conny Veit's band Gila.[8]
In 1992, he recorded an album of Mozart compositions.
Beginning in the 1970s, Fricke started working on musicotherapy. He claimed to have developed an original form of therapy he called the "Alphabet of the Body."[10]
Death
Fricke died of a stroke in Munich on 29 December 2001, at the age of 57.
Legacy
In October 2003, electronic-music pioneer Klaus Schulze wrote in the booklet in the soon-to be-re-released Hosianna Mantra LP the following:
Florian was and remains an important forerunner of contemporary ethnic and religious music. He chose electronic music and his big Moog to free himself from the restraints of traditional music, but soon discovered that he didn't get a lot out of it and opted for the acoustic path instead. Here, he went on to create a new world, which Werner Herzog loves so much, transforming the thought patterns of electronic music into the language of acoustic ethnomusic.
Between 2004 and 2006, the German SPV record label re-released almost all Popol Vuh albums, along with bonus tracks, including the early Moog Synthesizer records and the complete Werner Herzog soundtracks. The re-release was remastered and curated by Fricke's widow Bettina von Waldthausen and son Johannes.[11]
^ abcdeSeiler, Sascha (22 October 2022). "12. Popol Vuh". In Schütte, Uwe (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Krautrock. Cambridge Companions to Music. Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-1316511077.