Alfred Wotquenne (; 25 January 186725 September 1939) was a Belgian musical

bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...

, best known for his catalogues of the works of

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788), also formerly spelled Karl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, and commonly abbreviated C. P. E. Bach, was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and sec ...

and

Christoph Willibald Gluck Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire, he g ...

Biography

Wotquenne was born in

Lobbes Lobbes (; wa, Lôbe) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 Lobbes had a total population of 5,499. The total area is 32.08 km² which gives a population density of 171 inhabitants per k ...

, Hainault, Belgium. He studied at Brussels' Conservatoire Royal, where his teachers included Louis Brassin (piano), (organ), and

François-Auguste Gevaert François-Auguste Gevaert (31 July 1828 in Huysse, near Oudenaarde – 24 December 1908 in Brussels) was a Belgian musicologist and composer.N. Slonimsky, Ed., ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'', 8th ed., Schirmer Books, NY Li ...

(theory). In 1894 he was appointed the chief librarian of the conservatoire; he retained this post until his arrest in 1918. During his time the library acquired a great many works, both printed and in manuscript. The best known of Wotquenne's achievements is his 1905 bibliographical study of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, but he also performed similar services for other composers:

Baldassare Galuppi Baldassare Galuppi (18 October 17063 January 1785) was an Italian composer, born on the island of Burano in the Venetian Republic. He belonged to a generation of composers, including Johann Adolph Hasse, Giovanni Battista Sammartini, and C. ...

(1900),

(1905), and

Luigi Rossi Luigi Rossi (c. 1597 – 20 February 1653) was an Italian Baroque composer. Born in Torremaggiore, a small town near Foggia, in the ancient kingdom of Naples, at an early age he went to Naples where he studied music with the Franco-Flemish comp ...

(1909).''

Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the History of music, ...

'', 5th ed, 1954, Vol. IX, p. 368 He also contributed to a complete inventory of the works of a fellow-Belgian, the

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

-born

André Grétry André Ernest Modeste Grétry (; baptised 11 February 1741; died 24 September 1813) was a composer from the Prince-Bishopric of Liège (present-day Belgium), who worked from 1767 onwards in France and took French nationality. He is most famous ...

. Thanks to Wotquenne's efforts, C. P. E. Bach's pieces came to be known by their "Wq" numbers. They are now also known by their "H" numbers, from a new and more thorough catalogue by Eugene Helm (1989). A concordance between these systems is available.

Conviction

He was arrested in 1918, and convicted for "participating with the enemy".KB 9.8.1919: Leopoldsorde Schrapping: Werkdadige hulp aan den Vijand By royal decree he lost the Order of Leopold and his position as chief librarian on 9 August 1919. From 1921 Wotquenne lived in France, working in

Antibes Antibes (, also , ; oc, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal, Antíbol) is a coastal city in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department of southeastern France, on the French Riviera, Côte d'Azur between Cannes and Nice. The town of ...

as a choir master and organ teacher. He died at Antibes shortly after the outbreak of World War II.

Publications

* ''Catalogue thématique des œuvres de Chr. W. v. Gluck''.

Breitkopf & Härtel Breitkopf & Härtel is the world's oldest music publishing house. The firm was founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf. The catalogue currently contains over 1,000 composers, 8,000 works and 15,000 music editions or books on ...

, Leipzig 1904 * ''Catalogue thématique des œuvres de Charles Philippe Emmanuel Bach (1714–1788)''. Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1905

References

External links

*
Schenker Documents Online (link is obsolete)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wotquenne, Alfred 1867 births 1939 deaths People from Hainaut (province) Belgian musicologists Belgian librarians Classical music catalogues Belgian bibliographers