Anselm Gerhard (born 30 March 1958) is a German
musicologist
Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...
and opera scholar.
[Notice biographique](_blank)
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Life and career
Born in Heidelberg, Gerhard attended schools in Kiel
Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021).
Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...
and Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...
. His studies took place at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University
Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...
and the Technical University of Berlin
The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was ...
with Carl Dahlhaus
Carl Dahlhaus (10 June 1928 – 13 March 1989) was a German musicologist who was among the leading postwar musicologists of the mid to late 20th-century. A prolific scholar, he had broad interests though his research focused on 19th- and 20th- ...
(master's degree examination in 1982). From 1982 to 1985, he was a scholarship holder of the Volkswagen Foundation
The Volkswagen Foundation (German: ''VolkswagenStiftung'') is the largest German private nonprofit organization involved in the promotion and support of academic research. It is not affiliated to the present company, the Volkswagen Group.
It wa ...
in Parma
Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...
and Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, and in 1985, he received his doctorate at the Technical University of Berlin. From 1985 to 1992, Gerhard worked as a research assistant, and later as a university assistant, at the Musicology Department of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität (Habilitation 1992), from 1992 to 1994 he worked there as a university lecturer and was a German Research Foundation
The German Research Foundation (german: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germ ...
of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
The German Research Foundation (german: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germ ...
.
Since October 1994, Gerhard has been a full professor of musicology and director of the Institute for Musicology at the University of Bern
The University of Bern (german: Universität Bern, french: Université de Berne, la, Universitas Bernensis) is a university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It ...
. In addition, he has been a visiting professor at the universities of Fribourg
, neighboring_municipalities= Düdingen, Givisiez, Granges-Paccot, Marly, Pierrafortscha, Sankt Ursen, Tafers, Villars-sur-Glâne
, twintowns = Rueil-Malmaison (France)
, website = www.ville-fribourg.ch
, Location of , Location of ()
() o ...
, Pavia
Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...
(Facoltà di musicologia in Cremona
Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' ( Po Valley). It is the capital of th ...
), Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
and at the École normale supérieure
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
in Paris; he has held guest lectureships at Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
, the Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
, Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
and Zurich as well as the Musikhochschule Luzern The Lucerne School of Music (''Hochschule Luzern – Musik'') is a professional school for musicians located in Lucerne, Switzerland, and closely associated with the city's annual music festival. It is a division of the Lucerne University of Ap ...
. In 2006, he declined the call to the professorship for theatre studies at the University of Bayreuth
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...
combined with the direction of the Forschungsinstitut für Musiktheater in Thurnau castle. In 2009, he was awarded the Dent Medal by the Royal Musical Association (London) "for outstanding contributions to musicology".
From 1995 to 2001, Gerhard was President of the board of trustees for Music Research of the Academy 91 of Central Switzerland (Lucerne), from 1996 to 2002 founding President of the association Arbeitsstelle Schweiz Répertoire International des Sources Musicales
A repertoire () is a list or set of dramas, operas, musical compositions or roles which a company or person is prepared to perform.
Musicians often have a musical repertoire. The first known use of the word ''repertoire'' was in 1847. It is a l ...
(Bern), from 1997 to 2002 Director-at-large of the International Musicological Society
The International Musicological Society (IMS) is a membership-based organisation for musicology at the international level, with headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. It seeks the advancement of musicological research through international coopera ...
, froù 1998 to 2002 member of the steering group musicology of the European Science Foundation
The European Science Foundation (ESF) is an association of 11 member organizations devoted to scientific research in 8 European countries. ESF is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organisation that promotes the highest quality science ...
(Strasbourg), and from 2000 to 2007, President of the Bern chapter of the . From 1997 until 2001, he was co-editor of the journal ''Musiktheorie'', from 2001 to 2012, co-editor of the journal ''Schubert: Perspektiven'', since 2002 he has been co-editor of the ''Schweizer Beiträge zur Musikforschung'', since 2003 co-editor of the journal ''Verdi Forum. Journal of the American Institute for Verdi Studies''. Since 2016, he has edited the newly founded journal ''Verdiperspektiven''. From May 2015 to December 2019, he chaired the newly founded Walter Benjamin Kolleg at the University of Bern as president.
Gerhard's main research interests include 19th-century operas: with his book ''The Urbanisation of Opera'', which is also available in English translation, he developed a perspective on the history of perception and mentality on French historical opera between Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards f ...
and Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Mozart and Wagner". With his 1831 opera ''Robert le di ...
as well as Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...
. His publications on Verdi are numerous, dealing not only with analytical questions but also with the social history of Italian opera and the composer's biography. His habilitation thesis ''London and Classicism in Music'' relates the emergence of the concept of instrumental music referring only to itself to the British aesthetic debate of the 18th century, thus highlighting the British root of the "idea of absolute music".
With a conference organised in Bern in 1996, the contributions to which appeared in print in 2000, Gerhard was among the first music historians to address the involvement of German musicology
Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...
in the Nazi regime. In other contributions on the method and history of the discipline of musicology, he critically examined the habit of treating historical questions in the framework of national history.
Publications
* ''Die Verstädterung der Oper. Paris und das Musiktheater des 19. Jahrhunderts''. Metzler, Stuttgart/Weimar 1992, ; englisch: The Urbanization of Opera: Music Theater in Paris in the Nineteenth Century, translated by Mary Whittall. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago/London 1998.
* ''Musikwissenschaft – eine verspätete Disziplin? Die akademische Musikforschung in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts zwischen Fortschrittsglauben und Modernitätsverweigerung.''''Musikwissenschaft – eine verspätete Disziplin? Die akademische Musikforschung in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts zwischen Fortschrittsglauben und Modernitätsverweigerung''
on Springer link Edited by Anselm Gerhard. Metzler, Stuttgart 2000.
* ''
Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...
-Handbuch.'' edited by Anselm Gerhard and Uwe Schweikert. Metzler, Stuttgart/Weimar 2001, 2. überarbeitete Auflage 2013.
* ''London und der Klassizismus in der Musik. Die Idee der „absoluten Musik“ und
Muzio Clementi
Muzio Filippo Vincenzo Francesco Saverio Clementi (23 January 1752 – 10 March 1832) was an Italian composer, virtuoso pianist, pedagogue, conductor, music publisher, editor, and piano manufacturer, who was mostly active in England.
Encourag ...
s Klavierwerk.'' Metzler, Stuttgart/Weimar 2002.
* ''„Musizieren, Lieben – und Maulhalten!“ Albert Einsteins Beziehungen zur Musik.'' edited by
Ivana Rentsch and Anselm Gerhard. Schwabe, Basel 2006.
* ''
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...
.'' Beck, München 2012.
* ''
Antonio Ghislanzoni
Antonio Ghislanzoni (; 25 November 1824 – 16 July 1893) was an Italian journalist, poet, and novelist who wrote librettos for Verdi, among other composers, of which the best known are ''Aida'' and the revised version of ''La forza del des ...
: Wie macht man eine italienische Oper? Italienisch/deutsch
’arte di far libretti (1870)'' edited by Anselm Gerhard. (Taschenbücher zur Musikwissenschaft, 163). Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 2014.
References
External links
Anselm Gerhard on WorldCatNotice biographique sur le sitede l'association genevoise des amis de l'opéra et du ballet.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerhard, Anselm
1958 births
Living people
Writers from Heidelberg
Academic staff of the University of Bern
20th-century German musicologists
21st-century German musicologists