John William Deathridge (born 21 October 1944, in Birmingham) is a British musicologist. He was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and at

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, the ...

(MA, DPhil) culminating with a dissertation on Wagner's sketches for '' Rienzi'', and is currently Emeritus Professor of Music at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. Deathridge lives in Cambridge.

Professional life

After graduation he worked as full-time director of music at St Wolfgang, Munich, where he continued his research on Wagner and acted as a conductor and broadcaster. Deathridge has also taught at Princeton University and the University of Chicago and worked as an editor of the Wagner complete edition. he was also fellow and director of studies in music at King's College, Cambridge. Deathridge is regarded as one of the world's foremost Wagner experts and a noted authority on Beethoven. Now King Edward VII Professor of Music at King's College London, as well as a former Head of the Department of Music at that institution, he has been active as a

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

recitalist and piano accompanist. His career includes being a radio and television broadcaster and a reviewer for scholarly music journals in Germany and the United Kingdom. Between 2005 and 2008 he served as president of the Royal Musical Association, Britain's foremost learned music society. Music and social theory is a keen research interest of Deathridge, in particular the work of Theodor W. Adorno. However, his main area of research remains 19th and 20th-century German music, especially Wagner. Since December 2011, John Deathridge is member of the board of the European Academy of Music Theatre.

Selected works

* With Carl Dahlhaus, ''The New Grove Wagner'', 1984,

Macmillan Press Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains off ...

* Introduction author, ''The Family Letters of Richard Wagner'', trans.

William Ashton Ellis William Ashton Ellis (20 August 1852 – 2 January 1919) was an English doctor and theosophist. He is remembered for translating the complete prose works of Richard Wagner. Life Born in London, the son of the surgeon Robert Ellis (1823–1877) ...

, 1992, University of Michigan Press * Translation editor
''Wagner Handbook''
Edited by Ulrich Muller and Peter Wapnewski. Harvard University Press. * ''Wagner: Beyond Good and Evil'', 2008, University of California Press

Notes and references

External links

European Academy of Music Theatre
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deathridge, John 1944 births Living people People educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford Princeton University faculty University of Chicago faculty Academics of King's College London Fellows of King's College, Cambridge British musicologists People from Birmingham, West Midlands Wagner scholars