Detlef Altenburg (9 January 1947 – 8 February 2016) was a German musicologist.

Life and career

Born in Hersfeld, Altenburg studied musicology, Protestant theology, religious studies and philosophy in

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the wor ...

and

University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...

, where he received his doctorate in 1973. He remained there as

Wissenschaftlicher Assistent Wissenschaftlicher Assistent, often shortened to Assistent, literally "scientific assistant", is an academic position at German universities for researchers with doctoral degrees and additional academic qualifications, who are typically employed t ...

and habilitated in 1980. In 1980/81 he took over a substitute professorship at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

. In 1983 he held a visiting professorship at the

New University of Lisbon NOVA University Lisbon ( pt, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, ), or just NOVA, is a Portuguese public university whose rectorate is located in Campolide, Lisbon. Founded in 1973, it is the newest of the public universities in the Portuguese capital ...

. From 1983 to 1994 he taught at the

University of Paderborn Paderborn University (german: Universität Paderborn) is one of the fourteen public research universities in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It was founded in 1972 and 20,308 students were enrolled at the university in the winter ...

and at the

Hochschule für Musik Detmold The Hochschule für Musik Detmold is a university-level music school situated in Detmold, Germany. Academics The Hochschule offers performance degrees in composition, all orchestral instruments, piano, voice, opera, art-song, conducting, as we ...

and the . From 1994 to 1999 he was and director of the Institute for Musicology at the

University of Regensburg The University of Regensburg (german: link=no, Universität Regensburg) is a public research university located in the medieval city of Regensburg, Bavaria, a city that is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university was founded on 18 ...

. In 1999 he accepted an appointment at the

Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt, Weimar The University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar (in German: Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar) is an institution of music in Weimar, Germany. The Hochschule Franz Liszt, who spent a great deal of his life in Weimar, encouraged the founding of ...

and was director of the joint institute for musicology of the HfM Weimar and the

Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The un ...

from November 1999 until his retirement. His scientific work focused on music of the 17th and 18th centuries as well as music and musical views of the 19th century. Numerous publications by Altenburg concerned Franz Liszt. From 2001 to 2009 Altenburg was president of the

Gesellschaft für Musikforschung The ''Gesellschaft für Musikforschung'' (GfM) is a professional association of musicologists and institutes active in study, research and teaching in Germany. It has over 1600 members. The association is based in Kassel, Hesse. History The so ...

. Besides, he belonged to the presidency of the

Deutscher Musikrat The Deutscher Musikrat (DMR, ''German Music Council''; ) is an umbrella organization for music associations and the 16 music councils of the German federal states.musikrat.deÜberblick über Organisationsstruktur des DMR(retrieved on 10 May 2019) ...

from 2003 to 2009. Furthermore, he was member of the since 2000 and since 2006 full member of the

Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften The Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig (german: Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig) is an institute which was founded in 1846 under the name ''Royal Saxon Society for the Sciences'' (german: Königlich Sächsische G ...

. He was a member of the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...

. Altenburg died in Regensburg at age 69.Obituary
on Deutscher Musikrat

Publications

See Altenburg o
WorldCat

Honours and awards

* Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2010)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Altenburg, Detlef 1947 births 2016 deaths 20th-century German musicologists 21st-century German musicologists Members of Academia Europaea Academic staff of Paderborn University People from Bad Hersfeld Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Academic staff of the University of Göttingen Academic staff of the University of Regensburg