Emil Platen (born 16 September 1925) 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 conductor.

Life

Born in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

, Platen received his first music lessons at the Jugendmusikschule Düsseldorf in the disciplines violin and music theory/composition (with

Reger Reger is a German surname, derived from the Middle High German ''reiger'', meaning "heron", likely referring to a tall thin person.''Dictionary of American Family Names''"Reger Family History" Oxford University Press, 2013. Retrieved on 16 January ...

's student Otto Leonhardt). After work and military service (1943–45) he enrolled in 1946 at the

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 ...

in the subject musicology, changed in 1947 to 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 ...

, where he studied composition with , viola with Hermann Hirschfelder and choral conducting with Kurt Thomas. After his examination as a choral conductor, he resumed his musicological studies at the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...

in 1951, which he completed in 1957 with a dissertation on the "Chorische Choralbearungen von Joh. Bach" which won him his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

. During his studies he worked as a violist in various ensembles in Bonn and at

Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (''West German Broadcasting Cologne''; WDR, ) is a German public-broadcasting Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broad ...

. Further stages in his professional career were: 1959 research assistant at the Beethoven-Archiv Bonn, 1963 academic

music director A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the d ...

and 1971 honorary professor for musicology at the University of Bonn. In 1969 he founded the North Rhine-Westphalia Youth Symphony Orchestra together with Hans-Josef Menke. After his retirement, he was a

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

for music history at the

Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln The Cologne University of Music ( is a music college in Cologne, Germany. Founded in 1850, it is Europe's largest academy of music. History The academy was founded by Ferdinand Hiller in 1850 as ''Conservatorium der Musik in Coeln''. In 1895 Ger ...

from 1994 to 2003. With the , which he himself founded in 1953, he undertook numerous concert tours in Europe and overseas. His research focuses on the theory of

musical form In music, ''form'' refers to the structure of a musical composition or musical improvisation, performance. In his book, ''Worlds of Music'', Jeff Todd Titon suggests that a number of organizational elements may determine the formal structure of a ...

s and the works of J. S. Bach and L. van Beethoven.

Publications

* ''Untersuchungen zur Struktur der chorischen Choralbearbeitung Johann Sebastian Bachs'', Diss. Bonn 1957, * ''Die Matthäus-Passion von Johann Sebastian Bach. Werkeinführung'', Munich and Kassel 1991, 4. verb. u. erg. Aufl. 2012 * ''Bachs lutherische Messen''.''Bachs lutherische Messen''
on Google books * ''Studien zu Bach und Beethoven'', Chemnitz 2000. * ''Ludwig van Beethoven'', ed. of several volumes of the Urtext edition and complete edition. Munich: Henle

Literature

* Martella Gutiérrez-Denhoff (ed.): ''Collegium Musicologicum. Festschrift Emil Platen zum Sechzigsten Geburtstag.'' Beethoven-Archiv, Bonn 1985. * Bernhard Hartmann: ''Der Bonner Musikwissenschaftler Emil Platen wird 90 Jahre.'

16 September 2015.

Sources

* ''

Riemann Musiklexikon The Riemann Musiklexikon (RML), is a music encyclopedia founded in 1882 by Hugo Riemann. The 13th edition appeared in 2012. History The Riemann Musiklexikon is the last undertaking of an individual to write a comprehensive encyclopedia in the fi ...

'', Supplementary volume, personal part, Mainz 1975 * Honegger-Massenkeil, ''Das Große Lexikon der Musik'', vol. 6, Freiburg 1976 * ''

Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik (MGG)'' is one of the world's most comprehensive encyclopedias of music history and musicology, on account of its scope, content, wealth of research areas, and reference t ...

'', 2nd edition, personal part * ''Kürschners Deutscher Gelehrten-Kalender''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Platen, Emil German conductors (music) 20th-century German musicologists German classical violists Choral conductors 1925 births Living people Musicians from Düsseldorf