Ernst Kurth (1 June 1886, in Vienna – 2 August 1946, in Bern) was a Swiss

music theorist Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the " rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (k ...

of Austrian origin.

Career

Kurth studied musicology with

Guido Adler Guido Adler (1 November 1855, Ivančice (Eibenschütz), Moravia – 15 February 1941, Vienna) was a Bohemian-Austrian musicologist and writer. Biography Early life and education Adler was born at Eibenschütz in Moravia in 1855. He moved ...

(a student of

Bruckner Josef Anton Bruckner (; 4 September 182411 October 1896) was an Austrian composer, organist, and music theorist best known for his symphonies, masses, Te Deum and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-Germ ...

and

Hanslick Eduard Hanslick (11 September 18256 August 1904) was an Austrian music critic, aesthetician and historian. Among the leading critics of his time, he was the chief music critic of the ''Neue Freie Presse'' from 1864 until the end of his life. H ...

) in Vienna, and earned his Ph.D. (1908) with a thesis about

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 ...

's operatic style. In a relatively short publishing career of about 15 years, Kurth wrote four enormously influential works: ''Grundlagen des Linearen Kontrapunkts'' (''Foundations of Linear Counterpoint''), ''Romantische Harmonik und ihre Krise in Wagners "Tristan"'' (''Romantic Harmony and its Crisis in Wagner's "Tristan"''), ''Bruckner'', and ''Musikpsychologie''. Since the 1940s, Kurth was gradually eclipsed by other theorists (notably

Heinrich Schenker Heinrich Schenker (19 June 1868 – 14 January 1935) was a Galician-born Austrian music theorist whose writings have had a profound influence on subsequent musical analysis. His approach, now termed Schenkerian analysis, was most fully ex ...

). However, his concept of "developmental motif" has remained influential. A developmental motif is one which gradually changes or grows, becoming a structural carrier of formal developments. An example is the triadic motif heard at the beginning of the first movement of Beethovens' third symphony which only becomes a closed theme at the culminating closing of the movement. Unfortunately, only a small selection of excerpts from Kurth's writings was translated into English by Lee A. Rothfarb."Ernst Kurth/Works"
'' Grove Dictionary of Music''

Writings

*''Der Stil der opera seria von Gluck bis zum Orfeo'', (diss., U. of Vienna, 1908; published as ''Die Jugendopern Glucks bis Orfeo'', SMw, i (1913), 193–277) *''Kritische Bemerkungen zum V. Kapitel der 'Ars cantus mensurabilis' des Franko von Köln'', KJb, xxi (1908), 39–47 *''Die Voraussetzungen der theoretischen Harmonik und der tonalen Darstellungssysteme'' (Habilitationsschrift, U. of Berne, 1912; Berne, 1913/R) *''Grundlagen des linearen Kontrapunkts: Einführung in Stil und Technik von Bachs melodischer Polyphonie'' (Berne, 1917, 5/1956/R) *''Zur Motivbildung Bachs'', BJb 1917, 80–136 *''Romantische Harmonik und ihre Krise in Wagners 'Tristan (Berne, 1920/R, 2/1923/R; Russ. trans., 1975) *''Bruckner'' (Berlin, 1925/R) *''Die Schulmusik und ihre Reform'', SMz, lxx (1930), 297–304 *''Musikpsychologie'' (Berlin, 1931/R, 2/1947) *''Ernst Kurth: Selected Writings'', ed. and trans. Rothfarb (New York, 1991)

Literature

*E. Bücken: "Kurth als Musiktheoretiker", ''Melos'', iv (1924–5), 358–64 *H. Eimert: ''Bekenntnis und Methode', ZMw, ix (1926–7), 99–127 *J. Handschin: "De différentes conceptions de Bach", ''Schweizerisches Jb für Musikwissenschaft'', iv (1929), 7–35 *D. Menstell Hsu: "Ernst Kurth and his Concept of Music as Motion", JMT, x (1966), 2–17 *C. Dahlhaus: ''Untersuchungen über die Entstehung der harmonischen Tonalität'' (Kassel, 1968; Eng. trans., 1990) *W. Seidel: ''Über Rhythmustheorien der Neuzeit'' (Berne and Munich, 1975) *B. Billeter: "Der Briefwechsel Albert Schweitzer-Ernst Kurth", ''Festschrift Hans Conradin'', ed. V. Kalisch (Bern and Stuttgart, 1983), 233–46 *J. Willimann, ed.: ''Schweizer Jb für Musikwissenschaft'', new ser., vi–vii (1986–7) emorial issue*L.A. Rothfarb: ''Ernst Kurth as Theorist and Analyst'' (Philadelphia, 1988) *Ernst Kurth: ''Selected Writings'', ed. and trans. L.A. Rothfarb (New York, 1991) *L. Schader: ''Ernst Kurths 'Grundlagen des linearen Kontrapunkts' und die Rezeption der Schrift in den zwanziger Jahren'' (diss., U. of Frankfurt, 2000)

References

External links

Grundlagen des Linearen Kontrapunkts in DJVU

Ernst Kurth, ''Selected Writings'' by Lee A. Rothfarb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurth, Ernst 1886 births 1946 deaths Swiss music theorists 20th-century musicologists Austrian emigrants to Switzerland