Georg Schünemann (13 March 1884 – 2 January 1945) was 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 m ...

Life

Born in Berlin, Schünemann, the son of a rector, was awarded a doctorate after studying music in 1907 with his dissertation on the ''history of conducting''. After his habilitation and in 1919 he became professor, deputy director and 1932 director of the Berlin Musikhochschule in 1920. Fred K. Prieberg: ''Handbuch Deutsche Musiker 1933-1945'', CD-Rom-Lexikon, Kiel 2004, . As a collaborator of

Leo Kestenberg Leo Kestenberg (27 November 1882 – 13 January 1962) was a German-Israeli classical pianist, music educator, and cultural politician. Working for the government in Prussia from 1918, he began a large-scale reform of music education (''Kestenbe ...

he was concerned with the reorganization of schools and private music education. After the

takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to ...

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) i ...

he was "granted leave" as director of the university after denunciations, but immediately afterwards became head of the state collection of musical instruments. From 1935 he was director of the music department of the

Prussian State Library The Berlin State Library (german: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin; officially abbreviated as ''SBB'', colloquially ''Stabi'') is a universal library in Berlin, Germany and a property of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. It is one of the lar ...

. Since 1936 Schünemann was co-editor of the journal ''Archiv für Musikforschung''. Since March 1933 Schünemann had been a member of the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

civil servants' association.

Ernst Klee Ernst Klee (15 March 1942, Frankfurt – 18 May 2013, Frankfurt) was a German journalist and author. As a writer on Germany's history, he was best known for his exposure and documentation of medical crimes in Nazi Germany, much of which was concer ...

: ''Das Kulturlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945.'' S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, , . After he had presented a " de-jewied " new translation of Mozart's opera ''

Le nozze di Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' ( it, Le nozze di Figaro, links=no, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premie ...

'' in 1940, Fred K. Prieberg: ''Handbuch Deutsche Musiker 1933-1945'', . he became deputy chairman of ''the Reichsstelle für Musikbearbeitungen'', a subdivision of the

Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda The Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda (; RMVP), also known simply as the Ministry of Propaganda (), controlled the content of the press, literature, visual arts, film, theater, music and radio in Nazi Germany. The ministry ...

. During the Second World War he also worked in the music department of the Amt Rosenberg as well as in the

Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce The Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce (german: Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg or ''ERR'') was a Nazi Party organization dedicated to appropriating cultural property during the Second World War. It was led by the chief ideologue of the Nazi Par ...

at short notice. Schünemann also translated the '' Don Giovanni'' libretto into German. The opera was performed with his text in 1961 in the

Deutsche Oper Berlin The Deutsche Oper Berlin is a German opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house (after Munich's) and also home to the Berlin State Ballet. Since 2004, the D ...

Carl Ebert Carl Anton Charles Ebert (20 February 1887 – 14 May 1980), was an actor, stage director and arts administrator. Ebert's early career was as an actor, training under Max Reinhardt and becoming one of the leading actors in his native Germany duri ...

with

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (28 May 1925 – 18 May 2012) was a German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous Lieder (art song) performers of the post-war period, best known as a singer of Franz Schubert's Lieder, ...

Elisabeth Grümmer Elisabeth Grümmer (née Schilz; 31 March 1911 – 6 November 1986) was a German soprano. She has been described as "a singer blessed with elegant musicality, warm-hearted sincerity, and a voice of exceptional beauty". Life Elisabeth Schilz was b ...

and

Josef Greindl Josef Greindl (23 December 1912 - 16 April 1993) was a German operatic bass, remembered mainly for his performances of Wagnerian roles at Bayreuth beginning in 1943. Josef Greindl was born in Munich and studied at the Munich Music Academy with Pa ...

. Schünemann died in Berlin at the age of 60. He was buried at .

Work

* ''Geschichte des Dirigierens'' (1913) * ''Geschichte der deutschen Schulmusik'' (1928) * ''Musikerziehung I'' (1930) * ''Geschichte der Klaviermusik'' (1940) * ''Die

Sing-Akademie zu Berlin The Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, also known as the Berliner Singakademie, is a musical (originally choral) society founded in Berlin in 1791 by Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch, harpsichordist to the court of Prussia, on the model of the 18th-century ...

. 1791–1941'', , Regensburg (1941).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schunemann, Georg 20th-century German musicologists Berlin University of the Arts faculty 1884 births 1945 deaths Musicologists from Berlin

Life

Work

Further reading

References

External links