Gottfried Wilhelm Fink (8 March 1783 – 27 August 1846) was a German

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

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 (ke ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

, and a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

clergyman Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

Life

From 1804 until 1808 Fink studied

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

where he joined the

Corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

Lusatia. There he made his first attempts at

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

and

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

. Most of his song compositions are attributed to this period. From 1811 he held the office of

vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

for some years, where he also founded an educational institution which he led until 1829. Since the beginning of the 19th century he worked for the '' Allgemeine musikalische Zeitschrift'' ("General musical magazine"). In 1827 he became the magazine's editor-in-chief, a position he held for 15 years. From 1838 Fink worked as a lecturer at the

. In 1841 he became a ''

Privatdozent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualific ...

'' of

musicology 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 ...

at the university. In the same year he became a member of the

Prussian Academy of Arts The Prussian Academy of Arts (German: ''Preußische Akademie der Künste'') was a state arts academy first established in Berlin, Brandenburg, in 1694/1696 by prince-elector Frederick III, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and late ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and a year later he was appointed the

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 ...

of the university. Fink was highly appreciated throughout his life as a music theorist and composer. Numerous honors and awards were bestowed on him at home as well as abroad. In 1838, the Faculty of Philosophy at Leipzig University awarded him an honorary doctorate. His compositions consist mainly of

songs A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetition ...

, song collections, and

ballads A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

. He wrote the lyrics for most of his song compositions himself. He also made a name for himself as the author of important works on music theory and music history. However, he was best known as the editor of the ''Musikalischer Hausschatz der Deutschen'' ("Musical house treasure of Germans"), a collection of about 1,000 songs and chants, as well as the ''Deutsche Liedertafel'' ("German song board"), a collection of

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

songs sung by men.

Works

Compositions

* ''Häusliche Andachten in christlichen mehrstimmigen Liedern'' (Domestic devotions in Christian polyphonic songs) * ''Romanzen und Balladen'' (Romances and ballads) * ''Volkslieder mit und ohne Klavierbegleitung'' (Folk songs with and without piano accompaniment) * ''Kindergesangbuch'' (Children's hymns)

Writings

* ''Musikalische Grammatik oder theoretisch-praktischer Unterricht in der Tonkunst'' (Musical grammar or theoretical-practical classes in music) * ''Die Umwelt des Alten Testaments'' (The environment of the Old Testament) * ''System der musikalische Harmonielehre'' (System of musical harmony) * ''Der musikalische Hauslehrer oder theoretisch-praktische Anleitung'' (The theoretical and practical guide for the music teacher) * ''Musikalische Kompositionslehre'' (Theory of musical composition)

References

* * Obituary. In:

Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung The ''Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung'' (''General music newspaper'') was a German-language periodical published in the 19th century. Comini (2008) has called it "the foremost German-language musical periodical of its time". It reviewed musical e ...

1846, No.38, pp. 639–643
Google Books
* *

External links

*

at the

(summer term 1839 to summer term 1846) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fink, Gottfried Wilhelm 1783 births 1846 deaths 19th-century German composers German male composers Academic staff of the Prussian Academy of Arts 19th-century German male musicians