Hermann Keller (20 November 1885 – 17 August 1967) was a German Protestant

church music Church music is Christian music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. History Early Christian music The onl ...

ian and

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 ...

Life

Born in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

the son of an architect, he followed his father's profession by also studying architecture in Stuttgart and Munich. During his studies he became a member of the Stuttgart " Swabia" in 1903.

Max Reger Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 187311 May 1916) was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic teacher. He worked as a concert pianist, as a musical director at the Paulinerkirche, Leipzig, Leipzig University ...

, with whom Keller took private lessons, advised him to make music his profession. Keller followed this advice and thereupon studied additionally in Munich, Stuttgart and Leipzig. From 1910 he worked as a teacher at the Grand Ducal Music School and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

at the Stadtkirche in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

. In 1916, however, he moved back to his home town of Stuttgart, where he worked as organist at the Markuskirche. (1916), lecturer at the Technical College (1919), teacher at the College of Music (1920) as well as head of its department for church and school music (1928-1933). After the Second World War, he was director of the

State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart The State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart is a professional school for musicians and performing artists in Stuttgart, Germany. Founded in 1857, it is one of the oldest schools of its kind in Germany. History The school was f ...

(1946-1952) and was significantly involved in its reconstruction. Keller died in 1967 at age 81 as the result of a traffic accident. Keller was one of the most important persons for the . At the beginning of the 20th century, he published organ works and performed mainly

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

docent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de conf ...

and interpreter not only in Europe but also in the USA and Japan. Through his long-standing collaboration with the Leipzig and Frankfurt publishers "

Peters Peters may refer to: People * Peters (surname) * Peters Band, a First Nations band in British Columbia, Canada Places United States * Peters, California, a census-designated place * Peters, Florida, a town * Peters Township, Kingman County, Kan ...

" he became a bridge-builder between the two post-war German states. Important students of his were among others

Hans Grischkat Hans Adolf Karl Wilhelm Grischkat (29 August 1903 – 10 January 1977) was a German conductor, especially a choral conductor, also a church musician and academic teacher. He founded the choir for pioneering concerts and recordings of works by Bac ...

, and .

Writings

* ''Die musikalische Artikulation insbesondere bei Johann Sebastian Bach. Mit 342 Notenbeispielen und einem Anhang: Versuch einer Artikulation der Fugenthemen des Wohltemperierten Klaviers und der Orgelwerke''.

Bärenreiter Verlag Bärenreiter (Bärenreiter-Verlag) is a German classical music publishing house based in Kassel. The firm was founded by Karl Vötterle (1903–1975) in Augsburg in 1923, and moved to Kassel in 1927, where it still has its headquarters; it also ...

, Augsburg 1925. * ''Schule des klassischen Triospiels''. Bärenreiter Verlag, Kassel 1928. * ''Schule des Generalbassspiels. Bärenreiter Verlag, Kassel 1931; 5th edition 1967. * ''Schule der Choral-Improvisation. Mit 121 Notenbeispielen''. Peters, Leipzig 1939. * ''Die Kunst des Orgelspiels. Mit 250 Notenbeispielen''. Pester, Leipzig 1941. * ''Die Orgelwerke Bachs. Ein Beitrag zu ihrer Geschichte, Form, Deutung und Wiedergabe''. Peters, Leipzig 1948. * ''Die Klavierwerke Bachs. Ein Beitrag zu ihrer Geschichte, Form, Deutung und Wiedergabe''. Peters, Leipzig 1950. * ''Domenico Scarlatti. Ein Meister des Klaviers''.''Domenico Scarlatti. Ein Meister des Klaviers''
on WorldCat Peters, Leipzig 1957. * ''

The Well-Tempered Clavier ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'', BWV 846–893, consists of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. In the composer's time, ''clavier'', meaning keyboard, referred to a variety of in ...

by Johann Sebastian Bach. Werk und Wiedergabe''. Bärenreiter Verlag, Kassel 1965, . (dtv, 1981, )

Honours

* 1952:

Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

Literature

* * * ''

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 ...

'', Volume 9, .

References

External links

*
H. Keller
on DDB
Website tu Hermann Keller
by Andreas Keller {{DEFAULTSORT:Keller, Hermann German classical organists 20th-century German musicologists German music educators Bach scholars Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 1885 births 1967 deaths Musicians from Stuttgart