Hermann Danuser (born 3 October 1946) is a Swiss-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 ...

Life

Born in

Frauenfeld Frauenfeld ( Alemannic: ''Frauefäld'') is the capital of the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland. The official language of Frauenfeld is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic ...

, Danuser studied piano, oboe, musicology, philosophy and German language and literature at the Musikhochschule and the University of Zurich from 1965; he received his doctorate with a dissertation on musical prose. From 1973 he studied in Berlin with

Carl Dahlhaus Carl Dahlhaus (10 June 1928 – 13 March 1989) was a German musicologist who was among the leading postwar musicologists of the mid to late 20th-century. A prolific scholar, he had broad interests though his research focused on 19th- and 20th ...

(musicology) and

Gerhard Puchelt Gerhard Puchelt (18 February 1913 – August 1987) was a German pianist. Life Born in Stettin, Puchelt studied from 1931 to 1935 at the Akademie für Kirchen- und Schulmusik with Else C. Kraus and Eduard Erdmann and at the Humboldt Universit ...

(piano). After working as a research assistant, he habilitated in 1982 at the Technical University of Berlin with a thesis on ''the music of the 20th century'' (published in 1984). From 1982 to 1988, Danuser taught as professor for musicology at the

Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media (german: Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover, italics=unset, abbreviated to HMTMH) is a university of performing arts and media in Hanover, the capital of Lower Saxony, Germany. Dating ...

, then from 1988 to 1993 as professor for musicology at the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg. From 1993 until his retirement in 2014, he held the chair for Historical Musicology at the Institute for Musicology and Media Studies of the

Humboldt University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

. Danuser also coordinates research at the Basel; from 1996 to 2017 he was member of the board of trustees of the . He has held guest professorships at several leading universities in Europe and the USA. In the academic year 2017/18 he taught at the

Central Conservatory of Music The Central Conservatory of Music () is a prestigious leading public music school of China and a member of Double First Class University Plan and former Project 211. Its campus is in the Xicheng District of Beijing, China, near Fuxingmen Statio ...

in Beijing.

Research

Danuser's research focuses on

music history Music history, sometimes called historical musicology, is a highly diverse subfield of the broader discipline of musicology that studies music from a historical point of view. In theory, "music history" could refer to the study of the history o ...

of the 18th to 20th centuries, musical interpretation, the more recent history of

music theory 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 ...

and

aesthetics of music Aesthetics of music () is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of art, beauty and taste in music, and with the creation or appreciation of beauty in music. In the pre-modern tradition, the aesthetics of music or musical aesthetics expl ...

, and

music analysis Musical analysis is the study of musical structure in either compositions or performances. According to music theorist Ian Bent, music analysis "is the means of answering directly the question 'How does it work?'". The method employed to answe ...

; he combines work analysis, music-aesthetic discourse formation, biography, genre and institutional history. In studies on

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

, nationalism, poetics, aesthetics and

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

he draws on

transdisciplinary Transdisciplinarity connotes a research strategy that crosses many disciplinary boundaries to create a holistic approach. It applies to research efforts focused on problems that cross the boundaries of two or more disciplines, such as research o ...

approaches. His most recent and currently ongoing research projects deal with the interaction of factors aesthetic to autonomy and heteronomy in the musical work of art (monograph ''Weltanschauungsmusik'', 2009, with analyses, etc.) on Beethoven's ''Symphony No. 9'', on '' Music of Spheres'' (Sfærernes Musik) by Rued Langgaard and on Hindemith's opera ''

Die Harmonie der Welt ''Die Harmonie der Welt'' (''The Harmony of the World'') is an opera in five acts by Paul Hindemith. The German libretto was by the composer. The title of the opera is taken from ''Harmonices Mundi'' by the astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571–1630 ...

''), the conceptual history of musical performance since the 18th century (sponsored by the

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft The German Research Foundation (german: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germ ...

) as well as manifestations of musical self-reference (monograph ''Metamusik'', 2017). Danuser's extensive publishing and editorial activities make him one of the most important German-speaking musicologists of the present day.

Honours

Danuser is a full member of the

Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften), abbreviated BBAW, is the official academic society for the natural sciences and humanities for the German states of Berlin a ...

and a Corresponding Member of the

American Musicological Society The American Musicological Society (AMS) is a musicological organization which researches, promotes and produces publications on music. Founded in 1934, the AMS was begun by leading American musicologists of the time, and was crucial in legitim ...

. In 2005, the

Royal Holloway Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

awarded him the title of Doctor of Music ''honoris causa'' for his scientific merits; a further honorary doctorate was conferred on him in 2014 by the

National University of Music Bucharest The National University of Music Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea Naţională de Muzică București, UNMB) is a university-level school of music located in Bucharest, Romania. Established as a school of music in 1863 and reorganized as an academy in ...

. In 2015 he was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

Publications

Monographs

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Editions of musical works

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Published writings

Series and journals

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Private editions

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Lectures, essays and articles

Hundreds of essays and articles in specialist periodicals and reference works, introductions, forewords and epilogues, honours, newspaper articles and much more a.m.A comprehensive list can be found on th
Chair pages of the Humboldt University Berlin.
/ref> A selection of 125 texts has been published in a four-volume edition (arranged under the volume titles "Theory", "Aesthetics", "Historiography" and "Analysis"): *

Dedicated works

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External links

Hermann Danuser im WorldCat
*
Literatur von Hermann Danuser
in the

Bibliography of Music Literature The Bibliography of Music Literature (BMS or BMS online, german: Bibliographie des Musikschrifttums) is an international bibliography of literature on music. It considers all kind of music and includes both current and older literature. Since 196 ...

Homepage am Musikwissenschaftlichen Seminar der HU Berlin

Geförderte Projekte Hermann Danusers
bei der

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Danuser, Hermann Swiss musicologists 20th-century German musicologists 21st-century German musicologists Academic staff of the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover Academic staff of the University of Freiburg Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1946 births Living people People from Frauenfeld