Manfred Hermann Schmid (10 August 1947 – 5 October 2021) 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 mu ...

and Mozart expert.

Life

Schmid was born in

Ottobeuren Ottobeuren ( Swabian: ''Ottobeire'', Medieval Latin: ''Ottobura'') is a market town and municipality in Bavaria, Germany, located 11 km southeast of Memmingen near the A7. It is famous for Ottobeuren Abbey, situated next to the Basilica. The ...

into a musical family (the father Ernst Fritz Schmid was already ''Ordinarius'' for

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

Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen Eberhard is an old Germanic name meaning the strength or courage of a wild boar. People First name *Eberhard of Friuli (815–866), Duke and key figure in the Carolingian Empire *Eberhard of Béthune (died 1212), Flemish grammarian *Eberhard I, Du ...

). Schmid decided after his

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

first to study violin at the

Leopold Mozart Centre The Leopold Mozart Centre (German: (LMZ) in Augsburg, Germany, is a university of music, founded as part of the University of Augsburg in 2008. It is located in the buildings of the former Musikhochschule as well as buildings on the university c ...

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

with the , before studying musicology, philosophy and

history of art The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetic vis ...

at the universities of

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. He studied musicology with

Gerhard Croll Gerhard Croll (25 May 1927 – 26 October 2019) was a German-Austrian musicologist. Life Born in Düsseldorf, Croll studied Kapellmeister at the Robert Schumann Hochschule and musicology with Rudolf Gerber at the University of Münster. He r ...

Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht (5 January 1919 – 30 August 1999) was a German musicologist and professor of historical musicology at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität in Freiburg. Life Eggebrecht was born in Dresden. His father was a Protestant mini ...

and

Thrasybulos Georgiades Thrasybulos Georgios Georgiades ( el, Θρασύβουλος Γεωργιάδης, link=no; Athens, 4 January 1907 – Munich, 15 March 1977) was a Greek musicologist, pianist, civil engineer and philosopher. He was for many years director of the I ...

, whose last doctoral student was Schmid. In 1975 Schmid was awarded a doctorate with a thesis on "Mozart and the Salzburg tradition". His

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

was awarded in 1980 on the subject of "Music as an image. Studies on the work of Weber,

Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

and

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

". Schmid has held various teaching positions at the Universities of Munich and

Bayreuth Bayreuth (, ; bar, Bareid) is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital of U ...

, the music academies in Munich and Augsburg, as well as a position as director of the Munich Musical Instrument Museum. In 1986 Schmid was appointed full professor of musicology at the

as successor to

Georg von Dadelsen Georg may refer to: * ''Georg'' (film), 1997 *Georg (musical), Estonian musical * Georg (given name) * Georg (surname) * , a Kriegsmarine coastal tanker See also * George (disambiguation) George may refer to: People * George (given name) * ...

. In 1992/93 he was visiting professor at the University of Salzburg. On the occasion of his 60th birthday in 2007, a symposium entitled "Mozart in the Center" was held in Tübingen. Schmid has been retired since October 2012. However, he regularly held teaching positions at the universities of Munich and Vienna. Since 2010 he has been chairman of the Academy for Mozart Research at the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg. Schmid is considered an internationally renowned Mozart expert, but in his work he devoted himself to the entire European musical tradition from

ancient music Ancient music refers to the musical cultures and practices that developed in the literate civilizations of the ancient world. Succeeding the music of prehistoric societies and lasting until the Post-classical era, major centers of Ancient musi ...

new music New music may refer to: Musical styles and movements Pre-20th century * Ars nova, musical style in 14th-century France and the Low Countries * '' Le nuove musiche'', collection of monody by Giulio Caccini * New German School, music style in late 1 ...

. However, his main focus lies on the music of the

First Viennese School The First Viennese School is a name mostly used to refer to three composers of the Classical period in Western art music in late-18th-century to early-19th-century Vienna: Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven. Sometimes, ...

, the German

Romantic music Romantic music is a stylistic movement in Western Classical music associated with the period of the 19th century commonly referred to as the Romantic era (or Romantic period). It is closely related to the broader concept of Romanticism—the ...

and the

Renaissance music Renaissance music is traditionally understood to cover European music of the 15th and 16th centuries, later than the Renaissance era as it is understood in other disciplines. Rather than starting from the early 14th-century '' ars nova'', the Tr ...

. Further fields of interest of Schmid were besides the general

historical musicology Musicology (from Ancient Greek, 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, a ...

especially the

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...

, the

notation In linguistics and semiotics, a notation is a system of graphics or symbols, characters and abbreviated expressions, used (for example) in artistic and scientific disciplines to represent technical facts and quantities by convention. Therefore, ...

and the

Ethnomusicology Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...

. Schmid was editor of the ''Mozart Studies'' (, until 2013, 22nd volume with Schneider, Tutzing, since 2015 with

Hollitzer Hollitzer is an Austrian publisher, founded in 2010 and located in Vienna. Programme The main emphasis of Hollitzer lays on theatre, music and cultural history. Starting with the edition of books for the partner institution Don Juan Archiv, th ...

, Vienna) and the ''Tübinger Beiträge zur Musikwissenschaft''.

External links

*
Website des Musikwissenschaftlichen Instituts der Universität Tübingen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmid, Manfred Hermann 20th-century German musicologists 21st-century German musicologists Academic staff of the University of Tübingen Mozart scholars 1947 births 2021 deaths Writers from Unterallgäu