Martin Ruhnke (14 June 1921 – 25 September 2004) 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 ...
. His main areas of research were the
music theory of early
baroque music, Italian baroque opera and the life and work of
Georg Philipp Telemann
Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hild ...
.
Life
Born in
Koszalin
Koszalin (pronounced ; csb, Kòszalëno; formerly german: Köslin, ) is a city in northwestern Poland, in Western Pomerania. It is located south of the Baltic Sea coast, and intersected by the river Dzierżęcinka. Koszalin is also a county-sta ...
, Ruhnke was appointed in Kiel where he gained his
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...
in 1954 with a thesis on
Joachim Burmeister's
music theory. Afterwards he was
Wissenschaftlicher Assistent
Wissenschaftlicher Assistent, often shortened to Assistent, literally "scientific assistant", is an academic position at German universities for researchers with doctoral degrees and additional academic qualifications, who are typically employed t ...
at the
Free University of Berlin
The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...
and
habilitatetd in 1961. In 1964 he was appointed to the chair of musicology at the
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, which he held until he became
emeritus in 1986.
From 1968 to 1974 Ruhnke was president of the
Gesellschaft für Musikforschung
The ''Gesellschaft für Musikforschung'' (GfM) is a professional association of musicologists and institutes active in study, research and teaching in Germany. It has over 1600 members. The association is based in Kassel, Hesse.
History
The so ...
and from 1991 to 1997 president of the ''International Telemann Society''. From 1960 to 2003 he was responsible for the Telemann edition of the ''Zentrum für Telemann-Pflege und -Forschung Magdeburg''. In 1984, 1992 and 1999 his three-volume
Telemann-Werke-Verzeichnis The Telemann-Werke-Verzeichnis (Telemann Works Catalogue), abbreviated TWV, is the numbering system identifying compositions by Georg Philipp Telemann, published by musicologist Martin Ruhnke.
The prefix TWV is generally followed by a genre number ...
was published, in which he completed the ''Telemann-Vokalwerke-Verzeichnis'' by Werner Menke (1982/1983) with the instrumental works. Ruhnke "influenced
..Telemann research as a whole, which he introduced into academic discourse and for which he set important standards" (Ute Poetzsch).
[Ute Poetzsch: ''Die Editionen der Werke Georg Philipp Telemanns'']
p. 190
In Reinmar Emans, Ulrich Krämer (ed.): ''Music editions in the course of history''. Berlin/Boston 2015 In 1995 he received the
Georg-Philipp-Telemann-Preis der Landeshauptstadt Magdeburg
The Telemann Prize is an annual classical music award for special achievements in interpretation, research and cultivation of the life and work of Georg Philipp Telemann.
Since 1987, the city of Magdeburg has awarded the prize every year in March ...
. He also studied the music history of his home
Pomerania
Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...
and became a member of the .
References
External links
''Zum Tod von Prof. Dr. Martin Ruhnke''(University of Erlangen, 28 September 2004)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruhnke, Martin
20th-century German musicologists
Academic staff of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
1921 births
2004 deaths
People from Koszalin