Wilhelm Fischer (19 April 1886 – 26 February 1962) was an Austrian
musicologist.
Life
Born in Vienna, Fischer studied
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 of Vienna with
Guido Adler, as well as geography and history and took private composition lessons with
Hermann Graedener. From 1912 to 1928 he was assistant to his former teacher and now patron Adler. After 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 ...
with the topic ''Zur Entwicklungsgeschichte des Wiener klassischen Still'' (On the Developmental History of Viennese Classical Style) in 1915, he was appointed professor in 1923. In 1928 he took over the chair of musicology at the
University of Innsbruck as successor of
Rudolf von Ficker.
After the
Anschluss, Fischer was forced to retire as a Jew in April 1938. When a "Gauverbot" was imposed on him for Tyrol in 1939, he had to move back to Vienna and was employed in a metal factory as a
forced labourer until 1945. Other family members were murdered in
The Holocaust, including his sister in the
Auschwitz concentration camp
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
. His 85-year-old mother died after the forced evacuation of her apartment in an emergency shelter.
In 1945 Fischer was rehabilitated and appointed director of the
Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna until 1948. The same year he was reinstated to his chair in Innsbruck, where he taught as professor from 1951 to 1961.
Fisher died in
Innsbruck
Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...
at the age of 75.
Literature
* Paul Frank, Wilhelm Altmann: ''Kurzgefasstes Tonkünstler Lexikon''. at , Regensburg 1936.
*
Paul Nettl: ''In memoriam Wilhelm Fischer''. In ''
Acta Musicologica
''Acta Musicologica'' is the official peer-reviewed journal of the International Musicological Society, which has its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. It contains articles on musicological research of international importance in five different l ...
''. 34, 1962, .
* Rita Egger: ''Verzeichnis der gedruckten Schriften Wilhelm Fischers''. in ''Die Musikforschung''. 15, 1962, .
*
* Kurt Drexel: ''Musikwissenschaft und NS-Ideologie dargestellt am Beispiel der Universität Innsbruck von 1938 bis 1945''. Publication office of the University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck 1994, .
* Susanne Blumesberger, Michael Doppelhofer, Gabriele Mauthe: ''.''
''Handbuch österreichischer Autorinnen und Autoren jüdischer Herkunft 18. bis 20. Jahrhundert''
on WorldCat Vol. 1: ''A–I.'' Published by the Austrian National Library. Saur, Munich 2002, , .
* Elisabeth Th. Hilscher-Fritz
Fischer, Wilhelm
In ''Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon''. Online edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ; Printed edition: Vol. 1, publishing House of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2002, .
References
External links
*
Fischer, Wilhelm
on '
Wilhelm Fischer
in the '' Lexikon verfolgter Musiker und Musikerinnen der NS-Zeit''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fischer, Wilhelm
1886 births
1962 deaths
Writers from Vienna
20th-century Austrian musicologists
Mozart scholars
University of Vienna alumni
Holocaust survivors
Academic staff of the University of Innsbruck