Wolfgang Osthoff (17 March 1927 – 29 July 2008) 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 professor (ordinarius) for historical musicology at the

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. The University of Würzburg is one of ...

Life

Born in Halle as son of the musicologist

Helmuth Osthoff Helmuth Osthoff (13 August 1896 – 9 February 1983) was a German musicologist and composer. Much of his career was spent at Frankfurt University, prior to which he held posts at Halle University and Berlin University. He wrote the first major bi ...

, Osthoff received his musical education from

Kurt Hessenberg Kurt Hessenberg (17 August 1908 – 17 June 1994) was a German composer and professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt. Life Kurt Hessenberg was born on 17 August 1908 in Frankfurt, as the fourth and last child of ...

(sound composition) and Kurt Thomas (conducting) in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. He studied musicology with his father and with

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 ...

, from whom he received his doctorate in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

in 1954 and with whom he habilitated in Munich in 1965. Studies in philosophy (among others with

Hans-Georg Gadamer Hans-Georg Gadamer (; ; February 11, 1900 – March 13, 2002) was a German philosopher of the continental tradition, best known for his 1960 ''magnum opus'', '' Truth and Method'' (''Wahrheit und Methode''), on hermeneutics. Life Family an ...

) and Middle Latin enabled him to understand music in a comprehensive context. His two-year study stay in Italy from 1955 to 1957 consolidated his love of Italian music. From 1968 to 1995 he was full professor of musicology at the Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg. Even after his retirement, he continued to teach at the Musicological Institute until his retirement. Osthoff was active in national and international scientific societies and academies; for over a quarter of a century he was responsible for musicology at the

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a Public university, public research university l ...

. He also participated in projects of the Music History Commission of the

Bavarian Academy of Sciences The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften) is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledg ...

in Munich. He was a member of the presidency of the Hans Pfitzner Society, a scientific member or on the advisory board of the German Study Centre in Venice, the Istituto Nazionale di Studi Verdiani Parma, the

Beethoven House The Beethoven House (German: ''Beethoven-Haus'') in Bonn, Germany, is a memorial site, museum and cultural institution serving various purposes. Founded in 1889 by the Beethoven-Haus association, it studies the life and work of composer Ludwig van ...

in Bonn, the Music History Commission of the

Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften) is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledg ...

and the Stefan George Society in Bingen. The Sapienza University of Rome awarded him the dignity of

Honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

. Osthoff died in

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg is ...

at age 85.

Work

The main fields of work of this scholar with a wide range of scientific expertise were Italian music of the 15th to 19th centuries, in particular the work of

Claudio Monteverdi Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considered ...

and

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

, Viennese Classicism with a focus on

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

and the music of the first half of the 20th century. Here he paid special attention to the works of

Hans Pfitzner Hans Erich Pfitzner (5 May 1869 – 22 May 1949) was a German composer, conductor and polemicist who was a self-described anti-modernist. His best known work is the post-Romantic opera ''Palestrina'' (1917), loosely based on the life of the s ...

and , with whom he had a deep friendship. In his reflections on the relationship between music and language, the work of

Stefan George Stefan Anton George (; 12 July 18684 December 1933) was a German symbolist poet and a translator of Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare, Hesiod, and Charles Baudelaire. He is also known for his role as leader of the highly influential literar ...

was of outstanding importance to him.

External links

Bibliographie sämtlicher Schriften von Wolfgang Osthoff
(PDF; 163kB)

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Osthoff, Wolfgang 1927 births 2008 deaths 20th-century German musicologists People from Halle (Saale)