Werner Neumann (21 January 1905, Königstein – 24 April 1991,

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

) 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 ...

. He founded the

Bach-Archiv Leipzig The Bach-Archiv Leipzig or Bach-Archiv is an institution for the documentation and research of the life and work of Johann Sebastian Bach. The Bach-Archiv also researches the Bach family, especially their music. Based in Leipzig, the city where ...

on 20 November 1950 and was a principal editor of the

Neue Bach-Ausgabe The New Bach Edition (NBE) (german: Neue Bach-Ausgabe; NBA), is the second complete edition of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, published by Bärenreiter. The name is short for Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750): New Edition of the Complete W ...

, the second edition of the complete works of

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

Professional career

Neumann studied at the Conservatory of Leipzig from 1928 to 1930, and at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

from 1928 to 1933, besides Musicology also Philosophy, Psychology and

Romance studies Romance studies or Romance philology ( an, filolochía romanica; ca, filologia romànica; french: romanistique; eo, latinida filologio; it, filologia romanza; pt, filologia românica; ro, romanistică; es, filología románica) is an acade ...

. He wrote his thesis in 1938 on Bach's choral

fugue In music, a fugue () is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the co ...

, "J. S. Bachs Chorfuge. Ein Beitrag zur Kompositionstechnik Bachs". He worked as a teacher from 1934 to 1940 and served the military for five years. From 1945 to 1950 he worked as a freelance teacher, writer on music and teacher at the Musikhochschule Leipzig. After the ''Deutsche Bachfeier 1950'', the bicentennial of Bach, he founded the

for documentation and research, which he presided until 1973, achieving international recognition. From 1953 to 1974 Neumann was, together with

Alfred Dürr Alfred Dürr (3 March 1918 – 7 April 2011) was a German musicologist. He was a principal editor of the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, the second edition of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Professional career Dürr studied musicology and Clas ...

, editor of the ''

Bach-Jahrbuch The ''Bach-Jahrbuch'' ("Bach yearbook" or according to the publication's website "Bach Annals") is an annual publication related to the composer Bach. It is published in German by the Neue Bachgesellschaft in Leipzig. It is the most respected publ ...

'' (Bach almanach), writing several contributions himself. He started in 1951 to lead the East German section of the

, the second complete edition of Bach's works, whereas Dürr was the director of the West German section. Neumann added several volumes of

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning o ...

s to the project. In 1974 Neumann became a member of the , the Saxonian

Academy of Sciences An academy of sciences is a type of learned society or academy (as special scientific institution) dedicated to sciences that may or may not be state funded. Some state funded academies are tuned into national or royal (in case of the Unit ...

Awards

*1954 Title "Professor" in recognition of his research of Bach and his merits as the director of the Bach-Archiv Leipzig *1968 in Bronze *1973

National Prize of East Germany The National Prize of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) (german: Nationalpreis der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik) was an award of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) given out in three different classes for scientific, artistic, ...

*1981 Vaterländischer Verdienstorden in Silver

Selected publications

* ''Johann Sebastian Bachs Chorfuge'', 1938, 1950 * ''Handbuch der Kantaten J. S. Bachs'', 1947 (Handbook of the

Bach cantata The cantatas composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, known as Bach cantatas (German: ), are a body of work consisting of over 200 surviving independent works, and at least several dozen that are considered lost. As far as known, Bach's earliest cant ...

s) * ''Katechismus der Musik'' (Lobe-Neumann), 1949 * ''Auf den Lebenswegen J. S. Bachs'', 1953 * ''J. S. Bachs sämtliche Kantantentexte'', 1956, 1967 (complete texts of the Bach cantatas) * ''Bach-Dokumente'', volume 1–4 (Neumann-Schulze), 1963 to 1979 * ''Bach, Eine Bildbiographie'' (''Bach and His World (Pictorial Biography)''), 1961 * ''Das kleine Bachbuch'', 1971 and 1985 * ''Sämtliche von J. S. Bach vertonte Texte'', 1974 (complete texts composed by Bach) *

, 1954 to 1969 (cantatas' music volumes and critical reviews) * ''Faksimile-Reihe Bachscher Werke und Schriftstücke'' (

facsimile A facsimile (from Latin ''fac simile'', "to make alike") is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of ...

s of Bach's works and documents) Neumann wrote liner notes, articles for magazines, reviews, essays, music editions.Die Quellen der Bach-Werke
bach.gwdg.de (in German)

References

External links

Entries to Werner Neumann in WorldCat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neumann, Werner 1905 births 1991 deaths People from Königstein, Saxony People from the Kingdom of Saxony Musicians from Leipzig Bach musicians 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century German composers Bach scholars University of Music and Theatre Leipzig faculty Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver 20th-century German musicologists 20th-century conductors (music) Recipients of the Medal of Merit of the GDR