Helmut Brenner (1 January 1957 in
Mürzzuschlag
Mürzzuschlag () is a town in northeastern Styria, Austria, the capital of the former Mürzzuschlag District. It is located on the Mürz river near the Semmering Pass, the border with the state of Lower Austria, about southwest of Vienna. The ...
, Austria – 17 February 2017) was an Austrian
ethnomusicologist
Ethnomusicology is the multidisciplinary study of music in its cultural context. The discipline investigates social, cognitive, biological, comparative, and other dimensions. Ethnomusicologists study music as a reflection of culture and investiga ...
.
Biography
Education
Brenner received music degrees in 1981 and 1984 at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in
Graz
Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...
, Austria, and earned a master's degree in history in 1993 and Ph.D. in
musicology
Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, ...
in 1995 at the
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...
, (
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, Austria).
Career
From 1987 to 2017 he was the professor and researcher at the Institut für Ethnomusikologie, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst, Graz, Austria. In addition, in 1998/99 and 2010 he was guest lecturer at the Leopold-Franzens-Universität, Innsbruck (Austria) and 1997-99 guest lecturer at the
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...
(UNAM) in
Mexico City
Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
. In 2000/01 he has been engaged as a
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
consultant for a multilateral
marimba
The marimba ( ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the mari ...
project with eleven participating Latin America countries within the program ''Patrimoine Oral e Immatériel de l'Humanité''. There he managed as field consultant a multilateral marimba-project in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil.
From 2002 to 2009 he was also professor at the musicological institute of the
Saarland University
Saarland University (, ) is a public research university located in Saarbrücken, the capital of the German state of Saarland. It was founded in 1948 in Homburg in co-operation with France and is organized in six faculties that cover all major ...
in
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
and since 2009 guest professor at the ''Universidad de Ciencias y Artes de Chiapas'' in
Tuxtla Gutiérrez
Tuxtla Gutiérrez, or Tuxtla, (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Mexico, Mexican southeastern state of Chiapas. It is the seat of the municipality of the same name, which is the most developed and populous in the state. A busy govern ...
(Mexico). In 2004 he earned his postdoctoral lecture qualification (Venia legendi/Habilitation) in ethnomusicology and popular music research at the Saarland University (Germany) with a professorial dissertation (Habilitationsschrift) on Marimbas in Latin America.
Latin American music ethnomusicologist
Brenner was one of only few ethnomusicologists from the German-speaking world dedicated to Latin American music, as well as to traditional and popular music.
Death
Brenner died on 17 February 2017.
Helmut Brenner
Publications
* ''Stimmt an das Lied... Das große österreichische Arbeitersänger-Buch'', Graz: Leykam, 1986.
* (Ed.): ''Beiträge zur Erforschung und Pflege der Volksmusik in Baden-Württemberg : Referate des Volksmusik-Symposiums in Ochsenhausen vom 23. - 27. Mai 1990''; Der Musikant, Sonderband / Landesmusikrat Baden-Württemberg, Karlsruhe 1990
Permalink Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
* ''Musik als Waffe? Theorie und Praxis der politischen Musikverwendung, dargestellt am Beispiel der Steiermark 1938 – 45'', Graz: Herbert Weishaupt Verlag, 1992.
* (together with Wolfgang Nagele and Andrea Pühringer): ''Im Schatten des Phönix. Höhen und Tiefen eines dominierenden Industriebetriebes und deren Auswirkungen auf die Region'', Gnas: Herbert Weishaupt Verlag, 1993.
* ''Música ranchera. Das mexikanische Äquivalent zur Country and Western Music aus historischer, musikalischer und kommerzieller Sicht'' (=Musikethnologische Sammelbände 14), Tutzing: Hans Scheider, 1996.
* ''Gehundsteh Herzsoweh. Erzherzog-Johann-Liedtraditionen vor, in, neben und nach „Wo i geh und steh“'', Mürzzuschlag: Kulturkreis Ars Styriae Erzherzog Johann, 1996.
* ''Juventino Rosas: His Life, His Work, His Time '' (=Detroit Monographs in Musicology/Studies in Music 32), Warren, Michigan, USA: Harmonie Park Press, 2000.
* (Ed.): ''Damit sie nicht verloren gehen. Singtraditionen in der Veitsch'', Veitsch-Graz-Saarbrücken: Lichtenstern, 2007; 2nd edition Veitsch-Graz-Saarbrücken: Lichtenstern, 2009.
* ''Marimbas in Lateinamerika. Historische Fakten und Status quo der Marimbatraditionen in Mexiko, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Kolumbien, Ecuador und Brasilien'' (=Studien und Materialien zur Musikwissenschaft 43), Hildesheim–Zürich–New York: Georg Olms Verlag, 2007.
* (together with Daniel Fuchsberger, Ed.): ''Damit sie nicht verloren gehen. Singtraditionen in Eisenerz, Hieflau, Radmer und Vordernberg'', Eisenerz: Cool-Dur, 2012.
* (together with José Israel Moreno Vázquez and Juan Alberto Bermúdez Molina, Ed.): ''Voces de la Sierra. Marimbas sencillas en Chiapas'' (=Sonidos de la tierra. Estudios de etnomusicología 1), Graz-Tuxtla Gutiérrez:KUG-UNICACH, 2014. .
* (together with Juan Alberto Bermúdez Molina, Lisa-Christina Fellner and Kurt Schatz): LiedSammlerVolk. Volksliedsammler und -sammlerinnen in der Steiermark, Steirisches Volksliedwerk, Graz 2016, .
References
External links
* http://www.kug.ac.at/studium-weiterbildung/studium/institute/institut-13-musikethnologie/personal.html?tx_kugpeople_pi1%5Bperson_nr%5D=50072&cHash=4e4b75f15c
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brenner, Helmut
1957 births
2017 deaths
Austrian musicologists
Austrian ethnomusicologists
People from Mürzzuschlag