Joseph Schmidt-Görg (born Schmidt 19 March 1897 – 3 April 1981) was a German
musicologist
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, f ...
, composer and music editor. As a researcher at the
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...
and director of the
Beethoven Archive, he is regarded as one of the leading Beethoven scholars of his time.
He completed the new edition of Beethoven's complete works.
Life
Born Joseph Schmidt
in (now part of
Witten
Witten () is a city with almost 100,000 inhabitants in the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis (district) in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany.
Geography
Witten is situated in the Ruhr valley, in the southern Ruhr area.
Bordering municipalities
* Bochum ...
), he studied musicology at the
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...
with
Ludwig Schiedermair, also philosophy, pedagogy and experimental physics.
He achieved the doctorate in 1926 with a dissertation about the
masses by
Clemens non Papa
Jacobus Clemens non Papa (also Jacques Clément or Jacob Clemens non Papa) ( – 1555 or 1556) was a Netherlandish composer of the Renaissance based for most of his life in Flanders. He was a prolific composer in many of the current styles, and w ...
.
He composed masses and other sacred music, including a mass for five-part choir in 1924, a motet, ''Christus natus est'', for eight voices, the same year, and a mass ''Missa Exultet'' in 1927.
He officially changed his name in 1930.
After his habilitation that year, on ''Mitteltontemperatur'',
he lectured at the university, was appointed professor in 1938, and ''Ordinarius'' in 1948. He was emerited in 1965.
Schiedermair was a founding member and first director of the
Beethoven Archive in Bonn in 1927. He called Schmidt-Görg to be his research assistant. Schmidt-Görg succeeded him as director in 1945 and held the post until 1972. He completed the new edition of Beethoven's complete works, ''Neue Beethoven-Gesamtausgabe'', that Schiedermair had initiated.
He edited piano works, in collaboration with his son
Hans Schmidt. He also began the publications of 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 v ...
.
Schmidt-Görg died in
Bad Neuenahr at the age of 84.
Books
* ''Das rheinische Volkslied'', Düsseldorf: Schwann, 1934
* ''Katalog der Handschriften des Beethoven-Hauses und des Beethoven-Archivs Bonn'', Bonn 1935
* ''Nicolas Gombart, Kapellmeister
Kaiser Karls V. Leben und Werk'', Bonn: Röhrscheid, 1938
* ''Beethoven. Die Geschichte seiner Familie'', Munich: Henle 1964
* ''Des Bonner Bäckermeisters Gottfried Fischer Aufzeichnungen über Beethovens Jugend'', Munich: Henle, 1971
* ''Beethoven'', as editor with
Hans Schmidt
* ''Musik der Gotik'', Bonn: Schwippert, 1946
Articles
* "Beethoven und das kurkölnische Geistesleben", in ''Allgemeine Musikzeitung'', vol. 54 (1927), pp. 549f.
* "Zur Musikanschauung in den Schriften der
hl. Hildegard", in ''Der Mensch und die Künste.
Festschrift
In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...
für
Heinrich Lützeler
Heinrich Lützeler (27 January 1902 in Bonn – 13 June 1988 in Bonn) was a German philosopher, art historian, and literary scholar. He presided over a number of institutes and was dean at the department of philosophy at the University of Bonn.
B ...
zum 60. Geburtstag'', Düsseldorf 1962,
* "Ein
Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright.
He was born i ...
-Zitat Beethovens in neuer Sicht", in ''Musik, Edition, Interpretation. Gedenkschrift
Günther Henle'', Munich 1980,
Further reading
*
Thomas Phleps: "Ein stiller, verbissener und zäher Kampf um Stetigkeit – Musikwissenschaft in NS-Deutschland und ihre vergangenheitspolitische Bewältigung", in Isolde von Foerster et al. (ed.), '' Musikforschung – Nationalsozialismus – Faschismus'', Mainz 2001, .
*
Festschrift Joseph Schmidt-Görg zum 60. Geburtstag', edited by Dagmar Weise, Bonn: Beethoven-Haus, 1957
* ''Colloquium amicorum. Joseph Schmidt-Görg zum 70. Geburtstag'', edited by Siegfried Kross und Hans Schmidt, Bonn: Beethoven-Haus, 1967
*
Sieghard Brandenburg
Sieghard Brandenburg (21 January 1938 – 18 December 2015) was a German musicologist, who stood out especially as a Beethoven researcher.
Life
Born in Bad Frankenhausen, Brandenburg studied music (main subject oboe), musicology and mathematics ...
, "Sammeln und Bewahren – Edieren und Auswerten. Aus der Gründungszeit des Beethoven-Archivs", in ''Bonner Beethoven-Studien'', vol. 5 (2006),
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:SchmidtGorg, Joseph
20th-century German musicologists
Beethoven scholars
Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Academic staff of the University of Bonn
1897 births
1981 deaths
People from Witten