Fred K. Prieberg

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Fred K. Prieberg (born June 3, 1928 in Berlin ; † March 28, 2010 in Neuried-Ichenheim ) was a German musicologist .

life and work

Fred K. Prieberg studied musicology , art history and psychology in Freiburg im Breisgau and has worked as a freelancer (music critic, editorial work) for Südwestfunk since 1953 . He produced contributions for many radio stations in Germany and also wrote numerous essays and books on music politics and new music . At first he was particularly interested in the subject of "music and machine" or electronic music , then he dealt lexicographically with new music from the GDR , the USSR , Poland , Hungary , Sweden and Italy , before finally turning to the The interaction between "music and power", especially that of the National Socialist dictatorship, was concentrated. He lived in seclusion for several years in the Vosges , shortly before his death he moved back to Baden.

In 1958 his Lexikon der neue Musik was published , which became a standard work as a comprehensive personal dictionary for contemporary music of the 20th century with an abundance of reviews, source citations and biographies.

The extensive paperback Music in the Nazi State , published in 1982, was the first systematic description of the history and organization of music under National Socialism and gave the impetus for further musicological research on the subject, which had been taboo until then. The author dedicated it to Joseph Wulf , who was the first to approach this topic with his work Music in the Third Reich (1963).

With a trial of strength. Wilhelm Furtwängler in the Third Reich (1986) shows Prieberg the conductor Furtwängler and his role in the “Third Reich” and presents his own critical point of view against the widespread (pre-) judgments. With the accuracy that characterizes his work, this work is opinion-forming to this day remained.

In Musik und Macht (1991) he depicts the use and abuse of music for state and party interests.

From 1951 onwards, in a work lasting over four decades, he compiled an extensive private archive on the music of the 20th century. Since 2005 his archive has been administered by the Musicological Institute of the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel . It comprises a library on 50 meters of shelves with around 1,500 volumes, 800 sound carriers and 120 files containing biographical material on musicians, original correspondence and document copies from archives in Germany and abroad. Among the documents are the approximately 2,200 index cards of musicians from the NSDAP membership card , which Prieberg has compiled.

Prieberg published the evaluation of his private archive under the title Handbook of German Musicians 1933-1945 as an electronic resource on a CD-ROM as a PDF file. On 9570 pages it contains around 5,000 personal articles with short biographies (also on important institutions, officials and politicians), correspondence with authorities, political reports and magazine articles, as well as around 10,000 recorded work titles from the repertoire of politically applied music, scores, song anthologies, sound recordings in the German Broadcasting Archive and in the Appendix the archive inventory of German Music 1933–1945 .

Award

On April 24, 2008, Prieberg received the special award from the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation in the “Funding” category . From the reason:

“Since the mid-fifties, Fred K. Prieberg has been one of the world's most serious and independent music journalists. The development of new music after the war found in him an equally accomplished reporter as the current musical life of the Soviet Union, the GDR and Sweden later on. The most important works by Prieberg deal with musical life in Hitler's Germany and the relationship between music creation and totalitarian systems. The foundation gives him a special prize for his life's work as a scholarship. "

Quotes

“There was no zero hour. This is an invention of certain historians. Everything went on as before, only with more or less pronounced camouflage. A good example is Karajan's lie about joining the party. "

- Fred K. Prieberg in conversation with Tilman Jens for “Kulturzeit” in 3sat on March 9, 2005

"The absence of people means the greatest degree of freedom."

- Fred K. Prieberg in conversation with Tilman Jens for “Kulturzeit” in 3sat on March 9, 2005

“The so-called 'new' spelling contradicts the education and the inclination of the author, because it was invented by 'reformers' without hearing and was decreed from above by incompetent and incompetent ministers of education and one has to defend beginnings, otherwise it comes to that The state once again determines the musical version of the text. Kowtowing abroad or domestic dyslexics, typically German, is unnecessary. "

- Fred K. Prieberg : Foreword to the Handbook of German Musicians 1933–1945 , p. 12

"Anyone who deals with the role of music in National Socialist Germany cannot avoid the relevant publications by Fred K. Prieberg."

- Prof. Bernd Sponheuer : Musicological Institute of the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel

"Many generations will not get past his manual, certainly not surpass it, at most add to it."

- Prof. Jens Malte Fischer : Institute for Theater Studies at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich

Works

Independent publications

  • The bottom line is music. Panorama of the new music . Alber , Freiburg im Breisgau / Munich 1956, DNB 453849091 .
  • Music of the technical age . Atlantis, Zurich 1956.
  • Lexicon of New Music . Alber, Freiburg im Breisgau / Munich 1958; New edition 1982, ISBN 3-495-47065-4 .
  • Musica ex machina. About the relationship between music and technology . Ullstein, Berlin 1960.
    Musica ex Machina . (Translation into Italian: Paola Tonini). Einaudi, Turin 1963.
  • Music in the Soviet Union . Publishing house for science and politics, Cologne 1965.
  • Music in a different Germany . Publishing house for science and politics, Cologne 1968.
  • Music and music politics in Sweden . Herrenberg, Döring 1976.
  • EM - Attempt to take stock of electronic music . Rohrdorfer Musikverlag, Rohrdorf 1980, ISBN 3-922438-15-6 .
  • Music in the Nazi state . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt / M. 1982, ISBN 3-596-26901-6 .
    New edition: Dittrich, Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-920862-66-X .
  • Trial of strength. Wilhelm Furtwängler in the Third Reich . Brockhaus, Wiesbaden 1986, ISBN 3-7653-0370-4 .
    Trial of strength. Wilhelm Furtwängler and the Third Reich . (Translation into English: Christopher Dolan). Quartet Books, London 1991, ISBN 0-7043-2790-2 . / Northeastern University Press, Boston 1994, ISBN 1-55553-196-2 .
  • Music and power . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1991, ISBN 3-596-10954-X .
  • Abused musical art. Music as a medium of power . dtv, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-423-04556-6 .
  • The composer Hans Schaeuble : that I am not represented ...; a biographical essay . With a catalog raisonné by Chris Walton. Edited by the Hans Schaeuble Foundation. Amadeus, Winterthur 2002, ISBN 3-905049-88-9
  • Handbook of German Musicians 1933–1945 . PDF on CD-ROM, Kiel 2004. (2nd edition, Kiel 2009)
    Archive inventory of German music 1933–1945 . (Extraction from the manual). PDF on CD-ROM, Kiel 2004. (2nd edition, Kiel 2009)

Selection of further publications

  • There is no such thing as “new” music . In: Melos. Contemporary music magazine. Schott, Mainz 1954, p. 310ff.
  • Honegger's electronic experiment . In: Melos. Contemporary music magazine. Schott, Mainz 1956, pp. 20ff.
  • The emancipation of noise . In: Melos. Contemporary music magazine. Schott, Mainz 1957, p. 9ff.
  • Music books . In: Melos. Contemporary music magazine. Schott, Mainz 1958, p. 91ff.
  • The musical futurism . In: Melos. Contemporary music magazine. Schott, Mainz 1958, p. 124ff.
  • Italy's electronic music . In: Melos. Contemporary music magazine. Schott, Mainz 1958, pp. 194ff.
  • Visit to Poland . In: Melos. Contemporary music magazine. Schott, Mainz 1959, p. 43ff.
  • View of the New Music with the New Music timetable . In: Prism of Contemporary Music. Trends and Problems of Contemporary Creation. Edited by Joachim E. Berendt and Jürgen Uhde . Furche, Hamburg 1959.
  • García Lorca in New Music. In: Melos. Contemporary music magazine. Schott, Mainz 1960, p. 331ff.
  • Art and government control. Contribute to a discussion. In: Deutsche Rundschau (ed. By Jürgen and Peter Pechel), Deutsche Rundschau publishing house, Baden-Baden 1962,
    88th year, November 11, 1962.
  • Electronic music made from punched tape . In: Melos. Contemporary music magazine. Schott, Mainz 1964, issue 4, pp. 118ff.
  • The young Schönberg and his critics . In: Melos. Contemporary music magazine. Schott, Mainz 1964, p. 264ff.
  • Imaginary conversation with Luciano Berio . In: Melos. Contemporary music magazine. Schott, Mainz 1965, p. 158ff.
  • Music as a socio-political phenomenon. Example Sweden . In: Melos. Contemporary music magazine. Schott, Mainz 1972, p. 334ff.
  • Twenty questions for Milko Kelemen . In: Melos. Contemporary music magazine. Schott, Mainz 1974, p. 65ff.
  • Sweden - Patterns or Monsters of Musical Life? In: Melos / Neue Zeitschrift für Musik Schott, Mainz 1977, issue 2, p. 123ff.
  • The role of the music maker in the Nazi state . In: Aspects of Music in the Nazi State . Edited by the AStA of the State University for Music Rhineland (S. Kames and M. Pannes; reproduced as a manuscript), Cologne 1984.
  • After the "final victory" or music mimicry . In: Hanns-Werner Heister , Hans-Günter Klein: Music and music politics in fascist Germany . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt / M. 1984, ISBN 3-596-26902-4 .
  • Foreword and comments on: Berta Geissmar : Music in the shadow of politics. Memories . Atlantis, Zurich 1985, 4th edition, ISBN 3-254-00120-6 ,
    as well as for the new edition under the title: Baton and shaft boots. Memories of Wilhelm Furtwängler . Dittrich, Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-920862-10-4 .

Translations from English and American

  • Erle Stanley Gardner : Helicopters, caves, obstacles: flight to the mysterious gorges of California . Ullstein, Berlin 1962.
  • Joy Adamson: Free forever . Ullstein, Berlin 1964.
  • Lawrence Langner: The sense and nonsense of clothing . With a foreword by Hans Habe . Ullstein 1964.
  • John Fairchild: Magicians, Masters and Models. Today's fashion designers and fashion idols . Lorch, Frankfurt / M. 1967.

Web links

Meetings and reports

Other sources

personal data
SURNAME Prieberg, Fred K.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German musicologist
DATE OF BIRTH June 3, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH March 28, 2010
Place of death Neuried-Ichenheim