Friedrich Smend

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Friedrich Smend (born August 26, 1893 in Strasbourg , † February 10, 1980 in Berlin ) was a German Protestant theologian , librarian and Bach researcher.

Life

Friedrich Smend comes from the old Smend family of lawyers and theologians, who served as pastor for the Reformed community of Lengerich in Westphalia for three generations in a row in the 18th and 19th centuries . His father Julius Smend was a professor of practical theology and first dean of the Evangelical Theological Faculty in Münster , his uncle was the theologian Rudolf Smend . The liberal-theological thinking in his family should also be formative for him, as well as the love for music, especially for Johann Sebastian Bach , which his parents gave him.

Smend studied Protestant theology in Münster , did his doctorate there and worked as a librarian in the Prussian State Library in Berlin from 1923 . There he published a list of Adolf von Harnack's writings . During the National Socialist period he took part in the church struggle as a member of the Brother Council of the Confessing Church in Berlin . Immediately after the war, Smend was given the full chair for hymnology , liturgy and church music at the church college in Berlin-Zehlendorf .

He was an honorary doctor of the Universities of Heidelberg and Mainz , and in 1961 he received the Federal Cross of Merit .

Smend emerged with research on the work of Johann Sebastian Bach as well as with Goethe studies. In Bach research, his work was particularly focused on the B minor Mass , the St. Matthew and St. John Passions, and the symbolism of numbers in Bach's compositions.

Fonts (selection)

  • Adolf von Harnack. Directory of his writings . Leipzig 1927; Addendum 1927-1930 . Leipzig 1931 (Reprint: Adolf von Harnack. Directory of his writings up to 1930. With a foreword and bibliographical additions up to 1985 by Jürgen Dummer. Saur, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-598-10321-2 ).
  • Joh. Seb. Bach church cantatas. 6 booklets. Christlicher Zeitschriftenverlag, Berlin 1947/48 (2nd edition 1950; 3rd edition 1966).
  • Johann Sebastian Bach called by his name. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1950.
  • Bach in Koethen. Christlicher Zeitschriftenverlag, Berlin 1951/52 (English edition St. Louis: Concordia Publ. House, 1985).
  • Goethe's relationship to Bach. Merseburger, Berlin 1955.
  • Missa; Symbolum nicenum; Sanctus; Osanna, Benedictus, Agnus Dei et Dona Nobis Pacem (later called "Mass in B minor"). Bärenreiter, Kassel 1956.
  • Further friends were also thought of: a contribution to Goethe's correspondence with Marianne von Willemer . Berlin: Merseburger, 1964
  • Bach studies. Collected speeches and essays . Bärenreiter, Kassel 1969.

literature

  • Festschrift for Friedrich Smend on his 70th birthday . Merseburger, Berlin 1963 (pp. 98-100 list of publications).
  • Peter Wackernagel : From the happy times of the Prussian State Library. Memories of friends and colleagues and friends of yore. in: Festschrift for Friedrich Smend on his 70th birthday , Merseburger, Berlin 1963, pp. 61–62.

Web links