Harry Goldschmidt

Harry Goldschmidt (1951)

Harry Goldschmidt (born June 17, 1910 in Basel , † November 19, 1986 in Dresden ) was a Swiss musicologist .

Life

1910–1949: Basel, Weimar Republic, France, West Africa, Switzerland

Harry Goldschmidt was born on June 17, 1910 in Basel, the second child of Siegfried Goldschmidt, a banker from Frankfurt am Main , and Vally Goldschmidt-Peiser, a teacher from Breslau . The boy was given Heinrich Heine's first name : Heinrich (Harry) Leopold. The classically educated parents came from non-practicing, fully assimilated German-Jewish families and acquired the. On August 8, 1919 in the city of Basel, where father Siegfried had become the youngest bank director in Switzerland at Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (today Credit Suisse ) in 1905 Swiss citizenship .

After attending the humanistic grammar school in his hometown, Goldschmidt began studying musicology ( Karl Nef and Jacques Handschin ), ethnology ( Felix Speiser ) and psychology at the University of Basel in 1928 . A doctoral thesis in ethnomusicology was started after 1936, but remained unfinished because of active service in the Swiss Army (1939–1945) during the Second World War . A youth novel “Ellen und Ott” (Zurich 1937), published under the pseudonym Konrad Illi, was always steadfastly denied by Goldschmidt with a mischievous smile.

At the same time, Goldschmidt trained as a musician (piano, composition, conducting) at the Basel Conservatory , which he had been attending alongside school since 1926, and obtained his conducting diploma after just one year from Felix Weingartner , who was then in Basel. For further training he went to Hermann Scherchen in Königsberg ( Ostmarkenrundfunk Prussia ) in 1929 . 1930–31 Goldschmidt completed his music studies at the State Music Academy in Berlin. After returning to Switzerland, he went to Paris and London in the early 1930s as a writer and music reporter for several Swiss newspapers and as a permanent contributor to various international music magazines. In 1933 Goldschmidt became a music critic at the Basler “National-Zeitung” (today “ Basler Zeitung ”), which he remained until 1948 - with interruptions due to the war.

Goldschmidt was in the 1930s, u. a. through the influence of Hermann Scherchen and Felix Speiser, particularly interested in the music of the " primitive peoples ". In 1939, from Paris, he and mythologists and linguists participated in a music-ethnological expedition to West Africa (above all Senegal ), which was one of the first to use the new technical means of tape recordings. However, the expedition had to be canceled after four months because of the outbreak of war in September 1939. Nevertheless, the experiences and experiences with the music of non-European peoples continued to shape Goldschmidt.

After being demobilized from military service in 1945, Goldschmidt continued to work as a music critic for various magazines and newspapers, including the Swiss “ Vorwärts ”, the daily newspaper of the newly founded, left-wing Socialist Labor Party (a merger of the SP-Linke with the KPS) He also directed cultural work. As part of this activity he founded and directed a mixed choir, the Singgruppe Basel , and played a key role in organizing the popular symphony concerts . This was an assignment from the Basel trade union federation, in which the PdA played an important role at the time. The concerts were designed by Goldschmidt not only from a music-historical point of view, but also prepared according to popular science through introductory evenings that clarified the connection between music and society and took place at the highest level, according to the motto: "For the working audience - the best!" This led to memorable encounters between simple workers and artists such as Yehudi Menuhin , Clara Haskil , Pablo Casals and others. a.

During this time, d. H. from 1945 to 1947, Goldschmidt was also secretary of the Basel study commission for radio issues and from 1947 secretary of the Swiss Film Archive . Goldschmidt developed its concept together with Georg Schmidt, who had been director of the Basel Art Museum since 1939 , and others who were scientifically interested in the new media.

Goldschmidt, who had lively contacts with the anti-fascist German emigration in Switzerland during the Nazi era , received various requests from Germany in the post-war period to participate in the development of a new, democratic cultural life. Due to his public appearance for the PdA, of which he had already become a member when it was founded in 1944, becoming increasingly unemployed in the wake of the beginning of the Cold War , he decided to answer the call to Berlin, where he was given a job at the newly founded Berliner Rundfunk had offered.

1949–1986: Worked in Berlin (East) and GDR

In February 1949 Goldschmidt moved to Berlin with his wife, the choreographer Aenne Goldschmidt-Michel . There, living in the Soviet sector , he took over the management of the main music department at Berliner Rundfunk , which at the time was run as a bizonal British-Soviet project of the occupying powers in the British sector in the Haus des Rundfunks on Masurenallee .

But the headstrong Goldschmidt, who was used to thinking independently and critically and expressing his opinion openly, quickly came into conflict with the Soviet occupation authorities: his musical line was too "cosmopolitan", too "western", too "elitist" and considered too little «the music of the peoples of the Soviet Union ». But these were just pretexts to get rid of Goldschmidt like many other non-conforming «Western emigrants» - especially after the so-called Field Affair , whose Stalinist show trials and «purges» shook the entire Soviet sphere of influence. In addition, Noel Field had worked from Switzerland during the war and also knew Goldschmidt well.

Goldschmidt lost his job at the Berlin radio in February 1950 due to Stalinist intrigues. But with important cultural and political forces in the GDR , which was founded on October 7, 1949, the opinion of the Soviet Union was by no means: There they appreciated Goldschmidt's anti-fascist stance, profound musicological knowledge, experience in music education and Marxist views. Paul Wandel , Minister for National Education in the GDR, appointed him professor for music history at the newly founded German University of Music (from 1964 University of Music "Hanns Eisler" Berlin ).

Goldschmidt owed this to a significant extent to the resolute participation of friends such as Georg Knepler , Hanns Eisler , Erich Weinert , Ernst Hermann Meyer , Paul Dessau and others. a.

In this way, Goldschmidt was able to develop a wide range of musicological activities in the first half of the 1950s despite adverse circumstances: In addition to his appointment as a lecturer, he was commissioned for the Bach anniversary exhibition in the GDR in 1950 and the Beethoven anniversary exhibition in 1952 in Berlin and Leipzig .

Goldschmidt's most important work from this time is his Franz Schubert biography "Schubert - a picture of life", which was published in 1954 by Henschelverlag Berlin and had six further editions. This subsequent standard work of Schubert's biography was accepted as a dissertation by the Humboldt University in Berlin and Goldschmidt was awarded a doctorate on April 29, 1959. phil. PhD.

1950–55 lecturer in music history at the East Berlin University of Music, Goldschmidt went to China for six months on behalf of the East German Ministry of Culture from 1955–56 . In the People's Republic founded on October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong's motto was: "Let a hundred flowers bloom!" Accordingly, they were open to European music and Goldschmidt gave lectures on German and European music history at various Chinese universities .

After returning from China in 1956, Goldschmidt worked as a freelance musicologist giving guest lectures at the Humboldt University in Berlin . From 1960 to 1965 he headed the Central Institute for Music Research in East Berlin.

From the second half of the 1960s, Goldschmidt turned more and more to the music and biography of Ludwig van Beethoven , including fundamental problems such as the relationship between artwork, biography and contemporary history or the relationship between language, vocal and instrumental music. A whole series of writings emerged (essays, conference papers, Beethoven introductions, Beethoven studies). Goldschmidt organized the International Beethoven Congress 1977 in Berlin on behalf of the GDR government. The government made the newly built plenary hall of the People's Chamber in the Palace of the Republic available. The Deputy Minister of Culture Werner Rackwitz gave the opening speech at the lectern of the People's Chamber and Goldschmidt gave the speech on "Artwork and Biography".

The popular science communication of the knowledge gained was not neglected: Goldschmidt designed the Beethoven Complete Edition for VEB Deutsche Schallplatten Berlin and wrote a large number of cover texts for it. The popular introductions to the work were later summarized in the Reclam collection (1975). There were also appearances on radio and television in the GDR as well as popular science lectures before trade unionists and other non-experts.

In addition to a number of extensive books, a large number of publications on Beethoven have appeared: s. u. Works, Beethoven. But Schubert also remained at the center of his research: s. u. Works, Schubert.

In the years 1976–86, as had been the case since the mid-1960s, Goldschmidt was primarily concerned with the problem areas of biography and musical aesthetics as well as the relationship between word and instrumental music. He was the organizer and co-editor of the discussion series “Music Aesthetics in Discussion” (Leipzig 1981) and the International Colloquium Großkochberg 1981 “Composers asked about their work and life” (Leipzig 1985).

Music Aesthetics: Thoughts on a Non-Aristotelian Music Aesthetics - Presentation at the II. International Seminar of Marxist Musicologists (Berlin 1965), Understanding Music as a Postulate (Cologne 1974), Cantando – Sonando. Some approaches to a systematic musical aesthetic (Berlin 1977/78)

Word and instrumental music: On the unity of the vocal and instrumental spheres in classical music - Presentation at the International Musicological Congress of the Society for Music Research (Leipzig 1966), Verse and verse in Beethoven's instrumental music - Presentation at the Beethoven Symposium (Vienna 1970), The word in instrumental music: The ritornelle in Schubert's «Winterreise» (1986; published posthumously in 1996), The word in Beethoven's instrumental accompaniment (Beethoven Studies III, 1986; published posthumously in 1999)

In 1986 Goldschmidt gave a lecture at the Carl Maria von Weber Congress in Dresden on the subject of "The Wolfsschlucht - a Black Mass?" and suffered a heart attack as a result of the most intense controversy during the Congress, of which he died on November 19, 1986; In an obituary in the SED central organ Neues Deutschland , the GDR Ministry of Culture praised him as the Nestor of Marxist-Leninist musicology in the GDR.

Works (by subject area)

Books

• Franz Schubert - a picture of life , German publishing house for music, 7th edition, Leipzig 1980
• On the matter of music , Reclam-Verlag, 2nd expanded edition, Leipzig 1976
• Beethoven - Introductory Works , Reclam-Verlag, Leipzig 1975
• The Beethoven Apparition (Beethoven Studies I), Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1985
• To the Immortal Beloved . An inventory (Beethoven Studies II), Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1977; extended edition About the Immortal Beloved. A Beethoven book , Rogner & Bernhard, Munich / Berlin 1980; in English: All About Beethoven's Immortal Beloved. A Stocktaking , trans. John E Klapproth, Charleston, SC: CreateSpace 2014.
• The word in instrumental music: The ritornelle in Schubert's «Winterreise» (1986), ed. by Hanns-Werner Heister, from Bockel Verlag, Hamburg 1996
• The word in Beethoven's instrumental accompaniment (Beethoven Studies III), 1986 - ed. by Hanns-Werner Heister, Böhlau Verlag, Cologne 1999

Books under pseudonyms

• Konrad Illi: Ellen and Ott , Humanitas Verlag, Zurich 1937
• Titus Oliva: It has to be. A reader for an imaginary Beethoven film , Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1982

To different composers

• Johann Sebastian Bach in his time , Bach exhibition, Leipzig / Berlin 1950/51
• The legacy of Johannes Brahms. On his 120th birthday , in: Music and Society 1953/3
• Edvard Grieg - Some reflections on the 50th anniversary of his death , in: Music and Society 1957/9
• Thoughts on Hanns Eisler. On his 60th birthday , in: Music and Society 1958/6
• Janáček and Stravinsky . Contribution to the discussion at the Janáček Congress Brno, October 1958, in: Music and Society 1958/6
• Georges Bizet , in: From the life and work of great musicians, Berlin 1961
• Claude Debussy , memorial address at the German State Opera Berlin, Berlin 1962
• Ernst Hermann Meyer: The concertante symphony for piano and orchestra 1961 , Eterna record introduction, Berlin 1963
• Hermann Scherchen - On the death of the musician , in: Music and Society 1966/8
• Claudio Monteverdi , memorial address at the German State Opera Berlin, Berlin 1967
• Mozart: Die Cavatina des Figaro - a semantic analysis , in: Contributions to musicology 1973/3
• Ernst Hermann Meyer's Violin Concerto , in: Festschrift for Ernst Hermann Meyer on the occasion of his 60th birthday, Leipzig 1973
• St. John Passion: "It is accomplished" - to Bach's obligatory accompanying procedure , in: Report on the musicological conference on the III. International Bach Festival of the GDR 1975, Leipzig 1977
• «Continuing the song» - A Mahler Study (1979/80), in: Studies on Musicology, Berlin 1984
• The prosodic-rhetorical regulative in JS Bach , in: Contributions to musicology 1985/1

Music and society: music history, music aesthetics, popular science

• The tasks of musicology , contribution to the discussion at the founding conference of the Association of German Composers and Musicologists 1951, in: Musik und Gesellschaft 1951/3
• About the musical form . Presentation at the II. Congress of the Association of German Composers and Musicologists, Leipzig 1954
• An overview of music history. Part I - From primitive society to the Renaissance , together with Georg Knepler and Ernst H. Meyer, study material for the artistic schools, issue 4/1956
• Fourteen lectures on German music history (published in Chinese as a result of teaching in the People's Republic of China in 1955/56), 1957
• Concert book - orchestral music . First part 17th to 19th century, ed. by K. Schönewolf, therein: Introduction to the period 1789–1830, Symphonic Music of the French Revolution, Franz Schubert . Berlin 1958
• Music and progress - On the problem of musical avant-gardism , in: Periodical for Scientific Socialism 1959, X
• On the methodology of musical analysis , lecture at the annual conference of the Society for Music Research 1961, in: Contributions to musicology 1961/4
• Responsibility and perspective . From the closing words of the popular science conference «Word and Scripture in the Service of Understanding Music» 1961, in: Music and Society 1962/1
• Musical shape and intonation , lecture at the 1st International Seminar of Marxist Musicologists, Prague 1963, in: Contributions to Musicology 1963/4
• It was about the cheerful muse - the poetry of everyday life , contribution to the discussion at the Berlin conference on issues of dance and popular music, in: Musik und Gesellschaft 1964/3
• On some questions of popular science in music , in: Musik und Gesellschaft 1964/6
• Interpreter and science , presentation at the 1st Music Congress, Berlin 1964, in: Music and Society 1964/11
• Thoughts on a non-Aristotelian musical aesthetic - Presentation at the II. International Seminar of Marxist Musicologists, Berlin 1965, in: Contributions to Musicology 1965/4
• About the unity of the vocal and instrumental spheres in classical music - Presentation at the International Musicological Congress of the Society for Music Research, Leipzig 1966, in: German Yearbook for Musicology for 1966
• Understanding music as a postulate , in: Anthology Music and Understanding, Cologne 1974
• Cantando – Sonando. Some approaches to a systematic music aesthetics , Berlin 1977/78, in: Music aesthetics in discussion, Leipzig 1981

To Schubert (selection)

• Necessary remarks on a Schubert film , in: Musik und Gesellschaft 1954/3
• The question of periodization in Schubert's work , lecture at the University of Paris 1958, in: Contributions to musicology 1959/2
• On a reassessment of Schubert's last creative period (1828) , presentation at the 7th International Congress of the Society for Music Research, Congress Report Cologne 1958
• Schubert's Winterreise , introductory booklet for the Eterna record cassette, Berlin 1962
• What was the original order in Schubert's Heine lieder? , in: German Yearbook of Musicology for 1972, Leipzig 1974
• Another Symphony in E major? On the controversy surrounding the Gmunden-Gastein Symphony , presentation at the Schubert Congress in Vienna 1978, in: Congress report Vienna 1979
• Franz Schubert on the 150th anniversary of his death . Commemorative speech in the German State Opera Berlin, 1978
• Our understanding of Schubert today , basic presentation at the Schubert conference of the Kulturbund der DDR 1979, in: Musik und Gesellschaft 1978/11
• The first movement of the great C major symphony - a prosodic study , in: Contributions to musicology 1980/1
• Franz Schubert: «Die Allmacht» , first publication for mixed choir and piano, Leipzig 1983
• A fake Schubert symphony? , in: Musica 1984, supplement to issue 4
• The word in instrumental music: The ritornelle in Schubert's «Winterreise» (1986), ed. by Hanns-Werner Heister, Hamburg 1996

On Beethoven (selection)

• "When spirit and strength unite". Beethoven's "Chorfantasie" in the German National Program, in: Musik und Gesellschaft, vol. 1 (1951), pp. 166–173
• Ludwig van Beethoven and his time, illustrated guide through the German Beethoven exhibition , Berlin 1952
• Beethoven's "Eighth", a socially critical work? On the contribution to the discussion by HH Schmitz, issue 9/1951 , in: Musik und Gesellschaft, vol. 2 (1952), pp. 10-12
• Two sheets of sketches, a contribution to Beethoven's program , in: Musik und Gesellschaft, vol. 3 (1953), pp. 15-18
• A withholding Beethoven quote , in: Musik und Gesellschaft, Jg. 3 (1953), pp. 18-19 (about a saying by Beethoven against the Kaiser, which was not reproduced in the German edition of Thayer's Beethoven biography)
• Motif variation and gestalt metamorphosis. On the musical genesis of Beethoven's violin concerto , in: Festschrift Heinrich Besseler for his sixtieth birthday, ed. from the Institute for Musicology at Karl Marx University, Leipzig 1961, pp. 389–409
• The ominous Opus 91 , in: Harry Goldschmidt, Um dieache der Musik , Leipzig 1970, pp. 20-27
• Quote or parody? , in: Contributions to Musicology, Vol. 12 (1970), pp. 171–198
• Verse and stanza in Beethoven's instrumental music , in: Beethoven-Symposion Vienna 1970. Report, Vienna, Cologne, Graz 1971, pp. 97–120
• The late Beethoven. Attempt to determine the current position , in: Report on the international Beethoven Congress 10. – 12. December 1970 in Berlin, Berlin 1971, pp. 41–58 - also in: Musik und Gesellschaft, vol. 21 (1971), pp. 96–102
• Beethoven's instructions on how to play the Cramer Etudes , in: Report on the international Beethoven Congress 10. – 12. December 1970 in Berlin, Berlin 1971, pp. 545–558
• The Beethoven Apparition (= Beethoven Studies I), Leipzig 1974
• Un lieto brindisi - cantata campestre , in: Beethoven-Jahrbuch, Vol. 8, Bonn 1975, pp. 157–205
• Beethoven. Factory introductions, Leipzig 1975
• with Clemens Brenneis, Aspects of Current Beethoven Research , in: Contributions to Musicology, Vol. 18 (1976), Issue 1, pp. 3-38 and special issue on Beethoven essays and annotations , 1979
• Beethoven's Leonore , LvBeethoven complete edition, Eterna catalog, Berlin 1977
• Beethoven in new Brunsvik letters , in: Beethoven-Jahrbuch, Vol. 9, Bonn 1977, pp. 97–146
• Artwork and biography , presentation at the International Beethoven Congress, Berlin 1977, in: Music and Society 1977/3
• The word in Beethoven's instrumental accompaniment (= Beethoven Studies III), 1986 - ed. by Hanns-Werner Heister, Böhlau Verlag, Cologne 1999

literature

• Estate: Mus. NL H. Goldschmidt . German State Library in Berlin, Prussian Cultural Heritage, music department
• Günter Mayer: Un Brindisi Contrappuntato. An imaginary lecture for Harry Goldschmidt's 70th birthday . Contributions to musicology 4/1980; on his 90th birthday also expanded in «Artwork and Biography», Berlin 2002
• Music, interpretation, meaning. Festschrift for Harry Goldschmidt on his 75th birthday . Edited by Hanns-Werner Heister / Hartmut Lück, Plans-Verlag, Dortmund 1986
• Konrad Niemann: Harry Goldschmidt in memory . Contributions to musicology 3/1987
• Artwork and biography. Commemorative Harry Goldschmidt . Edited by Hanns-Werner Heister, Weidler Buchverlag, Berlin 2002; with memoirs of his friends, colleagues and students as well as a detailed list of publications
• Torsten Musial, Bernd-Rainer Barth :  Goldschmidt, Harry . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Web links

• Regula Puskás: Goldschmidt, Harry. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Literature by and about Harry Goldschmidt in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Harry Goldschmidt  in the German Digital Library