Hermann Pfrogner

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Hermann Pfrogner (born January 17, 1911 in Graz , † December 14, 1988 in Konstanz ) was an Austrian lawyer , music theorist and university professor .

Life

Pfrogner grew up as the son of an officer, first in Riva on Lake Garda , then after the outbreak of war in Vienna (his mother's hometown) and from 1917 in Innsbruck . There he attended the humanistic grammar school from 1921 to 1929 and, as a piano student, the local conservatory .

After graduating from high school, he was able to get hold of one of the rare places at the State Academy for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, where he enrolled in piano , counterpoint and composition (with Joseph Marx ). In addition, for the sake of his parents, he studied at the University of Vienna , where he received his doctorate in 1934. jur. PhD . In the same year he completed his music studies with a diploma in music theory . First he worked as a financial lawyer in Vienna and then - at the same time as the war began - in Göppingen . He devoted himself to music only in his free time; he felt himself "in no way suitable as a professional musician". In December 1940 he was called up for military service, where he was trained as a radio operator. Initially captured by the Soviets after the war, he returned to Vienna in September 1945. He studied musicology for another two years, this time at the university, and finished with a thesis on Bach's musical sacrifice .

He then worked as a freelance music writer and lecturer; his book The Twelve Order of Tones (1953) made him known as a modern music theorist. In 1950 he met Anny von Lange , who introduced him to anthroposophy ; Alongside Rudolf Steiner , Jean Gebser and Josef Matthias Hauer were also important stimuli. In 1958 he finally got a teaching position for new music at the Academy of Music in Munich, where he was appointed professor in 1970 . In 1974 he left for health reasons and retired to Söhnstetten, where he devoted himself to his literary work until his death. Since his encounter with the doctor Hans Heinrich Engel, who is active in anthroposophical curative education in 1963, he has increasingly devoted himself to music therapy and music anthropological issues.

Hermann Pfrogner's students include: a. the composers Nicolaus A. Huber (* 1939), Wilfried Hiller (* 1941), Peter Kiesewetter (1945–2012) and Rudi Spring (* 1962).

Quotes

In the foreword to “Lebendige Tonwelt” (p. 10), he writes: The inclined reader will soon notice that in the course of the presentations reference is made again and again to two informants to whom the author is deeply indebted: this is musicological Jacques Samuel Handschin, who, as a true doyen of his subject, held the chair at the University of Basel, and in the humanities field Rudolf Steiner, without whose concept of mankind, which is based on the oldest wisdom of mankind and completely independently advanced into the present, this book would not be possible.

Quote on the subject of the series of natural tones : The oscillation numbers of the natural tone series follow one another according to the law of the arithmetic, i.e. the division series. In this respect, the natural tone series represents the physical shadowing of mathematical laws. We say this with great care. The musical interval proportions, such as 1: 2 (octave), 2: 3 (fifth), 3: 4 (fourth), are primarily spiritual qualities and as such are to be viewed initially mathematically and only secondarily physically. We definitely agree with J. Handschin, who takes a very rigorous point of view here. He sees the importance of the natural tone series exclusively “in the field of timbre. If, on the other hand, we are dealing with the tones independently of the timbre, then we are faced with numerical relationships. ” (“ Lebendige Tonwelt ”, p. 207)

Works

  • On the essence and evaluation of new harmony , Steeger, Bayreuth 1949
  • The twelve order of tones , Amalthea, Zurich 1953
  • Music. History of their interpretation . Orbis academicus Volume I / 4. Verlag Karl Alber, Freiburg / Munich 1954
  • The torn Orpheus. Tonality - Atonality - Electronics , Verlag Karl Alber, Freiburg / Munich 1957
  • Lively sound world. On the phenomenon of music , Langen Müller, Munich and Vienna 1976 (reprint edition, Weilheim / Teck 2010)
  • The seven life processes. A music therapy suggestion , Die Kommenden, Freiburg 1978
  • Life and work. An attempt at a biography , Novalis, Schaffhausen 1985
  • Time change of music. Retrospectives - Outlooks , Langen Müller, Munich and Vienna 1986
  • The three aspects of life in music , Novalis, Schaffhausen 1989
  • TAO. A legacy , Novalis, Schaffhausen o. J. (1986)

The author has listed his most important publications in magazines in: Leben und Werk , pp. 55–57

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ruland, Heiner: Hermann Pfrogner . In: von Plato, Bodo (ed.): Anthroposophy in the 20th century. A cultural impulse in biographical portraits. Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach 2003, ISBN 3-7235-1199-6 , p. 597-598 .
  2. ^ Bock, Friedwart: Hans Heinrich Engel. In: Research Center for Culture Impulse. Retrieved November 4, 2017 .
  3. ^ Beilharz, Gerhard: Eight decades of music in anthroposophical curative education . In: Beilharz, G. (Hrsg.): Music in pedagogy and therapy . Free Spiritual Life, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-7725-2237-8 , p. 79-90 .
personal data
SURNAME Pfrogner, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian music writer
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Graz
DATE OF DEATH December 14, 1988
Place of death Constancy