Johannes Kemke

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Johannes Rudolf Benjamin Kemke (born January 20, 1863 in Königsberg ; † October 20, 1918 there ) was a German classical philologist and librarian . He is best known for his critical edition of Philodemos ' De musica (1884).

Life

Johannes Kemke, the son of the businessman Johann Eduard Kemke and brother of the bookseller and prehistorian Heinrich Kemke , studied classical philology at the University of Bonn , where he belonged to the Bonner Kreis and the Philological Association and on August 11, 1884 was awarded a Dr. phil. received his doctorate . In his doctoral thesis he dealt with an ancient text on music theory ( Philodemos , De musica ), which he reconstructed from papyrus fragments .

On October 1, 1888, Kemke joined the library service as a volunteer at the Göttingen University Library , which at that time was a leading institution for academic librarian training under the direction of Karl Dziatzko . After three years of apprenticeship, Kemke went to the Royal Library of Berlin as an assistant on October 1st, where he was appointed assistant librarian on July 1st, 1894 and librarian on April 1st, 1898. At the same time he took on a position as archivist at the Prussian Academy of Sciences on April 1, 1897 , which he gave up after a month for health reasons.

From April 1, 1901 to March 31, 1908, he returned to the Göttingen University Library as the successor to Rudolf Focke . On March 17, 1908, he was transferred to the University Library of Kiel with effect from April 1, and received the title of senior librarian there on July 15, 1908. His main tasks included cataloging the holdings. In doing so, he followed the library science principles that he had learned during his training in Göttingen, but in four years of meticulous work he only managed to create the beginnings of a new catalog. On November 6, 1914, he was transferred again, this time to his hometown of Königsberg (with effect from January 1, 1915). However, his unstable health prevented him from developing a special effect there. As early as 1916 he was severely disabled by rheumatism , and from the beginning of 1917 he was largely unable to work. He died on October 20, 1918 at the age of 55. The University Library of Königsberg acquired his private library of 300 volumes .

Scientific work

As a classical philologist at the Bonn School (under Franz Bücheler and Hermann Usener ) Kemke made an important contribution to ancient music theory with his doctoral thesis: In his doctoral thesis, he reconstructed Philodems' De musica , which was made up of a large number of papyrus fragments (some of which were badly mutilated) Herculaneum was preserved. His edition was already highly valued by experts when it appeared and formed the starting point for further research on this font. The particularly heavily fragmented fourth book, the text of which Kemke himself had left open in many places, was re-edited a century later by Annemarie Jeanette Neubecker based on decades of preparatory work.

Kemke's other academic work was primarily concerned with the history of books and libraries. His most important publication in this area was an annotated edition of letters by the Scottish librarian Patrick Young (1584–1652).

Fonts (selection)

  • Philodemi de musica librorum quae exstant . Leipzig 1884 (digitized at archive.org ).
  • From the XX artium liber of Paulus Paulirinus . In: Central Journal for Libraries . Volume 7 (1890), pp. 144-149.
  • Bibliographical. About John Durie 's book "Reformed librarie-keeper", 1650 . In: Central Journal for Libraries . 1892. (GND)
  • On the history of book printing in Constantinople . In: Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen , Vol. 11 (1894), pp. 178-184 ( online ).
  • Patricius Junius ( Patrick Young ), librarian to Kings Jacob I and Carl I of England. Messages from his correspondence . Leipzig 1898 (= collection of library studies 12). Reprint Wiesbaden 1969.

literature

  • Friedrich Volbehr , Richard Weyl: Professors and lecturers at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel 1665 to 1933. In addition to information about the lecturers, language course instructors, teachers of the arts and university librarians, as well as about the rectors 1665–1933 . Kiel 1934, p. 293
  • Bonn district 1854–2000 . Edited by Thomas Schönenbroicher with the collaboration of Marcus Beck, Joachim Birken, Cornelius Schiller and Hartmut Wilms. Bonn 2000, p. 34 (No. 247)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Joachim Rex: The Berlin Academy Library. The development of the library of the Academy of Sciences over three centuries, illustrated by the sources . Wiesbaden 2002 (= contributions to books and libraries 44), pp. 81–85.
  2. ^ Georg Leyh: The German libraries from the Enlightenment to the present . Wiesbaden 1956, p. 411.
  3. ^ Christian Tilitzki : The Albertus University of Königsberg: Your story from the founding of the empire to the fall of the province of East Prussia (1871-1945) . Volume 1: 1871–1918, Munich 2012, p. 474 with note 2204.
  4. ^ Theodor Gomperz : To Philodems books of music . Vienna 1885.
  5. ↑ Otto Luschnat : On the text of Philodem's writing de musica . Berlin 1953, pp. 7-14.
personal data
SURNAME Kemke, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kemke, Johannes Rudolf Benjamin (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German classical philologist and librarian
DATE OF BIRTH January 20, 1863
PLACE OF BIRTH Königsberg (Prussia)
DATE OF DEATH October 20, 1918
Place of death Königsberg (Prussia)