Peter Widensky

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Peter Eduard Adolf Maria Widensky (born August 8, 1933 in Vienna ; † March 13, 2015 there ) was an Austrian church musician and musicologist . He was particularly interested in performing early music on historical instruments, which he performed as an interpreter and taught as a university teacher.

Live and act

Peter Widensky was born in Vienna on August 8, 1933. He completed a degree in mathematics at the University of Vienna and further studies at the Vienna University of Music . From 1957 to 1990 he worked as a teacher for mathematics, physics and sport at the federal high school GRG 12 Erlgasse in the 12th district of Meidling in Vienna . On March 1, 1990, he retired as senior teacher. Peter Widensky died in March 2015 at the age of 81. He found his final resting place in the Neustift cemetery in the Viennese district of Döbling .

Church musician and specialist in early music

In addition to his professional activity, Widensky was active as a church musician for 30 years ; Among other things, he was organist at the Christkönigskirche in the Viennese district of Pötzleinsdorf . Their new organ was planned according to Widensky's sound ideas and was given a neo-baroque disposition .

He was particularly interested in early music and received impulses and motivation from Josef Mertin and René Clemencic . After studying old instruments, he began concert activities in 1960, not only appearing as a soloist, but also with various early music ensembles , such as the Clemencic Consort . His particular research interest was in performance practice on keyboard instruments from the Renaissance and Baroque periods , with a focus on the repertoire of organ music in Austria up to the beginning of the 19th century.

He participated in various symposia and summer academies and in 1978 became a lecturer at the Institute for Musicology at the University of Salzburg and at the Institute for Organological Research (today: Center for Organ Research ) at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna .

Widensky was involved in various record and radio productions on the subject of early music on historical instruments. After the restoration of a 400-year-old claviorganum , which was built in 1591 by the Innsbruck organ builder Josua Pockh and is now shown in the Salzburg Cathedral Museum, he recorded a long-playing record with historical pieces of music on this instrument. At the Claviorganum listening station in the Salzburg Cathedral Museum, visitors to the exhibition can listen to four pieces from the Linz organ tablature (1611/1613) interpreted by Widensky .

Honors

On June 22, 1990, Widensky was honored with the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art, First Class , for his services to the mediation of early music on old instruments in the university sector and as an interpreter . The award ceremony took place in the Palais Ferstel .

Recordings (selection)

on historical instruments
  • Peter Widensky plays the Pöllau baroque organ in 1739. Music of the 17th and 18th centuries from Styria. PolyGram, CD 8847556-2
  • The Claviorganum played by Peter Widensky. LP, harmonia mundi, HM 823 A, 1987
  • Music from Carinthian sources on the Klagenfurt table organ. CD
with the Ensemble Clemencic Consort

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Society of Organ Friends (ed.): Ars organi . tape 46 . Merseburger, S. 190 ( online ).
  2. ↑ a b Date and place of burial viewed in the Find a Grave database on June 30, 2019.
  3. ^ Annual report 1989/90 . In: Directorate of the Bundesgymnasium and the Bundesrealgymnasium Vienna 12 (ed.): Wir vom GRG 12 . tape 22 , 1990, pp. 55 ( online [PDF]).
  4. ↑ Christ the King's Church - organ. Archdiocese of Vienna, accessed June 30, 2019 .
  5. ↑ a b Biographical information (with photo) on the back of the LP Das Salzburger Claviorganum played by Peter Widensky , harmonia mundi , 1986.
  6. ^ Center for Organ Research. In: mdw.ac.at. Retrieved June 30, 2019 .
  7. ↑ 80 years of GRG 12: 1910/11 - 1990/91. Annual report 1990/91 . In: Directorate of the Bundesgymnasium and the Bundesrealgymnasium Vienna 12 (ed.): Wir vom GRG 12 . tape 23 , 1991, pp. 69 ( online [PDF]).
  8. ↑ Ingomar Mattitsch: On the history of the Klagenfurt table organ . S. 296 ( online [PDF]).
  9. ^ Table of contents of the CD The Klagenfurt Table Organ
personal data
SURNAME Widensky, Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Widensky, Peter Eduard Adolf Maria (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian church musician and musicologist
DATE OF BIRTH August 8, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH March 13, 2015
Place of death Vienna