Walther Vetter

This article deals with the musicologist Walther Vetter. For other people see Walter Vetter .

Walther Hermann Vetter (born May 10, 1891 in Berlin , † April 1, 1967 in East Berlin ) was a German musicologist . From 1946 to 1958 he was a full professor at the Humboldt University in Berlin .

Life

Walther Vetter, Evangelical Lutheran , was the son of Kapellmeister Johannes Vetter (1860–1928), a founding member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra . In 1897 the family moved to Greiz in the Principality of Reuss older line (today: Thuringia), where the father founded an orchestra. Walther Vetter first attended the Greiz municipal grammar school and then, until he graduated from high school, the Latina of the Francke Foundations in Halle an der Saale. From 1910 he studied musicology, art history and philosophy at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg as well as conducting at the Leipzig Conservatory(with Hans Sitt , Stephan Krehl and Richard Hofmann). In 1914 he passed the conductor examination. During the First World War he served in an army music corps (1914/15) and as an army soldier a. a. at Hartmannswillerkopf and before Verdun on the Western Front (1915–1918).

He then continued his studies in musicology at the University of Halle. He also studied art history (with Wilhelm Waetzoldt ) as well as philosophy and psychology (with Theodor Draw and Felix Krueger ). He received inspiration from his academic teacher Hermann Abert for his later research, which ranged from ancient Greek music to the composers of the 19th century. In 1920 he was at the University of Leipzig with a thesis on The aria in Gluck to Dr. phil. PhD . After completing his studies, Vetter worked briefly as a music critic for the Hallische Zeitung , and in 1921 he moved to the Free City of Danzig as an adult education center teacher, music editor for the Danzig Latest News and music advisor to the Senate . In 1927 he completed his habilitation under Max Schneider with a thesis on Selected Chapters from the Development History and Aesthetics of the One- and Polyphonic German Art Song in the 17th Century at the Silesian Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau for musicology and then received a private lecturer there . In 1928 he became a deputy professor and acting director of the Musicological Institute in Halle. From 1929 he was a lecturer at the University of Hamburg .

Although he was initially employed after the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists, his attempt at rehabilitation in Hamburg in 1934 was unsuccessful. In mid-1934 Vetter received an unofficial extraordinary professorship at the University of Breslau, where Arnold Schmitz held the chair at the time . In 1936, Vetter was appointed director of the musicological seminar, succeeding Hans Engel, and in 1939 he was appointed director of the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University in Greifswald . In the course of the appointment procedure in Berlin, in which he was named third after Friedrich Blume and Rudolf Gerber , the local Gaudozentenbund leader Willi Willing referred to him as a "musicologist of medium format". In April 1941 he went to the newly founded and Nazi-oriented Reichsuniversität Poznan in occupied Poland , where he received an extraordinary full professorship and became director of the Musicological Institute. He probably owed this position to Herman-Walther Frey , consultant in university matters at the Reich Ministry of Science . For Frey's denazification process in 1947, Vetter then issued his friend a clean bill of health . It was not until the end of the Second World War , in January 1945, that Vetter was drafted into the Volkssturm (Aufgebot I). Most recently he served as a clerk for a supply regiment in the Wehrmacht .

As early as December 1933, he publicly committed himself to National Socialism , although he never became a member of the NSDAP . The musicologist Hans Huchzermeyer (2012) criticized Vetter for his "National Socialist and anti-Jewish statements" during the Nazi era. His lecture on folk characteristics in Mozart's operas of 1938 can be used as an example. Vetter was a member of the National Socialist Teachers' Association (May 1, 1936 to October 15, 1937), of the National Socialist Motor Vehicle Corps (1939 to 1941) and of the National Socialist People's Welfare . He also took on the role of municipal music officer for Greifswald until 1941 . In 1942 he found himself in the Nazi lecturers' association .

After the end of the war in May 1945, Vetter took up residence in the Soviet occupation zone , later the GDR , and in March 1946, after a one-year appointment process, was given the full chair of musicology at the Humboldt University in Berlin, which had been vacant since Arnold Schering's death in 1941 . In his research, Vetter dealt with different genres and epochs in music history . He wrote studies and systematic manuals on ancient music, on Johann Sebastian Bach , Franz Schubert and Christoph Willibald Gluck. He also published encyclopedia articles for the Realencyclopadie der classical antiquity (from 1927), the music in the past and present (from 1949) and the New German Biography (from 1955). From 1948 to 1961 he was co-editor of music research , from 1956 to 1966, together with Rudolf Eller, editor of the German Yearbook of Musicology . From 1948 to 1958 he was Vice President and from 1961 honorary member of the Society for Music Research , from 1950 to 1960 member of the board of the Association of German Composers and Musicologists . He became a member of the German Bach Committee, which was constituted in 1949. In 1950 he took over the management of the scientific Bach conference in Leipzig. From 1952 he was a member of the editorial board of the Neue Bach-Ausgabe , staying until his death. He was also an advisory board member for musicology at the State Secretariat for higher education and technical schools . In 1958 he was retired . His academic students included a. Kurt Gudewill (doctorate, Hamburg 1935) and Herbert Kelletat (habilitation, Posen 1944). From 1949 to 1951 Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht was Vetters' assistant in Berlin.

Vetter, who was a member of the LDPD , was highly valued in his subject in the GDR. In 1957 he received the National Prize III. Science and technology class.

In 1950, his book Der Kapellmeister Bach triggered professional contradictions. While the party press received the book positively, Georg Knepler , himself a colleague of Vetters in East Berlin, criticized it. The West German Bach researcher Friedrich Smend also criticized Vetter's musicological and theological assessments in an extensive footnote to his work Bach in Köthen (1952).

Other authors criticized Vetter's work in connection with his attitude during the Nazi era. His introductory booklet on the life and work of Johann Sebastian Bach from 1938 is ideologically inflated. The writing supported those values ​​that were conditioned by the blood-and-soil ideology of the Nazis. Eduard Mutschelknauss attested that he had decidedly völkisch-nationalistic elements. Like the monograph from 1950, Vetter's Forkel edition On Johann Sebastian Bach's Life, Art and Works of Art (1966ff.), Or the epilogue , is considered by some authors to be tendentious.

He was married and died in 1967 in Berlin-Niederschönhausen . His estate is in the music department of the Berlin State Library .

Fonts (selection)

• Gluck's aria . Leipzig 1920 (dissertation; only partially printed).
• The early German song. Selected chapters from the development history and aesthetics of the one- and polyphonic German art song in the 17th century . 2 volumes. Helios-Verlag, Münster 1928.
• The humanistic concept of education in music and musicology . H. Beyer & Sons, Langensalza 1928.
• Hermann Abert and musicology at the University of Halle . Helios-Verlag, Münster 1929 (lecture).
• Franz Schubert . Athenaion, Potsdam 1934.
• Ancient music . Heimeran, Munich 1935.
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Life and Work . Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1938.
• Beethoven and the military-political events of his time . Kluge & Ströhm, Posen 1943 (lecture).
• The Kapellmeister Bach. Attempt to interpret Bach on the basis of his work as Kapellmeister in Koethen . Athenaion, Potsdam 1950.
• Report on the scientific conference of the Society for Music Research: Leipzig 23rd to 26th July 1950 . Peters, Leipzig 1951 (Ed. With Ernst Hermann Meyer ).
• The classic Schubert . 2 volumes. Peters, Leipzig 1953.
• Festschrift Max Schneider for his eightieth birthday . German publishing house for music, Leipzig 1955 (ed.).
• Richard Wagner : Paris Novellas: A German Musician in Paris . 2nd edition, Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 1961 (ed.).
• Myth - Melos - Musica. Selected essays on music history . 2 volumes. Leipzig 1957–1961.
• Christoph Willibald Gluck. An essay . VEB German publishing house for music, Leipzig 1964.
• Johann Nikolaus Forkel : About Johann Sebastian Bach's life, art and works of art . Hoffmeister and Kühnel, Leipzig 1802. [Ed. of the Faksmile reprint: 2nd edition, Henschel, Berlin 1970].

literature

• Heinz Wegener: In the service of musicology. Walter Vetter 70 years old . In: Der Kirchenmusiker 12 (1961), p. 58f.
• Günter Hausswald : Walther Vetter 70 years . In: Musica 15 (1961), p. 393.
• Eberhard Otto: Walther Vetter 75 years . In: Musica 20 (1966), p. 137 (with picture).
• Hansjürgen Schaefer : Walther Vetter 75 years. In: Musik und Gesellschaft 16 (1966), pp. 330f.
• Heinz Becker : Walther Vetter in memoriam . In: Die Musikforschung 20 (1967) 3, pp. 245–247.
• Wolfram Schwinger : On the death of Walther Vetter . In: Musica 21 (1967), p. 129f.
• Friedrich Blume : Walther Vetter in Memoriam . In: Acta Musicologica 40 (1968) 1, pp. 3-5.
• Ernst Hermann Meyer : In memory of Walther Vetter . In: Contributions to musicology 10 (1968), pp. 209f.
• Institute for Musicology at the Humboldt University in Berlin (ed.): Musa, mens, musici: in memory of Walther Vetter . Deutscher Verlag für Musik, VEB, Leipzig 1969 (with a refined list of publications).
• Gabriele Baumgartner: Vetter, Walther . In: Gabriele Baumgartner, Dieter Hebig (eds.): Biographical manual of the SBZ / GDR 1945–1990 . Volume 2: Maassen - Zylla . Saur, Munich a. a. 1997, ISBN 3-598-11177-0 , p. 959.
• Carl Dahlhaus , Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht (Ed.): Brockhaus-Riemann-Musiklexikon . In four volumes and a supplementary volume (= Series Musik Atlantis, Schott . Bd. 8397). Volume 4: R-Z . 3rd edition, Atlantis-Musikbuch-Verlag, Zurich u. a. 2001, ISBN 3-254-08399-7 , p. 302.
• Burkhard Meischein : "The first musicological chair in Germany". Events surrounding Arnold Schering's successor 1941–1946 . In: Rüdiger vom Bruch (ed.): The Berlin University in the Nazi era . Volume 2: Departments and Faculties . Steiner, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-515-08658-7 , pp. 165-178.
• Fred K. Prieberg : Handbook of German Musicians 1933-1945 . 2nd edition, Kopf, Kiel 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-037705-1 , pp. 7856-7858 and 9841.
• Ernst Klee : The cultural lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 (= The time of National Socialism. Vol. 17153). Completely revised edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-596-17153-8 , p. 568.
• Henrik Eberle : "A valuable instrument". The University of Greifswald under National Socialism . Böhlau Verlag, Cologne u. a. 2015, ISBN 978-3-412-22397-7 , p. 822.
• Markus Rathey : A Divided Country – A Divided Bach: The Cantor-Kapellmeister Controversy and The Cold War. In: Bach 47 (2016) 2, pp. 1–26.

Web links

• Literature by and about Walther Vetter in the catalog of the German National Library
• Walther Vetter at Discogs (English)
• Entry on Walther Vetter in the Catalogus Professorum Halensis
• Lothar Hoffmann inheritance law, Pamela M. Potter:  Vetter, Walther. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Henrik Eberle: "A valuable instrument". The University of Greifswald under National Socialism . Böhlau Verlag, Cologne u. a. 2015, ISBN 978-3-412-22397-7 , p. 822.
2. ^ ^{A b} Peter Petersen: Musicology in Hamburg 1933 to 1945 . In: Eckhart Krause, Ludwig Huber, Holger Fischer (eds.): Everyday university life in the “Third Reich”. The Hamburg University 1933–1945 (= Hamburg contributions to the history of science . Vol. 3). Part 2: Philosophical Faculty, Law and Political Science Faculty . Reimer, Berlin a. a. 1991, pp. 625-640, here: p. 631.
3. ↑ Burkhard Meischein: "The first musicological chair in Germany". Events surrounding Arnold Schering's successor 1941–1946 . In: Rüdiger vom Bruch (ed.): The Berlin University in the Nazi era . Volume 2: Departments and Faculties . Steiner, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-515-08658-7 , pp. 165-178, here: pp. 168f.
4. ↑ Helmut W. Schaller : The "Reichsuniversität Posen" 1941–1945. Prehistory, National Socialist foundation, resistance and a new beginning in Poland (= Symbolae Slavicae . Vol. 29). Lang, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 2010, ISBN 978-3-631-57643-4 , pp. 9f.
5. ↑ Harry Waibel : Servants of many masters. Former Nazi functionaries in the Soviet Zone / GDR. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2011, ISBN 978-3-631-63542-1 , pp. 349-350.
6. ↑ Oliver Bordin: Herman-Walther Frey's significance in science policy - a sketch . In: Michael Custodis (Ed.): Herman-Walter Frey. Ministerial councilor, scientist, networker. NS university policy and the consequences (= Münster writings on contemporary music . Vol. 2). Waxmann, Münster a. a. 2014, ISBN 978-3-8309-3107-2 , pp. 91-144, here: p. 117; see. Michael Custodis : Continuity and Loyalty - Frey's Science Network . In: Michael Custodis (Ed.): Herman-Walter Frey. Ministerial councilor, scientist, networker. Nazi University Policy and the Consequences . Münster u. a. 2014, pp. 32–42, here: p. 32.
7. ^ Friedrich Geiger: Panel discussion on the influence of Herman-Walther Freys on musicology . In: Michael Custodis (Ed.): Herman-Walter Frey. Ministerial councilor, scientist, networker. NS university policy and the consequences (= Münster writings on contemporary music . Vol. 2). Waxmann, Münster a. a. 2014, ISBN 978-3-8309-3107-2 , pp. 145–159, here: p. 145.
8. ^ Anselm Gerhard: Musicology . In: Frank-Rutger Hausmann (ed.): The role of the humanities in the Third Reich 1933-1945 (= writings of the historical college . Colloquia 53). Oldenbourg, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-486-56639-3 , pp. 165-192, here: p. 180.
9. ^ ^{A b c} Hans Huchzermeyer: Contributions to the life and work of the church musician Ernst Maschke (1867–1940) as well as to the history of the church music institutes in Königsberg, Prussia (1824–1945) . Dissertation, University of Paderborn 2012, p. 155.
10. ↑ Annkatrin Dahm: The Topos of the Jews. Studies on the history of anti-Semitism in German-language music literature (= Jewish religion, history and culture . Vol. 7). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-525-56996-2 , p. 345f.
11. ^ ^{A b} Fred K. Prieberg: Handbook of German Musicians 1933–1945 . 2nd edition, Kopf, Kiel 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-037705-1 , p. 7856.
12. ↑ ^{a b c} Burkhard Meischein: "The first musicological chair in Germany". Events surrounding Arnold Schering's successor 1941–1946 . In: Rüdiger vom Bruch (ed.): The Berlin University in the Nazi era . Volume 2: Departments and Faculties . Steiner, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-515-08658-7 , pp. 165–178, here: p. 177.
13. ↑ Author: Walther Vetter , deutsche-biographie.de, accessed on July 8, 2018.
14. ^ Bettina Hinterthür: Notes according to plan. The music publishers in the Soviet Zone, GDR. Censorship system, central planned economy and German-German relations until the beginning of the 1960s (= contributions to company history . Vol. 23). Steiner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-515-08837-7 , p. 137.
15. ^ Johann Sebastian Bach Institute Göttingen , Leipzig Bach Archive (ed.): The new Bach edition 1954–2007. A documentation. Presented at the end of Johann Sebastian Bach's new edition of all works . Bärenreiter, Kassel u. a. 2007, p. 28f.
16. ↑ Richard Baum , Friedrich Blume , Walter Gerstenberg : Communication to all members of the Society for Music Research . In: Die Musikforschung 15 (1962) 4, pp. 411–414, here: p. 414.
17. ↑ Doctorates from Walther Vetter , institutsgeschichte-muwi.blogs.uni-hamburg.de, accessed on July 7, 2018.
18. ^ Albrecht Riethmüller : Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht to commemorate . In: Die Musikforschung 53 (2000) 1, pp. 1–3, here: p. 1.
19. ↑ Martin Geck , Peter Schleuning: “Written on Bonaparte”. Beethoven's "Eroica". Revolution, reaction, reception . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1989, ISBN 3-499-18568-7 , p. 303.
20. ↑ Mark Rathey: A Divided Country-A Divided Bach: The Cantor conductor Controversy and The Cold War . In: Bach 47 (2016) 2, pp. 1–26, here: p. 8.
21. ↑ Mark Rathey: A Divided Country-A Divided Bach: The Cantor conductor Controversy and The Cold War . In: Bach 47 (2016) 2, pp. 1–26, here: p. 9.
22. ^ Friedrich Smend: Bach in Koethen . Berlin [o. J.] 1952: Christian magazine publisher; Footnote 5, pp. 144-149
23. ↑ Mark Rathey: A Divided Country-A Divided Bach: The Cantor conductor Controversy and The Cold War . In: Bach 47 (2016) 2, pp. 1–26, here: p. 10.
24. ↑ Eduard Mutschelknauss: The "Volkslied. How he grew together with him ”. Contrasting historiographical perspectives on Bach's integration of folk songs . In: Yearbook of the German Folk Song Archive Freiburg 55 (2010), pp. 153–179, here: p. 166.
25. ↑ Axel Fischer: The scientific of art. Johann Nikolaus Forkel as Academic Music Director in Göttingen (= treatises on music history . Vol. 27). V&R Unipress, Göttingen 2015, ISBN 978-3-8470-0370-0 , p. 479f.
26. ↑ Music: Legacies and Collections , staatsbibliothek-berlin.de, accessed on July 7, 2018.