Werner Neumann (musicologist)

Werner Neumann (born January 21, 1905 in Königstein , Saxony , † April 24, 1991 in Leipzig ) was a German musicologist and Bach researcher . In 1950 he founded the Bach Archive in Leipzig.

life and work

From 1928 to 1930 he studied at the Conservatory in Leipzig with Otto Weinreich , Fritz Reuter , Hermann Grabner and at the same time (until 1933) at the University of Leipzig with Theodor Kroyer , Hermann Zenck , Helmut Schultz (musicology), Theodor Litt , Hans Driesch (philosophy, psychology ), Walther von Wartburg , Philipp August Becker (Romance studies), passed the state examination for artistic teaching in 1933 and was awarded the title in 1938 with the work “JS Bach's Chorfuge. A Contribution to Bach's Composition Technique " phil.PhD .

From 1934 to 1940 he worked in higher education and was then called up for military service for five years. 1945 to 1950 he worked as a freelance music teacher, music critic and music writer, temporarily as a lecturer in music history at the Leipzig University of Music .

Following the German Bach Celebration in 1950, on November 20, 1950, he founded the Bach Archive in Leipzig as a central documentation and research center, which under his direction (until 1973) was able to achieve international renown. The Bach Archive was opened on June 23, 1951 in the Gohliser Schlösschen .

From 1953 to 1974 he was editor of the Bach yearbook with Alfred Dürr , for which he wrote numerous articles. Since 1951 he has been in charge of the GDR edition director for the 86-volume “ Neue Bach-Ausgabe ” (Leipzig-Göttingen), to which he himself contributed a number of cantatas.

As a board member of the New Bach Society (since 1952) and as an honorary member (since 1975) as well as a member of the Johann Sebastian Bach Committee of the GDR (since 1966), he was able to work in various ways on the organizational development of modern Bach maintenance.

Since 1971 he has been a member of the ETERNA-Edition advisory board , conceptor and scientific advisor for the Bach record series. In 1974 he was appointed a full member of the Saxon Academy of Sciences .

The Bose House

Georg Heinrich Bose (1682–1731), a wealthy merchant and merchant, was the owner of the building mentioned below.

Quotes by Werner Neumann from special print from the 1970 Bach Yearbook , p. 22 and p. 26:

“If you check the baptismal registers of the Thomas Church with regard to the Bach-Bose family relationships, you will be surprised by the fact that no fewer than five sponsorships of the cantor house between 1731 and 1742 were provided by daughters of the Bose family. The bereavement, but even more so the happy events in the neighboring house (in the “Bosischen Hauß am Thomas Kirch Hoffe”) must have challenged Bach's musical participation, ”says Werner Neumann. In conclusion, he recommends: "It would be nice if it (the Bose house) could be returned to memorial tasks". In 1973, a scientifically based memorial that he had planned and designed was inaugurated in the Bose House. In 1985, this resulted in the move of the Bach Archive from the baroque Gohliser Schlösschen to the restored Bose House and the opening of a Bach Museum .

The Bose House in Thomaskirchhof No. 16 opposite the Thomaskirche (Johann Sebastian Bach's place of work) is one of the cultural institutions and sights of Leipzig.

Awards

• 1954 Awarded the title of "Professor" in recognition of his academic achievements in the field of Bach research and his services as director of the Leipzig Bach Archive
• 1966 Medal of Merit of the GDR
• 1968 Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze
• 1973 National Prize of the GDR
• 1981 Patriotic Order of Merit in silver

Publications

• Johann Sebastian Bach's Choral Fugue, 1938, 1950
• Handbook of JS Bach's cantatas, 1947
• Catechism of Music (Lobe-Neumann), 1949
• On the life paths of JS Bach, 1953
• JS Bach's complete Kantantentexte, 1956,1967
• Bach documents, Vol. 1–4 (Neumann-Schulze), 1963 to 1979
• Bach, A Pictorial Biography, 1961
• Das kleine Bachbuch, 1971 and 1985
• All texts set to music by JS Bach, 1974
• New Bach edition, 1954 to 1969 (cantatas volumes with critical reports)
• Facsimile series of Bach works and documents
• Countless introductory texts on Bach records
• Magazine articles
• Reviews and reviews
• Essays in Bach yearbooks
• Bach Festival companion books
• Festschriften
• Collective prints
• Sheet music, among others

The publishers and editors concerned, the editions and editions and the foreign-language translations of the works are not mentioned in this brief portrait.

Web links

• Literature by and about Werner Neumann in the catalog of the German National Library