Josef Rufer
Encyclopedia
Josef Rufer was an Austrian-born musicologist
. He is regarded as a significant figure mainly on account of his association with and writings on Arnold Schoenberg
.
Rufer was a pupil of Zemlinsky and Schoenberg in Vienna
; when the latter composer moved to Berlin to direct the Masterclass in Composition at the Prussian Academy of Arts, Rufer went with him and operated as his Chief Assistant between 1925 and 1933.
Rufer was thus closely involved with Schoenberg during the period of development of serialism and the 12-note method, and it was during a walk with Rufer that Schoenberg uttered the famous statement "I have made a discovery which will ensure the supremacy of German music for the next hundred years" .
Rufer's writings on Schoenberg include the introduction to the serial method Die Komposition mit Zwölf Tönen (Berlin, 1952; translated as Composition With Twelve Notes, London, 1954), and the catalogue Das Werk Arnold Schönberg's (Kassel, 1959; translated as The Works of Arnold Schoenberg, London, 1962). Both were seminal in the study of the composer and his music.
Musicology
Musicology is the scholarly study of music. The word is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music history of Western culture...
. He is regarded as a significant figure mainly on account of his association with and writings on Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
.
Rufer was a pupil of Zemlinsky and Schoenberg in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
; when the latter composer moved to Berlin to direct the Masterclass in Composition at the Prussian Academy of Arts, Rufer went with him and operated as his Chief Assistant between 1925 and 1933.
Rufer was thus closely involved with Schoenberg during the period of development of serialism and the 12-note method, and it was during a walk with Rufer that Schoenberg uttered the famous statement "I have made a discovery which will ensure the supremacy of German music for the next hundred years" .
Rufer's writings on Schoenberg include the introduction to the serial method Die Komposition mit Zwölf Tönen (Berlin, 1952; translated as Composition With Twelve Notes, London, 1954), and the catalogue Das Werk Arnold Schönberg's (Kassel, 1959; translated as The Works of Arnold Schoenberg, London, 1962). Both were seminal in the study of the composer and his music.