Karl Geiringer
Encyclopedia
Karl Geiringer was a musicologist, educator, and biographer of composer
s. He was educated in Vienna but at the beginning of the Nazi years he emigrated to England and ultimately the United States, where he had a lengthy and distinguished career at several universities. He was a noted authority on Brahms, Haydn, and the Bach family, and a prolific author. He died in 1989 at the age of 89.
He studied music history at the University of Vienna
under Guido Adler
and Curt Sachs
, and studied composition under Hans Gál
. He also studied at the University of Berlin under Curt Sachs
. He received his Ph.D in musicology from the University of Vienna in 1923. The topic of his doctoral thesis was the musical instruments appearing in Renaissance painting. Following his degree he
worked as an editor for Adler's journal Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich; he remained on the editorial board of this publication for the rest of his life.
In 1930 he won a top position in the musicological field, as the curator of the archives at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde
, a position previously held by his mentor Eusebius Mandyczewski
and other distinguished scholars. The job gave Geiringer access to much valuable primary source material on Western music, which he used extensively in his scholarship. An unusual responsibility Geiringer bore at the Gesellschaft archives was the curatorship of Joseph Haydn
's skull, which had been stolen from his grave in 1809. In the first English edition of his Haydn biography (1946), Geiringer reminisced about bringing forth the skull to show to visitors. See: Haydn's head
.
In 1938, Austria was incorporated into Nazi Germany in the Anschluss
. With the Nazi occupation, the Gesellschaft was closed. Geiringer, although he considered himself a Roman Catholic, was the child of Jewish parents; hence he and his family were in grave danger, and they fled the country. He first went to London, where he taught at the Royal Conservatory of Music
and served as a broadcaster for the BBC. He also worked extensively as an editor for the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
; according to his later colleagues he was "in all but name a co-editor".
In 1940, Geiringer moved to America., becoming an American citizen in 1945. He taught first for a year as a visiting professor at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. The following year he took up a professorial appointment at Boston University
, where he directed the graduate program and remained for 21 years. Among his students was H. C. Robbins Landon
. His final academic appointment began in 1962, when he moved to the University of California at Santa Barbara, in order to establish the graduate program in musicology. Throughout this time, he continued to publish extensively.
In 1973 he became an emeritus professor, but continued to be very active: his colleagues said of him, "His 'retirement' ... proved to be more of a technicality than a reality--his teaching and research continued unabatedly and were interrupted only by death itself." He died of complications from injuries sustained in a fall on January 10, 1989 in Santa Barbara
, California
.
Geiringer was twice married. His first wife, and longtime coauthor, was Irene Geiringer (1899–1983),. He was later married to Bernice Geiringer (née Abrams, 1918–2001), a concert pianist and student of Arnold Schoenberg
.. He had two sons, Martin and George.
. In 1959 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
. His last university, UC Santa Barbara, established a lecture program in his name in 1994 and named a concert hall in his honor.
As Crutchfield notes, "It was Mr. Geiringer's habit to take on the largest topics". His work included extensive biographies of Brahms
, Haydn
, and of the Bach
family, which went through multiple editions. He also wrote many scholarly articles.
He was responsible for the rediscovery of minor works by Brahms and by Hugo Wolf
that had gone missing.
Following his death, his colleagues assessed his research as follows:
Geiringer himself assessed his career as follows: "It seems to me that, as far as my fate allowed it, I have made adequate use of the modest resources with which nature endowed me".
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
s. He was educated in Vienna but at the beginning of the Nazi years he emigrated to England and ultimately the United States, where he had a lengthy and distinguished career at several universities. He was a noted authority on Brahms, Haydn, and the Bach family, and a prolific author. He died in 1989 at the age of 89.
Life
Geiringer was born in Vienna on April 26, 1899, the son of Louis and Martha (nee Wertheimer) Geiringer.He studied music history at the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
under Guido Adler
Guido Adler
Guido Adler was a Bohemian-Austrian musicologist and writer.His father Joachim, a physician, died of typhoid fever in 1857...
and Curt Sachs
Curt Sachs
Curt Sachs was a German-born but American-domiciled musicologist. He was one of the founders of modern organology , and is probably best remembered today for co-authoring the Sachs-Hornbostel scheme of musical instrument classification with his fellow scholar Erich von Hornbostel.Born in Berlin,...
, and studied composition under Hans Gál
Hans Gál
Hans Gál was a composer, teacher and pianist.Gál was born to a Jewish family in the small village of Brunn am Gebirge, Niederösterreich, just outside Vienna. He was trained in that city at the New Vienna Conservatory where later he taught for some time. While a student he won the K. und K...
. He also studied at the University of Berlin under Curt Sachs
Curt Sachs
Curt Sachs was a German-born but American-domiciled musicologist. He was one of the founders of modern organology , and is probably best remembered today for co-authoring the Sachs-Hornbostel scheme of musical instrument classification with his fellow scholar Erich von Hornbostel.Born in Berlin,...
. He received his Ph.D in musicology from the University of Vienna in 1923. The topic of his doctoral thesis was the musical instruments appearing in Renaissance painting. Following his degree he
worked as an editor for Adler's journal Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich; he remained on the editorial board of this publication for the rest of his life.
In 1930 he won a top position in the musicological field, as the curator of the archives at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde
The Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien , was founded in 1812 by Joseph von Sonnleithner, general secretary of the Court Theatre, Vienna, Austria. Its official charter, drafted in 1814, states that the purpose of the Society was to promote music in all its facets...
, a position previously held by his mentor Eusebius Mandyczewski
Eusebius Mandyczewski
Eusebius Mandyczewski was a musicologist, composer, conductor, and teacher. He was an author of numerous musical works and is highly regarded within Austrian, Romanian and Ukrainian music circles.- Family and friends :...
and other distinguished scholars. The job gave Geiringer access to much valuable primary source material on Western music, which he used extensively in his scholarship. An unusual responsibility Geiringer bore at the Gesellschaft archives was the curatorship of Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
's skull, which had been stolen from his grave in 1809. In the first English edition of his Haydn biography (1946), Geiringer reminisced about bringing forth the skull to show to visitors. See: Haydn's head
Haydn's head
The celebrated composer Joseph Haydn died, aged 77, on May 31, 1809. As Austria was at war and the Viennese capital occupied by Napoleon's troops, a rather simple funeral was held in Gumpendorf, the suburb of Vienna where Haydn had lived, followed by burial in the Hundsturm cemetery...
.
In 1938, Austria was incorporated into Nazi Germany in the Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
. With the Nazi occupation, the Gesellschaft was closed. Geiringer, although he considered himself a Roman Catholic, was the child of Jewish parents; hence he and his family were in grave danger, and they fled the country. He first went to London, where he taught at the Royal Conservatory of Music
Royal Conservatory of Music
The Royal Conservatory of Music is a music school and performance venue in Toronto, Canada. Other uses of the term include:*The Madrid Royal Conservatory, Spain*The Royal Academy of Music, London, United Kingdom...
and served as a broadcaster for the BBC. He also worked extensively as an editor for the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, it is the largest single reference work on Western music. The dictionary has gone through several editions since the 19th century...
; according to his later colleagues he was "in all but name a co-editor".
In 1940, Geiringer moved to America., becoming an American citizen in 1945. He taught first for a year as a visiting professor at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. The following year he took up a professorial appointment at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
, where he directed the graduate program and remained for 21 years. Among his students was H. C. Robbins Landon
H. C. Robbins Landon
Howard Chandler Robbins Landon was an American musicologist.He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and studied music at Swarthmore College and Boston University. He subsequently moved to Europe where he worked as a music critic. From 1947 he undertook research in Vienna on Joseph Haydn, a composer...
. His final academic appointment began in 1962, when he moved to the University of California at Santa Barbara, in order to establish the graduate program in musicology. Throughout this time, he continued to publish extensively.
In 1973 he became an emeritus professor, but continued to be very active: his colleagues said of him, "His 'retirement' ... proved to be more of a technicality than a reality--his teaching and research continued unabatedly and were interrupted only by death itself." He died of complications from injuries sustained in a fall on January 10, 1989 in Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
Geiringer was twice married. His first wife, and longtime coauthor, was Irene Geiringer (1899–1983),. He was later married to Bernice Geiringer (née Abrams, 1918–2001), a concert pianist and student of 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...
.. He had two sons, Martin and George.
Scholarship
Geiringer served twice as president of the American Musicological SocietyAmerican Musicological Society
The American Musicological Society is a membership-based musicological organization founded in 1934 to advance scholarly research in the various fields of music as a branch of learning and scholarship; it grew out of a small contingent of the Music Teachers National Association and, more directly,...
. In 1959 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
. His last university, UC Santa Barbara, established a lecture program in his name in 1994 and named a concert hall in his honor.
As Crutchfield notes, "It was Mr. Geiringer's habit to take on the largest topics". His work included extensive biographies of Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
, Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
, and of the Bach
Bạch
Bạch is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Bai in Chinese and Baek, in Korean.Bach is the anglicized variation of the surname Bạch.-Notable people with the surname Bạch:* Bạch Liêu...
family, which went through multiple editions. He also wrote many scholarly articles.
He was responsible for the rediscovery of minor works by Brahms and by Hugo Wolf
Hugo Wolf
Hugo Wolf was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs, or lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Romantic music, somewhat related to that of the Second Viennese School in concision but utterly unrelated in...
that had gone missing.
Following his death, his colleagues assessed his research as follows:
- [His] prolific scholarly output, when viewed in its totality, is remarkable for its great scope and depth. His writings and editions span practically the complete range of music history and all carry the mark of a discipline he must have possessed as a student and an excellence we know he had as a teacher. His most significant achievements, if they can at all be pinpointed, lay in the areas of Bach and Haydn research, in his studies of these two masters written, revised and enlarged over a period of a halfcentury in collaboration with his brilliant first wife, Irene, and in his lifelong effort to see that a collected edition of Haydn's works be realized for the first time in our century.
Geiringer himself assessed his career as follows: "It seems to me that, as far as my fate allowed it, I have made adequate use of the modest resources with which nature endowed me".
Notable works
- (1936) Brahms: His Life and Works, Houghton Mifflin
- (1945) Musical Instruments, Their History in Western Culture from the Stone Age to the Present, Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19519-027-4 .
- (1946 (1st ed.), 3rd and final edition 1984 with Irene Geiringer) Haydn: A Creative Life in Music, W. W. Norton
- (1954) The Bach Family: Seven Generations of Creative Genius, Oxford University Press
- (1993) This I Remember. Santa Barbara, CA: Fithian Press.
- (2002) Joseph Haydn and the Eighteenth Century: Collected Essays of Karl Geiringer. Edited by Robert N. Freeman. Warren, MI: Harmonie Park Press. ISBN 0-89990-112-3.
- (2006) with George S. Bozarth, On Brahms and his circle : essays and documentary studies, revised and enlarged by George S. Bozarth with a foreword by Walter Frisch. Sterling Heights, Mich.: Harmonie Park Press. ISBN 978-0-89990-136-7.