Oehl, Kurt (Helmut)

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Oehl, Kurt (Helmut)

Oehl, Kurt (Helmut), eminent German musicologist; b. Mainz, Feb. 24, 1923. He was educated at the Mainz Cons, and at the Johannes Gutenberg Univ. in Mainz, obtaining his Ph.D. (1952) with the diss. Beitrage zur Geschichte der deutschen Mozart-Übersetzungen. After working as a dramaturg (1952–60), he became a member of the editorial staff of the Riemann Musiklexikon in 1960. In this capacity, he helped to prepare the vol. on musical terms and historical subjects (Sachteil) for the 12th ed. (Mainz, 1967); also served as a biographical ed. for the Supplement (2 vols., Mainz, 1972,1975). He then became an ed. for the Brockhaus-Riemann Musiklexikon (2 vols., Mainz, 1978–79; supplements, 1989 and 1995). From 1973 to 1987 he also was on the faculty of the Johannes Gutenberg Univ. With K. Pfarr, he publ. Musikliteratur im Überblick: Eine Anleitung zum Nachschlagen (Mainz, 1988).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire