Gerstenberg, Walter

views updated

Gerstenberg, Walter

Gerstenberg, Walter, German musicologist; b. Hildesheim, Dec. 26, 1904; d. Tubingen, Oct. 26, 1988. He studied at the univs. of Berlin and Leipzig (Ph.D., 1929, with the diss. Die Klavierkompositionen Domenico Scarlattis; publ. in Regensburg, 1933; new ed., 1969), and then completed his Habilitation at the Univ. of Cologne in 1935 with his Beitrage zur Problemgeschichte der evangelischen Kirchenmusik. He taught at the univs. of Leipzig (1929-32) and Cologne (1932-38), and then was prof. of musicology at the univs. of Rostock (1941-8), Berlin (Free Univ., 1948-52), Tubingen (1952-58; 1959-70), and Heidelberg (1958). G. van Dadelsen and A. Holschneider ed. a Festschrift for his 60th birthday (Wolfenbüttel, 1964).

Writings

Die Zeitmasse und ihre Ordnungen in Bachs Musik (Einbeck, 1951); Zur Erkenntnis der Bachsen Musik (Berlin, 1951); Musikerhandschriften von Palestrina bis Beethoven (Zurich, 1960); Uber Mozarts Klangwelt (Tubingen, 1966).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire