Larsen, Jens Peter

views updated

Larsen, Jens Peter

Larsen, Jens Peter, distinguished Danish musicologist; b. Copenhagen, June 14, 1902; d. there, Aug. 22, 1988. He studied mathematics and musicology at the Univ. of Copenhagen (M.A., 1928), then joined its staff and later obtained his Ph.D. there in 1939 with the diss. Die Haydn-Überlieferung (publ. in Copenhagen, 1939). He retired in 1970. A leading authority on the music of Haydn, he served as general ed. of the critical edition sponsored by the Joseph Haydn Inst. of Cologne from 1955 to 1960; his studies on the music of Handel are also of value. He was the son-in- law of Mogens Wöldike , with whom he ed. the hymnbook of the Danish Church (1954, 1973).

Writings

Drei Haydn-Kataloge in Faksimile: Mit Einleitung und ergänzenden Themenverzeichnissen (Copenhagen, 1941; 2nd ed., rev., 1979); Weyses sänge: Deres betydning for sangen i hjem, skole og kirke (Copenhagen, 1942); Handel’s “Messiah”: Origins, Composition, Sources (Copenhagen, 1957; 2nd ed., rev., 1972); Essays on Handel, Haydn, and the Viennese Classical Style (tr. by U. Kramer; Ann Arbor, 1988).

Bibliography

N. Schirring, H. Glahn, and C. Hatting, eds., Festskrift J.P. L: Studier udgivet af Musikvidenskabeligt institut ved Kbenhavns universitet (Copenhagen, 1972).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire