Mersmann, Hans

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Mersmann, Hans

Mersmann, Hans, distinguished German musicologist; b. Potsdam, Oct. 6, 1891; d. Cologne, June 24, 1971. He studied in Munich with Sandberger and Kroyer, in Leipzig with Riemann and Schering, and with Wolf and Kretzschmar at the Univ. of Berlin, where he received his Ph.D. in 1914 with the diss. Christian Ludwig Boxberg und seine Oper “Sardanapalus” (Ansbach 1698), mit Beiträgen zur Ansbacher Musikgeschichte; completed his Habilitation at the Berlin Technische Hochschule in 1921 with his Grundlagen einer musikalischen Volksliedforschung (publ. in Leipzig, 1930); was a reader there from 1927. He subsequently taught at the Stern Cons. in Berlin, and at the Technische Hochschule there, until 1933. He was in charge of the folk song archives of the Prussian Volksliederkommission (1917–33), and also organized numerous seminars on musicology and modern music; from 1924, ed. the periodical Melos; wrote music criticism. He was removed from all of his positions by the Nazi regime in 1933; then devoted himself to private musicological research. After the collapse of the 3rd Reich, he taught at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Munich (1946–47); from 1947 to 1958 he was director of the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. As a historian and analyst of modern music, Mersmann occupied an important position in 20th-century research.

Writings

Kulturgeschichte der Musik in Einzeldarstellungen (4 vols., Berlin, 1921–25); Angewandte Musikästhetik (Berlin, 1926); Das Musikseminar (Leipzig, 1931); Kammermusik (vols. 2-4, Leipzig, 1930; vol. 1, Leipzig, 1933); Eine deutsche Musikgeschichte (Potsdam, 1934; 2nd ed., rev. and aug., 1955, as Musikgeschichte in der abendländischen Kultur, 3rd ed., 1973); Volkslied und Gegenwart (Potsdam, 1936); Musikhören (Berlin, 1938; aug. ed., 1952); Neue Musik in den Strömungen unserer Zeit (Bayreuth, 1949); Die Kirchenmusik im XX. Jahrhundert (Nuremberg, 1958); Stilprobleme der Werkanalyse (Mainz, 1963).

Bibliography

W. Wiora, ed., Musikerkenntnis und Musikziehung. Dankesgaben für H. M. zu seinem 65. Geburtstag (Kassel, 1957).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire