Vetter, Walther

Vetter, Walther, distinguished German musicologist; b. Berlin, May 10, 1891; d. there, April 1, 1967. He studied at the Leipzig Cons., and subsequently took a course in musicology with Hermann Abert at the Univ. of Halle, where he received his Ph.D. in 1920 with the diss. Die Arie bei Gluck;he completed his Habilitation at the Univ. of Breslau with his Das frühdeutsche Liedin 1927 (publ, in Munster, 1928). He taught at the univs. of Halle, Hamburg, Breslau, and Greifswald before joining the Univ. of Poznan in 1941; from 1946 to 1958 he was a prof, at Humboldt Univ. in Berlin, and also served as director of its Inst. of Musicology. From 1948 to 1961 he was co-ed, of Die Musikforschung,and from 1956 to 1966 he was ed. of the Deutsches Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft.

Writings

Der humanistische Bildungsgedanke in Musik und Musikwissenschaft (Langensalza, 1928); Franz Schubert (Potsdam, 1934); Antike Musik (Munich, 1935); J.S. Bach: Leben und Werk (Leipzig, 1938); Beethoven und die militär-politischen Ereignisse seiner Zeit (Poznan, 1943); Der Kapellmeister Bach: Versuch einer Deutung Bachs auf Grund seines Wirkens als Kapellmeister in Köthen (Potsdam, 1950); Der Klassiker Schubert (2 vols., Leipzig, 1953); Mythos—Melos—Musica: Ausgewählte Aufsätze zur Musikgeschichte (a collection of articles; 2 vols., Leipzig, 1957 and 1961); Christoph Willibald Gluck (Leipzig, 1964).

Bibliography

Musa—mens—musici: Im Gedenken an W. V.(Leipzig, 1969).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire