Wessely Othmar

views updated

Wessely Othmar

Wessely Othmar Austrian musicologist; b. Linz, Oct. 31,1922; d. Vienna, April 20,1998. He was educated at the Bruckner Cons, in Linz, the Vienna Academy of Music, and the Univ. of Vienna (Ph.D., 1947, with the diss. Anton Bruckner in Linz; Habilitationsschrift, 1959, with his Arnold von Brück: Leben und Umwelt). From 1950 to 1963 he was a member of the faculty of the Univ. of Vienna. After teaching at the Univ. of Graz (1963-71), he returned to the Univ. of Vienna in 1971 as prof, of musicology, retiring in 1993. From 1974 to 1991 he also was president of the Publishing Soc. for Monuments of Music in Austria.

Writings

Musik in Oberösterreich (Linz, 1951); Die Musikinstrumentsammlung des Oberösterreichischen Landesmuseums (Linz, 1952); Johann Joseph Fux und Johann Mattheson (Graz, 1966); ed. Ernst Ludwig Gerber: Historisch-biographisches Lexikon der Tonkünstler (1790-1792) und Neues historisch-biographisches Lexikon der Tonkünstler (1812-1814) (4 vols., Graz, 1966-77); Johann Joseph Fux und Francesco Antonio Vallotti (Graz, 1967); Pietro Pariatis Libretto zu Johann Joseph Fuxens “Costanza e fortezza” (Graz, 1969); Johann Joseph Fux: Persönlichkeit, Umwelt, Nachwelt (Graz, 1979).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire