Wirth, Helmut (Richard Adolf Friedrich Karl)

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Wirth, Helmut (Richard Adolf Friedrich Karl)

Wirth, Helmut (Richard Adolf Friedrich Karl) German musicologist and composer; b. Kiel, Oct. 10, 1912. He studied composition with R. Oppel, then took courses in musicology with Fritz Stein and Blume at the Univ. of Kiel (Ph.D., 1937, with the diss. Joseph Haydn als Dramatiker, publ. in Wolfenbüttel and Berlin, 1940). From 1936 he was active with the Hamburg Radio; also was lecturer at the Schleswig-Holstein Academy of Music in Lübeck (1952-72). He was a founder-member of the Haydn Inst. of Cologne, and edited works for the complete ed. of Haydn’s works. He publ. the study Max Reger (Hamburg, 1973). Among his compositions are orch. pieces, chamber music, piano pieces, and songs.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire