Carl Dahlhaus (10 June 1928 – 13 March 1989) was a Germanmusicologist who was among the leadingpostwar musicologists of the mid to late 20th-century.[1]A prolific scholar, he had broad interests though his research focused on 19th- and20th-century classical music, both areas in which he made significant advancements.[2] However, he remains best known in theEnglish-speaking world for his writings onWagner. Dahlhaus wrote on many other composers, includingJosquin,Gesualdo,Bach andSchoenberg.
He spent the bulk of his career as head ofTechnische Universität Berlin's musicology department, which he raised to an international standard. Dahlhaus pioneered the development of numerous musicological fields, particularly theaesthetics of music, which he raised to a central status. Active as a historian, analyst, editor and organizer, he was massively influential and his work has since incited considerable discussion and debate.
Dahlhaus was born inHanover on 10 June 1928.[3] The Second World War interrupted his early education; he served on the front and as an anti-aircraft auxiliary.[4] He completed school exams through a special program designed for those engaged in combat. After a brief stint studying law, Dahlhaus first engaged in musicology from 1947 to 1952, studying withWilibald Gurlitt at theUniversity of Freiburg andRudolf Gerber at theUniversity of Göttingen.[3] His 1953 dissertation at the latter concerned the masses ofJosquin des Prez.[3] Instead of seeking an academic career, he engaged in the theatre and journalism worlds.[3] Having begun as a student, he worked asdramaturg for the Deutsches Theater inGöttingen from 1950 to 1958;[3]Bertolt Brecht had encouraged him to take the post.[4] From 1960 to 1962 he worked as musical editor for theStuttgarter Zeitung newspaper, acting as a relentless promoter of theDarmstadt school.[3]
His first academic position came in 1962, when he served as a research assistant at theUniversity of Kiel until 1966.[3] That year he completed his a work for hisHabilitation,Untersuchungen über die Entstehung der harmonischen Tonalität (Studies on the Origin of Harmonic Tonality), published in 1968.[5] The work was a seminal study on the origins oftonality, reaching back to theRenaissance andBaroque periods.[5] Originally in German,Robert Gjerdingen has published a translated version in 1990 through thePrinceton University Press.[5] After working atSaarland University for less than a year, he was hired in 1967 to succeedHans Heinz Stuckenschmidt as the head of theTU Berlin's musicology department.[3] He would remain there until his death,[4] gradually expanding and developing the university's previously minuscule musicology program to one of international renown.[3] Though many universities offered him positions throughout his tenure, he rejected them all; the only exception was the two semesters he spent as a visiting professor atPrinceton University.[4]
Dahlhaus was honored with theOrder of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Grand Cross with Star), aBlue Max, and accepted into theGerman Academy. In 1987, he was awarded theFrankfurter Musikpreis.[4]
After being ill for some time—a sickness he mostly kept private from his colleagues—he died in Berlin on 13 March 1989,[4] fromkidney failure.[3] He had been working on a succinct history of Western music in English at the time, which was left unfinished.[3]
Dahlhaus wrote 25 books, more than 400 articles, and contributed to 150 other works on a wide range of subjects.[4] The majority of these were on thehistory of Western music and particularly that of the 19th century, i.e.Romantic music. Composers whose music he wrote on include Josquin,Gesualdo,Bach andSchoenberg.[6] 19th- and20th-century classical music were also regular topics.[6] All of his major works were written in German; the history of Western music he left incomplete would have been his first English publication.[3]
He was very interested in the work of Richard Wagner and remains best knownEnglish-speaking world for his writings on Wagner.[7] Other topics he regularly engaged in includemusic theory, theaesthetics of music, and the prehistory of "new music".[4]
Towards the end of his life, Dahlhaus was the most eminent and influential musicologist of his generation, with his works continuing to incite considerable discourse, discussion and controversy.[2] He expressed himself not only as a musicologist, but as a historian, analyst, editor and organizer.[2] His achievements include encouraging new interest in 19th-century music,[2] particularly through his 1989Nineteenth-Century Music publication.[8]
His diverse interests allowed legitimized various musicological subfields, and broadened the discipline considerably. J. Bradford Robinson gives "systematic musicology, institutional history [and] salon music" as examples of newly accepted topics due to his influence.[2] He was a principal proponent in raisingaesthetics as a topic in the forefront of musicology.[4][2] In addition, he helped establish a coherent narrative for 20th-century classical music.[2]
