Peter Petersen (musicologist)
Peter Petersen is a German musicologist.
Life
Born in Hamburg, Petersen first studied music, then historical musicology and German literature at the University of Hamburg. In 1971 he received his doctorate with a dissertation on tonality in instrumental music by Béla Bartók. After his habilitation with a paper on Alban Berg's Wozzeck he taught as professor at the University of Hamburg from 1985. In 2001 the university honoured him with the Fischer-Appelt-Prize for outstanding achievements in academic teaching. Since 2005 Petersen has been retired.Research
One focus of Petersen's research is in the field of 20th century music. Several monographs and numerous essays deal with the work of Hans Werner Henze.Through Petersen's commitment, the Musicological Institute of the University of Hamburg became a centre of exile music research: Petersen founded and directed the "Exile Music Working Group", which existed for almost 30 years, and won over numerous students and colleagues to work on the effects of Nazi rule, exile and the Holocaust on musical life. Petersen is editor of the series "Music in the 'Third Reich' and "in Exile" and co-editor of the Online-.
Petersen perfected the process of "semantic analysis" of subject-bound compositions and especially of works of music theatre. Based on meticulous score analyses, which are then contextualized, his investigations often open up the content-related connections of such compositions in a completely new way - for example, the structure of meaning in Alban Berg's Wozzeck or more recently in Richard Strauss' Friedenstag.
In the field of music theory, Petersen developed a fundamentally new rhythm theory, which detaches the concept of duration from the individual tone and recognises all sound phenomena as having rhythm-generating potential. The "component rhythms" are visualized in multi-line "rhythm scores". Accumulation of the component rhythms results in single-line "rhythm profiles" that precisely map the "rhythmic weight" in the musical progression. Petersen's method of rhythmic fine analysis reveals among others that even monophonic tone sets can already have a complex rhythm. Moreover, the relationship between rhythm and metre is newly illuminated.
Writings
Monographs
- Die Tonalität im Instrumentalschaffen von Béla Bartók., Hamburg: Wagner 1971.
- Alban Berg: Wozzeck. Eine semantische Analyse unter Einbeziehung der Skizzen und Dokumente aus dem Nachlaß Bergs., Munich: text+kritik 1985.
- Hans Werner Henze. Ein politischer Musiker. Zwölf Vorlesungen. Hamburg: Argument 1988.
- Hans Werner Henze. Werke der Jahre 1984-93 , Mainz: Schott 1995.
- Orientierung Musikwissenschaft. Was sie kann, was sie will. Reinbek: rowohlt 2000.
- Musik und Rhythmus. Grundlagen, Geschichte, Analyse. Mainz among others: Schott 2010.
- Music and Rhythm. Fundamentals - History - Analysis. revised and expanded version of the original German edition, translated by Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch, Frankfurt among others: Lang 2013.
- Hans Werner Henze – Ingeborg Bachmann. "Undine" and "Tasso" in ballet, Narrative, concert and poem, Schliengen: Argus 2014.
- "Friedenstag" von Stefan Zweig, Richard Strauss und Joseph Gregor. Eine pazifistische Oper im "Dritten Reich., Münster: Waxmann 2017.
- Isolde und Tristan. Zur musikalischen Identität der Hauptfiguren in Richard Wagner's "Handlung" Tristan und Isolde. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann 2019.
As editor
- MUSIKKULTURGESCHICHTE. Festschrift for Constantin Floros zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. P. Petersen, Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel 1990.
- Musik im Exil. Folgen des Nazismus für die internationale Musikkultur, ed. H.-W. Heister, C. Maurer Zenck and P. Petersen, Frankfurt: Fischer Taschenbuchverlag 1993.
- Zündende Lieder – Verbrannte Musik. Folgen des Nazifaschismus für Hamburger Musiker und Musikerinnen. Completely revised edition , ed. P. Petersen and the Working Group Exile Music at the Musicological Institute of the University of Hamburg, Hamburg: VSA 1995.
- "Stimmen" für Hans Werner Henze. Die 22 Lieder aus "Voices", ed. P. Petersen, H.-W. Heister and H. Lück, Mainz among others: Schott 1996.
- Musik im "Dritten Reich" und im Exil. Schriftenreihe. 20 volumes up to now. Hamburg: von Bockel 1996 ff.
- Das "Reichs-Brahmsfest" 1933 in Hamburg. Rekonstruktion und Dokumentation, ed. Working Group Exile Music at the Musicological Institute of the University of Hamburg, Hamburg: von Bockel 1997.
- Büchner-Opern. Georg Büchner in der Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts. ed. P. Petersen and H.-G. Winter, Frankfurt: Lang 1997.
- 50 Jahre Musikwissenschaftliches Institut in Hamburg. Bestandsaufnahme – aktuelle Forschung – Ausblick, ed. P. Petersen and H. Rösing, Frankfurt: Lang 1999.
- Lebenswege von Musikerinnen im "Dritten Reich" und im Exil. edit. Working Group Exile Music at the Musicological Institute of the University of Hamburg, Hamburg: von Bockel 2000.
- Hans Werner Henze. Die Vorträge des internationalen Symposions am Musikwissenschaftlichen Institut der Universität Hamburg 28. bis 30. Juni 2001, ed. P. Petersen, Frankfurt: Lang 2003.
- Berthold Goldschmidt. Komponist und Dirigent. Ein Musiker-Leben zwischen Hamburg, Berlin und London. Ed. P. Petersen and Working Group Exile Music at the Musicological Institute of the University of Hamburg, Hamburg: von Bockel 1994. – Second, corrected and supplemented edition 2003.
- Musiktheater im Exil der NS-Zeit. Bericht über die Internationale Konferenz am Musikwissenschaftlichen Institut der Universität Hamburg 3. bis 5. Februar 2005, ed. P. Petersen and C. Maurer Zenck, Hamburg: von Bockel 2007.
- Lexikon verfolgter Musiker und Musikerinnen der NS-Zeit, Online-Lexikon , ed. C. Maurer Zenck, P. Petersen and S. Fetthauer, University of Hamburg 2005 ff.
Festschriften for Peter Petersen
- Komposition als Kommunikation. Zur Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts. ed. C. Floros, F. Geiger and T. Schäfer, Frankfurt: Lang 2000.
- Fokus Deutsches Miserere by Paul Dessau and Bertolt Brecht. Festschrift Peter Petersen zum 65. Geburtstag''. publisher N. Ermlich Lehmann, S. Fetthauer, M. Lehmann, J. Rothkamm, S. Wenzel and K. Wille, Hamburg: von Bockel 2005.