Danckert, Werner
Danckert, Werner
Danckert, Werner , German musicologist; b. Erfurt, June 22, 1900; d. Krefeld, March 5, 1970. He studied natural science and mathematics at the Univ. of Jena, then musicology at the Univ. of Leipzig with Riemann and Abert, at the Univ. of Erlangen with Becking, and at the Leipzig Cons, with Schering. He received his Ph.D. in 1924 at the Univ. of Erlangen with the diss. Geschichte der Gigue (publ. in Leipzig, 1924); he completed his Habilitation at the Univ. of Jena in 1926 with his Personate Typen des Melodiestils (publ. in an enl. ed. as Ursymbole melodischer Gestaltung in Kassel, 1932). He was Decking’s assistant at the Univ. of Erlangen (1924–25); then taught piano at the Weimar Academy of Music (1929–32) and was a music critic in Erfurt (1932–37). He became a lecturer at the Univ. of Berlin in 1937, prof, in 1939, and head of the musicology dept. in 1943; then was in Graz (1943–45). He was a prof, at the Univ. of Rostock in 1950, but returned to West Germany that same year.
Writings
Beitrage zur Bachkritik (Kassel, 1934); Das europaische Volkslied (Berlin, 1939; 2nd ed., 1970); Grundriss der Volksliedkunde (Berlin, 1939); Claude Debussy (Berlin, 1950); Goethe: Der mythische Urgrund seiner Weltenschau (Berlin, 1951); Offenes und geschlossenes Leben: Zwei Daseinsaspekte in Goethes Weltenschau (Bonn, 1963); Unehrliche Leute: Die verfemten Berufe (Bern and Munich, 1964); Das Volkslied im Abendland (Bern and Munich, 1966); Tonreich and Symbolzahl in Hochkulturen und in der Primitivenwelt (Bonn, 1966); Symbol, Metaphor, Allegoric im Lied der Völker (Bonn, 1977).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire