Huber, Kurt

Huber, Kurt, eminent German musicologist of Swiss descent; b. Chur, Oct. 24, 1893; d. (executed by the Gestapo) Munich, July 13, 1943. He studied philosophy and psychology with Becher and Külpe and musicology with Kroyer and Sandberger at the Univ. of Munich (Ph.D., 1917, with the diss. Ivo de Vento: Ein Beitrag zur Musikgeschichte des 16. Jahrhunderts, 1; publ, in Lindenberg, 1918); then completed his Habilitation in psychology (1920). He became asst. lecturer at the Univ. of Munich’s Inst. of Psychology in 1920; was made a Dozent there in 1926. From 1925 he devoted himself to collecting and recording early Bavarian folk songs, which he publ, with Paul Kiem. He actively opposed the Nazi regime, and was imprisoned and executed for his participation in student protests. In addition to his book Die Doppelmeister des 16. Jahrhunderts (Munich, 1920), the following vols, have been publ.: O. Ursprung ed. his Ästhetik (Ettal, 1954) and Musikästhetik (Ettal, 1954), J. Hanslmeier his Grundbegriffe der Seelenkunde: Einführung in die allgemeine Psychologie (Ettal, 1955), and C. Huber and O. von Müller his Volkslied und Volkstanz: Aufsätze zur Volksliedkunde des bajuwarischen Raumes (Ettal, 1960).

Bibliography

C. Huber, ed., K. H. zum Gedächtnis: Bildnis eines Menschen, Denkers und Porchers (Regensburg, 1947); E. Grave, Die ästhetischen Kategorien in K. H.s Ästhetik (diss., Univ. of Munich, 1957).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire