Moldenhauer, Hans

Moldenhauer, Hans, German-American musicologist; b. Mainz, Dec. 13, 1906; d. Spokane, Wash., Oct. 19, 1987. He studied music with Dressel, Zuckmayer, and Rosbaud in Mainz, where he was active as a pianist and choral conductor. In 1938 he went to the U.S., and settled in Spokane, Wash. As an expert alpinist, he served in the U.S. Mountain Troops during World War II. He founded the Spokane Cons. (1942), incorporating it as an educational institution in 1946; also continued his own studies at Whitworth Coll. there (B.A., 1945) and at the Chicago Musical Coll. of Roosevelt Univ. (D.F.A., 1951). With his wife, the pianist Rosaleen Moldenhauer (1926–82), he inaugurated a series of radio broadcasts of 2-piano music; the outgrowth of this was the publication of his valuable book Duo-Pianism (Chicago, 1950). As a music reseacher, he became profoundly interested in the life and works of Webern; he organized 6 international Webern festivals, in Seattle (1962), Salzburg (1965), Buffalo (1966), at Dartmouth Coll., Hanover, N.H. (1968), in Vienna (1972), and at La. State Univ., Baton Rouge (1976). His major achievement in research was the formation of the Moldenhauer Archives (“Music History from Primary Sources”), embodying a collection of some 10,000 musical autographs, original MSS, correspondence, etc., of unique importance to musical biography Particularly rich is the MS collection of works of Webern, including some newly discovered works; for this accomplishment, Moldenhauer was awarded in 1970 the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art. In 1988 the archives became a part of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Mold-enhauer’s publications concerning Webern include The Death of Anton Webern: A Drama in Documents (N.Y., 1961), ed. with D. Irvine, Anton von Webern: Perspectives: 1^st Webern Festival, Seattle 1962 (Seattle, 1966; catalog of the Webern Archive), Anton von Webern: Sketches 1926–1945 (N.Y., 1968), and, with R. Moldenhauer, Anton von Webern: Chronicle of His Life and Work (N.Y., 1978). Moldenhauer suffered from Retinitis pigmentosa, and became totally blind in 1980. He remarried in 1982, a few months after his first wife’s death.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire