Osthoff, Helmuth

Osthoff, Helmuth, distinguished German musicologist, father of Wolfgang Osthoff; b. Bielefeld, Aug. 13, 1896; d. Würzburg, Feb. 9, 1983. He studied music in Bielefeld and in Münster. He served in the German army during World War I. After the Armistice, he resumed his studies at the Univ. of Münster (1919), and later (1920–22) took courses with Wolf et al. at the Univ. of Berlin, where he received his Ph.D. in 1922 with the diss. Der Lautenist Santino Garsi da Parma: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der oberitaliensischen Lautenmusik der Spätrenaissance (publ. in Leipzig, 1926). He subsequently studied conducting with Brecher, composition with Klatte, and piano with Kwast at Berlin’s Stern Cons. (1922–23). From 1923 to 1926 he served as répétiteur at the Leipzig Opera; in 1926 he became assistant to Arnold Schering in the dept. of musicology at the Univ. of Halle; in 1928 he was appointed chief assistant to Schering in the dept. of music history at the Univ. of Berlin; completed his Habilitation there in 1932 with his treatise Die Niederländer und das deutsche Lied 1400–1640 (publ. in Berlin, 1938). In 1938 he became a prof. and director of the inst, of musicology at the Univ. of Frankfurt am Main, positions he held until his retirement in 1964. He was especially noted for his astute studies of Renaissance music. His publications include Adam Krieger: Neue Beiträge zur Geschichte des deutschen Liedes in 17. Jahrhundert (Leipzig, 1929; 2^nd ed., 1970); Johannes Brahms und seine Sendung (Bonn, 1942); Josquin Desprez (2 vols., Tutzing, 1962–65). A Festschrift was publ. in Tutzing in 1961 to honor his 65^th birthday, a second in 1969 for his 70^th birthday (contains a bibliography of his writings), and a third in 1977 for his 80^thbirthday.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis Mclntire