Schünemann, Georg

Schünemann, Georg, eminent German musicologist and music educator; b. Berlin, March 13, 1884; d. there (suicide), Jan. 2, 1945. He studied at the Stern Cons. in Berlin; played flute in various orchs. in Berlin, then took courses in musicology with Kretzschmar, Friedlaender, Wolf, and others at the Univ. of Berlin; also studied German literature and philosophy there, receiving his Ph.D. in 1907 with the diss. Geschichte des Dirigierens (publ. in Leipzig, 1913). In 1919 he joined the faculty of the Univ. of Berlin. He was appointed deputy director of the Berlin Hochschule für Musik in 1920, and director in 1932; later held the post of director of the State Musical Instrument Collections. In 1935 he was appointed director of the music division of the Prussian State Library. He took his own life during the darkest stages of World War II.

Writings

Das Lied der deutschen Kolonisten in Russland (Berlin, 1923); Die Musica des Listhenius (Berlin, 1927); Geschichte der deutschen Schulmusik (Leipzig, 1928; second ed., 1931); Die Musikerziehung, I: Die Musik in Kindheit und Jugend, Schule und Volk (Leipzig, 1930); CF. Zelter, der Begründer der preussischen Musikpflege (Berlin, 1932); Führer durch die deutsche Chorliteratur (2 vols., Wolfenbüttel, 1935–36); ed. Musiker-Handschriften vonBach bis Schumann (facsimile ed., Berlin, 1936; rev. and publ. in an Eng. tr. by W. Gerstenberg and M. Hürimann, 1968); C.F. Zelter, Der Mensch und sein Werk (Berlin, 1937); Die Violine (Hamburg, 1940); Geschichte der Klaviermusik (Hamburg, 1940; second ed., rev. by H. Gerigk, 1953; third ed., 1956); Die Singakademie zu Berlin (Regensburg, 1941); ed. Ludwig van Beethovens Konversationshefte (not complete; 3 vols., Berlin, 1941–43).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire