Stenzl, Jürg (Thomas)

Stenzl, JÜrg (Thomas), Swiss musicologist; b. Basel, Aug. 23, 1942. He began instruction in recorder and violin in 1949 in Bern; then studied the oboe with Huwler at the Bern Cons. in 1961; attended the Univ. of Bern as a student of musicology with Geering and Dickenmann (Ph.D., 1968, with the diss. Die vierzig Clausulae der Handschrift Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, latin 15139 [Saint Victor- Clauselae]; pubi, in Bern, 1970); he also worked with Chailley at the Univ. of Paris (1965) and later completed his Habilitation at the Univ. of Fribourg (1974), where he was a prof. from 1980 to 1992. He was engaged as a visiting prof. at the univs. of Geneva (1976–77; 1979–80), Neuchâtel (1982), Bern (1986–87), and Basel (1987–88), and subsequently served at the Technical Univ. in Berlin (1988–89). In 1992–93 he was artistic director of Universal Edition in Vienna. He then was a prof. at the Graz Hochschule für Musik (until 1996) and program advisor of the Donaueschingen Festival (1995–98). In 1996 he became a prof. and director of the musicological inst. at the Univ. of Salzburg. He was secretary of the Société Suisse de Musicologie (1972–80) and ed. of the Schweizerische Musikzeitung (1975-–83). He contributed valuable articles and music criticism to various publications, including Sohlmans Musiklexikon (1975–79) and The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1980), and was author of Von Giacomo Puccini zu Luigi Nono: Italienische Musik, 1922–1952: Faschismus, Resistenza, Republik (Buren, 1990) and Luigi Nono (Reinbek, 1998). Stenzl married Wieland Wagner’s daughter Nike in 1991. His expertise ranges from the Middle Ages to contemporary music.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire