Hermann Neef (28 September 1936 – 24 August 2017) was a German

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

and theatre scholar.

Life

Born in Berlin, Neef worked from 1960-1973 at the

VEB Deutsche Schallplatten The VEB Deutsche Schallplatten was the monopolistic music publisher in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from the 1950s until the 1980s. The VEB Deutsche Schallplatten owned Amiga from 1954 to 1990. History On August 12, 1946, the German s ...

in Berlin. Since 1973 he was at the

Komische Oper Berlin The Komische Oper Berlin is a German opera company based in Berlin. The company produces operas, operettas and musicals. The opera house is located on Behrenstraße, near Unter den Linden. Since 2004, the Komische Oper Berlin, along with the Be ...

, and since 1981 Neef has also been a lecturer at the . Neef wrote - often together with his wife,

Sigrid Neef Sigrid Neef (born 10 October 1944) is a German musicologist and theatre scholar, focused on Russian and Soviet opera. She has been a dramaturge of the director Ruth Berghaus at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin for decades. Life Born in Fraureuth, ...

- scientific treatises on opera research as well as record reviews, specialist articles and several ballet

libretti A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major l ...

(for example to music by

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius (; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic music, Romantic and 20th-century classical music, early modern periods. He is widely regarded as his countr ...

Franz Schreker Franz Schreker (originally ''Schrecker''; 23 March 1878 – 21 March 1934) was an Austrian composer, conductor, librettist, teacher and administrator. Primarily a composer of operas, Schreker developed a style characterized by aesthetic pluralit ...

Igor Strawinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

and

Werner Egk Werner Egk (, 17 May 1901 – 10 July 1983), born Werner Joseph Mayer, was a German composer. Early career He was born in the Swabian town of Auchsesheim, today part of Donauwörth, Germany. His family, of Catholic peasant stock, moved to Augsb ...

). Neef died in

Beverungen Beverungen () is a town in Höxter district in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Location Beverungen lies in the Weser Uplands on the side of the Weser opposite Solling roughly south of Höxter. In parts of the eastern municipal ar ...

in 2017 at the age of 80.

Publications

* ''Der Beamte im nationalsozialistischen Führerstaat : Rede gehalten auf dem Reichsparteitagein Nürnberg am 8. Sept. 1934''. * Hermann Neef (with Sigrid Neef): ''Handbuch der russischen und sowjetischen Oper''. . DDR-Berlin, 1985. * ''Der Beitrag der Komponisten

Friedrich Goldmann Friedrich Goldmann (27 April 1941 – 24 July 2009) was a German composer and conductor. Life Born on 27 April 1941 in Siegmar-Schönau (today a part of Chemnitz), Goldmann's music education began in 1951 when he joined the Dresdner Kreuzchor. ...

Friedrich Schenker Friedrich Schenker (23 December 19428 February 2013) was a German avant-garde composer and trombone player. Life Born in the German town of Zeulenroda, Schenker learned trombone and piano as a child and made his first compositional attempts at ...

Paul-Heinz Dittrich Paul-Heinz Dittrich (4 December 1930 – 28 December 2020) was a German composer and academic teacher. Based in East Berlin, he focused on chamber music, with many works inspired by poetry. His works were performed earlier in the West than in the ...

and

Walter Thomas Heyn Walter Thomas Heyn (born 14 November 1953) is a German guitarist, composer and music producer. Life Born in Görlitz, Heyn was initially musically self-taught. From the age of fourteen he played guitar and performed in singing clubs. From 1974 t ...

zur ästhetischen Diskussion der Gattung Oper in der DDR seit 1977''. Dissertation, Halle 1989 * Hermann Neef (with Sigrid Neef): ''Deutsche Oper im 20. Jahrhundert: DDR 1949–1989''.''Deutsche Oper im 20. Jahrhundert : DDR 1949-1989''
on WorldCat

Peter Lang (publisher) Peter Lang is an academic publisher specializing in the humanities and social sciences. It has its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, with offices in Berlin, Brussels, Chennai, New York, and Oxford. Peter Lang publishes over 1,100 academic ...

, 1992.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Neef, Hermann German librettists 20th-century German musicologists 1936 births 2017 deaths Musicologists from Berlin