Theodor Walter Hirsbrunner (2 April 1931 – 6 November 2010) was a Swiss

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 violinist.

Life

Born in

Thun Thun () is a List of towns in Switzerland, town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the administrative district of Thun (administrative district), Thun in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Bern, Bern in Switzerland. ...

, Hirsbrunner attended an old-language grammar school. He then studied

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

with Walter Kägi in Bern and René Benedetti in Paris. From 1956 he studied

musical composition Musical composition can refer to an Originality, original piece or work of music, either Human voice, vocal or Musical instrument, instrumental, the musical form, structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new pie ...

and

music theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...

(

twelve-tone technique The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition. The technique is a means of ensuring that all 12 notes of the chromatic scale ...

) with

Sándor Veress Sándor Veress (, – ) was a Swiss composer of Hungarian origin. He was born in Kolozsvár/Klausenburg, Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire, nowadays called Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and died in Bern. The first half of ...

and

Wladimir Vogel Wladimir Rudolfowitsch Vogel (17 February/29 February 1896 – 19 June 1984) was a Swiss (people), Swiss composer of Germans, German and Russians, Russian descent. Life Born in Moscow, Vogel first studied composition in Moscow with Alexander Scri ...

. In the 1960s he attended a conducting course with

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 19255 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music. Born in Montb ...

in Basel. From 1956 to 1987 he taught music theory, work analysis, and more recently, historical musicology at the

Hochschule der Künste Bern __NOTOC__ The Bern Academy of Arts () is an art school with locations in Bern and Biel/Bienne. It was created in 2003 from the merger of the University of Music and Theatre and the School of Design, Art and Conservation. The educational institution ...

. From 1968 to 1973 he conducted research at the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

. From 1979 to 1983 he taught at Boulez' request at the

IRCAM IRCAM (French: ''Ircam, '', English: Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music) is a French institute dedicated to the research of music and sound, especially in the fields of Avant-garde music, avant garde and Electroacoustic ...

. He gave lectures in Europe (e.g. at the

Lucerne Festival Lucerne Festival is one of the leading international festivals in the world of classical music and presents a series of classical music festivals based in Lucerne, Switzerland. Founded in 1938 by Ernest Ansermet and Walter Schulthess, it curr ...

), Australia (Adelaide 1979), Japan (Tokyo 1989), Taiwan (Taipei 1999) and the USA (Berkeley 1977 and Los Angeles 1987) as well as on representatives of

Neue Musik Neue Musik (English ''new music'', French ''nouvelle musique'') is the collective term for a wealth of different currents in composed Western art music from around 1910 to the present. Its focus is on compositions of 20th century music. It is char ...

at European radio stations (BR, WDR, RSR, RIAS, NDR, SFB and DRS). In addition to numerous articles for specialist journals, encyclopaedias and newspapers, he wrote five

monographs A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

on musical personalities (

Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

Stravinsky 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 composers of ...

Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 19255 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music. Born in Montb ...

Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist. One of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century, he was also an ou ...

and

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

) and two volumes on the history of music. He has received several awards, including the

Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...

. Hirsbrunner died in Bern at the age of 79.

Students

Jean-Luc Darbellay Jean-Luc Darbellay (born 2 July 1946) is a Swiss composer, Conducting, conductor, clarinetist and physician. He was chairman of the Swiss Society for New Music and board member of the International Society for Contemporary Music. Darbellay is a me ...

* Hans Eugen Frischknecht * Daniel Glaus *

Christian Henking Christian Henking (born 14 January 1961) is a Swiss composer, conductor and choir leader. Life Henking was born in Basel in 1961. He graduated from the in 1981. From 1981 to 1989 he studied music theory with Theo Hirsbrunner at the University ...

* Alfred Schweizer * Robert Suter *

Jacques Wildberger Jacques Wildberger (3 January 1922 – 23 August 2006) was a Swiss composer. Life and career Born in Basel, Wildberger became a member of the Swiss Party of Labour (PdA) in 1944 and composed battle songs for the Basel workers' cabaret ''Scheinw ...

Awards

* 1978: Janáček-Medaille der Tschechoslowakei * 1984: Medaille of the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

* 1989: Medaille of the Nissay-Theaters Tokio * 1996:

Ehrendoktorwürde An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

of the

University of Bern The University of Bern (, , ) is a public university, public research university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern. It was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the canton of Bern. It is a comprehensive university offering a br ...

* 1998:

* 2006: Grosser Musikpreis des Kantons Bern

Work

* ''Debussy und seine Zeit''. , Laaber 1981, . * ''Igor Strawinsky in Paris''. Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 1982, . * ''Pierre Boulez und sein Werk''. Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 1985, . * ''Olivier Messiaen. Leben und Werk''. Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 1988; 2nd expended edition 1999, . * ''Maurice Ravel. Sein Leben, sein Werk''. Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 1989, , 2nd expended edition u.d. T. ''Maurice Ravel und sein Werk''. Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 2014, . * ''Die Musik in Frankreich im 20. Jahrhundert''. Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 1995, . * ''Von Richard Wagner bis Pierre Boulez''.''Von Richard Wagner bis Pierre Boulez''
on WorldCat Essays. Müller-Speiser, Anif 1997, .

Literature

* ''Hirsbrunner, Theodor''. In Brockhaus ''

Riemann Musiklexikon The Riemann Musiklexikon (RML), is a music encyclopedia founded in 1882 by Hugo Riemann. The 13th edition appeared in 2012. History The Riemann Musiklexikon is the last undertaking of an individual to write a comprehensive encyclopedia in the fi ...

.'' CD-Rom, Directmedia Publishing, Berlin 2004, , .

References

External links

*
Theo Hirsbrunner
bei Musinfo
Literatur von Theo Hirsbrunner
in the

Bibliography of Music Literature The Bibliography of Music Literature (BMS or BMS online, ) is an international bibliography of literature on music. It considers all kind of music and includes both current and older literature. Since 1968, the BMS editorial staff has also been wo ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hirsbrunner, Theo 1931 births 2010 deaths People from Thun Swiss music historians 20th-century Swiss musicologists Swiss classical violinists Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Boulez scholars Debussy scholars Messiaen scholars Ravel scholars Schoenberg scholars Stravinsky scholars Webern scholars