Walter Blankenburg (31 July 1903 – 10 March 1986) was a German Protestant pastor, director of church music and

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 ...

, who focused in several publications on

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

hymnology Hymnology (from Greek ὕμνος ''hymnos'', "song of praise" and -λογία ''-logia'', "study of") is the scholarly study of religious song, or the hymn, in its many aspects, with particular focus on choral and congregational song. It may be m ...

, and on the sacred music of the early Baroque period, especially by

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

Career

Born in

Emleben Emleben is a municipality in the district of Gotha, in Thuringia, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to t ...

near

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

, Blankenburg, the son of a pastor, studied theology, history and musicology at the

University of Rostock The University of Rostock () is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest university in continental northern Europe and the Baltic Se ...

. in

Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

and Berlin. He was promoted to Ph.D. in 1943 in Göttingen with a dissertation about ''Die innere Einheit von Bachs Werk''. He was a member of the group preparing the ''

Evangelisches Kirchengesangbuch The Evangelisches Kirchengesangbuch (EKG, literally: Protestant church songbook) was the first common hymnal of German-speaking churches in the Protestant state churches (''Landeskirchen'') in Germany and the Protestant churches in Austria. It was ...

'' from 1939 to 1949. He was director of the Kirchenmusikschule of the Evangelische Kirche von Kurhessen-Waldeck in Schlüchtern from its foundation in 1947 to his retirement in 1968. He was from 1941 to 1981 editor (''Schriftleiter'') of the magazine ' (Music and church. He founded in 1976, together with , the Internationale Arbeitsgemeinschaft für theologische Bachforschung In 1962, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg () is a public research university located in Marburg, Germany. It was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Prote ...

. He died in

Schlüchtern Schlüchtern () is a town in the Main-Kinzig district, in Hessen, Germany. It is located on the river Kinzig (Main), Kinzig, approximately 30 km southwest of Fulda. Schlüchtern has a population close to 16,000. Location Schlüchtern is locat ...

. An award of the Protestant Church is named after him.

Publications

* ''Kirche und Musik. Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Geschichte der gottesdienstlichen Musik'', ed. Erich Hübner and Renate Steiger. Göttingen 1979. *
Das Weihnachts-Oratorium von Johann Sebastian Bach
'

Bärenreiter Bärenreiter (Bärenreiter-Verlag) is a German classical music publishing house based in Kassel. The firm was founded by Karl Vötterle (1903–1975) in Augsburg in 1923, and moved to Kassel in 1927, where it still has its headquarters; it ...

1999 *
Einführung in Bachs H-moll-Messe, mit vollständigem Text
'

1957

Sources

* Nachlass Blankenburgs i
University archove of Augsburg
* Hymnologische Sammlung Blankenburgs in the library of th
University of Augsburg

Literature

* Gerard Kappner:

' in: ' 1986, S. 124–125 * Renate Steiger: ''Walter Blankenburg''. In: ' 3/1986 * Franz Ganslandt: ''Jugendmusikbewegung und kirchenmusikalische Erneuerung. Impulse, Einflüsse, Wirkungen dargestellt in Verbindung mit Leben und Werk Walter Blankenburgs'', Munich 1997.
100. Geburtstag von Walter Blankenburg am 31. Juli 2003
, in: ''Quintett. Kirchenmusikalische Mitteilungen aus der Evangelischen Kirche von Kurhessen-Waldeck'' 5/2003, pp. 8–9.

References

External links

*
Walter Blankenburg
University of Rostock
Walter Blankenburg
Bach Bibliography
Theologische Bach-Studien I: Beiträge zur theologischen Bachforschung Taschenbuch – 1. Januar 1987 Walter Blankenburg Renate Steiger Carus-Verlag
sgifashop.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Blankenburg, Walter German theologians German musicologists Bach scholars 1903 births 1986 deaths 20th-century German conductors (music) Michael Praetorius scholars