Wilibald Gurlitt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wilibald Gurlitt (March 1, 1891, Dresden - December 15, 1963, Freiburg) was a German musicologist.

Gurlitt, son of the art historian Cornelius Gurlitt, graduated from Leipzig under Michael Reimann, working specifically on Michael Praetorius. In 1919 he became a lecturer in Freiburg, finally becoming professor in 1929. There he founded the musicology department and the Collegium Musicum which met in Karlsruhe and Hamburg for large public performances of medieval music.

As a promoter of the Orgelbewegung (organ movement), he had the so-called 'Praetorius organ' built by master-organ-builder Oskar Walcker, based on 1619 designs by Praetorius. It was destroyed in 1944 in a bombing raid, but a large section of it was rebuilt by Werner Walcker-Mayer in the atrium of a new building at the University in 1955.

Under National Socialism, Gurlitt was labelled as a Jewish conspirator, and relieved, in 1937, of his office. He was re-employed after the war, however. From 1946-8 he was visiting professor at the University of Bern, and from 1955-6 at the University of Basel. In 1953 he was appointed to an honorary doctorate at the University of Leipzig.