Alfred Mann (musicologist)

Alfred Mann
Born(1917-04-28)April 28, 1917
Hamburg
DiedSeptember 21, 2006(2006-09-21) (aged 89)
Fort Wayne, Indiana
NationalityGerman, and later
U. S. citizen
Alma materBerlin Academy of Music
Occupation(s)Musicologist, writer
Known forTranslation[1][2][3][4] of
Gradus ad Parnassum by Johann Fux
Notes
Alfred Mann had to flee[5] Germany because of the Nazis before World War II.

Alfred Mann (April 28, 1917 – September 21, 2006), was an American musicologist who specialized in the history of Western musical theory. He was a professor of Musicology[5] at the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. His parents were the portrait painter Wilhelm Mann and the well-known harpsichordist and musicologist Edith Weiss-Mann.

Biography

Alfred Mann left Germany before World War II and moved to Italy where he only could stay shortly. In 1938, Mann had to leave Italy, because of a Mussolini mandate, and Mann moved to the USA. After a long career, Mann became Professor of Musicology at the Eastman School in 1980, retiring and becoming Professor Emeritus in 1987.

Important Writings

In 1938, Mann published his German translation[1] of Johann Joseph Fux's Gradus ad Parnassum next to the first one by Lorenz Christoph Mizler in 1742.

In 1943, Mann made the first real translation of Gradus ad Parnassum into English[2] next to the one with paraphrases by an anonymous translator.[2] The translation contained the preface, pages 41 – 139 and page 279 of the original work, based on his German translation version.[1][2]

In 1958, Mann translated[3][4] into English, the part of Gradus ad Parnassum that concerned the composition of a fugue, pages 140 – 217 of the original work.

References

  1. ^ a b c Die Lehre vom Kontrapunkt (Gradus Ad Parnassum) Johann Joseph Fux, Moeck 1938.
  2. ^ a b c d The Study of Counterpoint Johann Joseph Fux, WW Norton & Co (revised edition) 1965, ISBN 978-0-393-00277-5.
  3. ^ a b Study of Fugue Alfred Mann, WW Norton & Co, 1980, ISBN 978-0-393-09675-0.
  4. ^ a b Study of Fugue Alfred Mann, Dover Publications Inc. (edited) 1988, ISBN 978-0-486-25439-5
  5. ^ a b Alfred Mann: A Life Sketch (short biography) Michael Dodds, Eastman School of Music, (last edited) 2007