Mahrenholz, Christhard (actually, Christian Reinhard)

Mahrenholz, Christhard (actually, Christian Reinhard), prominent German musicologist; b. Adelebsen, near Göttingen, Aug. 11, 1900; d. Hannover, March 15, 1980. He studied piano, organ, and cello, and took courses in theology. He also studied musicology with Schering at the Leipzig Cons., Abert at the Univ. of Leipzig, and Ludwig and Spitta at the Univ. of Göttingen (Ph.D., 1923, with the diss. Samuel Scheidt: Sein Leben und sein Werk; publ, in Leipzig, 1924). He served as a pastor in Göttingen; then taught at the Univ. there, being made honorary prof. of church music (1946). He was a member of the Hannover Landes Kirchenant (1930–65), president of the Assn. of Protestant Church Choirs in Germany (1934–73), and chairman of the Neue Bach-Gesellschaft (1949–74). Mahrenholz was co-ed, of Musik und Kirche (from 1929), the Handbuch der deutschen evangelischen Kirchenmusik (from 1935), the Jahrbuch für Liturgik und Hymnologie (from 1955), and the Handbuch zum Evangelischen Kirchengesangbuch (from 1956); was the general ed. of the complete works of Samuel Scheidt (from 1932). He was made abbot of the Amelungsborn Cloister in 1960. Mahrenholz retired from active work in 1967. His books include Die Orgelregister: Ihre Geschichte und ihr Bau (Kassel, 1930; 2^nd ed., 1944); Luther und die Kirchenmusik (Kassel, 1937); Die Berechnung der Orgelpfeifen-Mensuren vom Mittelalter bis zur Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts (Kassel, 1938); Glockenkunde (Kassel, 1949); with R. Unter-möhlen, Choralbuch zum evangelischen Kirchengesangbuch (Kassel, 1950); Das evangelische Kirchengesangbuch: Vorgeschichte, Werden und Grundsätze seiner Gestaltung (Kassel, 1950); Das Schicksal der deutschen Kirchenglocken (Hamburg, 1952); Kompendium der Liturgik des Hauptgottesdienstes (Kassel, 1963). K. Müller ed. a collection of his articles as Musicologica et liturgica: Aufsätze von Christhard Mahrenholz (Kassel, 1960). His 70th birthday was honored by the Festschrift Kerygma und Melos (Kassel and Berlin, 1970).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire