Smend, Friedrich

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Smend, Friedrich

Smend, Friedrich , eminent German musicologist; b. Strasbourg, Aug. 26, 1893; d. Berlin, Feb. 10, 1980. He studied theology at the Univs. of Strasbourg, Tübingen, Marburg, and Münster (Ph.D., 1921, with the diss. Die Acta-Berichte über Bekehrung des Paulus nach ihrem Quellenwert). He was employed at the Univ. of Münster Library (1921–23) and at the Prussian State Library in Berlin (1923–45); was a teacher (1945–46), director of the library (1946–58), a prof. (1949–58), and rector (1954–57) at the Kirchliche Hochschule in Berlin. In 1951 he received an honorary doctorate in theology from the Univ. of Heidelberg and in 1954 an honorary doctorate in philosophy from the Univ. of Mainz. He was an authority on the life and music of Bach.

Writings

Luther und Bach (Berlin, 1947); J.S. Bachs Kirchen-Kantaten (Berlin, 1947–49; second ed., 1950); Johann Sebastian Bach bei seinem Namen gerufen (Kassel and Basel, 1950); Bach in Käthen (Berlin, 1951); Goethes Verhältnis zu Bach (Berlin and Darmstadt, 1955); Bach Studien: Gesammelte Reden und Aufsätze (Kassel, 1969).

Bibligrophy

Festschrift für F. S. zum 70. Geburtstag dargebracht von Freunden und Schülern (Berlin, 1963).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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