Hans Theodor David (Musicologist, Arranger)

Born: July 8, 1902 - Speyer, Palatinate, Germany
Died: October 30, 1967 - Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

The German-American musicologist, Hans T(heodor) David, was educated at the universities of Tübingen, Göttingen, and Berlin (Ph.D., 1928, with the dissertation Johann Schobert als Sonatenkomponist; published in Borna, 1928). In 1933 he went to the Netherlands, and in 1936 he emigrated to the USA.

In 1937 Hans T. David joined the staff at the New York Public Libary, and in 1939 became a lecturer at New York University; after serving as a professor and head of the musicology department at Southern Methodist University in Dallas (1945-1950), he was professor of music history at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (from 1950). He was highly regarded as a Bach scholar.

Writings

With A. Rau: A Catalog of Music fit American Moravians, 1742-1842, from the Archives of the Moravian Church at Bethlehem (Bethlehem, PA, 1938)
Bach's 'Musical Offering’: History, Interpretation and Analysis (New York, 1945);
editor with Arthur Mendel: The Bach Reader (New York, 1945; 2^nd edition, revised, 1966)

Source: Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of 20^th Century Classical Musicians (1997)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (July 2010)

Hans Theodor David: Short Biography | Arrangements/Transcriptions: Works | Recordings | Book: The Bach Reader / The New Bach Reader

Links to other Sites

Bibliography