Last modified: Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Memorial concert for IU Jacobs School of Music Professor Emeritus Hans Tischler Jan. 22
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 18, 2011
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A memorial concert for Hans Tischler, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music professor emeritus, is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 22, at 2 p.m. in Auer Hall. The free, open-to-public event is followed by a post-concert reception in the Musical Arts Center.
The musicology icon, who taught at the Jacobs School of Music for 20 years, passed away Nov. 18, 2010, in Bloomington.
The recital will feature Jacobs School faculty and students as well as guests performing from Tischler's editions of medieval songs, motets and conductus, including a song by the master trouvère (narrative poet) Gace Brulé. Performers include William Hudson, well known for his work with the medieval group Liber, and members of the Early Music Institute. Tischler's lifelong devotion to chamber music will be marked with a performance of a Mozart string quartet, led by violinist Stanley Ritchie.
"This concert is an opportunity for us to hear Hans's editions in live performance and to celebrate his contributions to musical culture," said J. Peter Burkholder, chair of the Musicology Department at the Jacobs School of Music. "Hans had an extraordinary career as a musicologist, lasting 70 years from his first dissertation at the age of 22 through his last published article at the age of 92. He was a central figure in scholarship on medieval music, and his editions are landmarks in the field."
About Hans Tischler
Tischler was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1915. He completed his first Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Vienna in 1937 with the dissertation "Harmony in the Works of Gustav Mahler."
The political situation in Europe forced Tischler to leave Vienna, and he immigrated to the United States in 1938. His second Ph.D., with the dissertation "The Motet in 13th-Century France," was awarded in 1942 by Yale University and was the first to be granted in musicology in the U.S.
Tischler enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving from 1943 to 1945, and became a U.S. citizen.
From 1945 to 1947, he was appointed head of the music department at West Virginia Wesleyan College. In 1947, he joined the faculty at Roosevelt University in Chicago, where he taught theory and music history as associate professor of music. In 1950, he founded the Chicago Chapter of the International Society of Contemporary Music. He remained at Roosevelt University until 1965, when he was appointed professor of musicology at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he remained until his retirement in 1985.
Grants from the American Philosophical Society, a Guggenheim fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts grants, two from the Chapelbrook Foundation and a grant from the American Council of Learned Societies aided Tischler in his research and publications.
He wrote over 150 articles and 22 books, gaining him worldwide recognition in the field of medieval French music. He also authored a survey of the history of music (1955), The Perceptive Music Listener; a textbook titled Practical Harmony in 1964; A Structural Analysis of Mozart's Piano Concertos in 1966; and in 1973, a translation of Willi Apel's History of Keyboard Music to 1700.
Citations on Tischler can be found on Google and in Grove Music Online, Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Baker's Biographical Dictionary, Brockhaus-Riemann-Musiklexicon, Répertoire international des Médiévistes and Who's Who in America as well as many additional reference sources.
Tischler was a member and chapter chair of the American Musicological Society and, in 2009, was honored as being a member for more than 50 years. He was also an honorary member of the Austrian Musicological Society.
He contributed to numerous festschriften (academic books honoring a respected person), wrote many journal reviews and gave numerous lectures and papers at conferences and academic institutions all over the world. Added to his vast knowledge of music, he had avid interests in science, art, history, literature, world cultures and involvement in social-political matters. He was a revered teacher, and through his influence on many students, his work will continue to shape the musical world.
In addition to his leadership in education and research, Tischler was a vital member of the Bloomington community and was a founding member of the Bloomington Chamber Music Society and the Bloomington Jewish Community (Beth Shalom). In his honor, Jan. 18, 2008, was named Hans Tischler Day in Bloomington by Mayor Mark Kruzan.
