Gösta Neuwirth


Gösta Neuwirth is an Austrian musicologist, composer and academic teacher. He studied in Vienna and Berlin, where he wrote a dissertation on harmony in Franz Schreker's Der ferne Klang. He has taught at universities and music schools including the Musikhochschule Graz, University of Graz, Universität der Künste Berlin and University of Freiburg. His compositions include a string quartet and a chamber opera.

Life

Born in Vienna, Neuwirth comes from a musical family; the pianist Harald Neuwirth is his brother, whose daughter Olga Neuwirth is a composer. He received instruction in violin and piano starting in 1944. He studied composition with Karl Schiske at the Wiener Musikakademie, and music and theatre at the University of Vienna. His dissertation topic in musicology, Anton Webern, was not accepted. After a brief period as a journalist at the in Graz, he continued his studies from 1963 at the Free University of Berlin with Adam Adrio. In 1968 he received his doctorate in Berlin with a dissertation on harmony in Schreker's Der ferne Klang.
From 1968 to 1970, Neuwirth worked in the Mendelssohn-Archiv of the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz and from 1970 to 1972 was affiliated with the Schönberg-Gesamtausgabe initiative. From 1973 to 1982, Neuwirth headed the electronic studio of the Musikhochschule Graz and lectured on music history at both the Musikhochschule and the University of Graz. From 1982 to 2000 he was a professor of music theory at the Universität der Künste Berlin. Since 2009 he has been an honorary professor at the University of Freiburg.
Numerous renowned composers, including Bernhard Lang, Peter Ablinger, Georg Friedrich Haas, Arnulf Herrmann, Isabel Mundry, Hanspeter Kyburz, Orm Finnendahl, Enno Poppe and Oliver Korte, are among his students. For his 70th birthday, the 2007 Styriarte festival organized a tribute with his and Schreker's works. On the occasion of his 80th birthday, the Society of Friends of Music in Donaueschingen organized a concert with works by Neuwirth as well as his teacher Karl Schiske and his students Peter Ablinger and Martin Kapeller.

Awards