Kurth, Ernst

Born June 1, 1886, in Vienna; died Aug. 2, 1946, in Bern. Swiss musicologist.

Kurth studied with the musicologist G. Adler in Vienna. In 1912 he began teaching musicology at the University of Bern, becoming a professor in 1920. He acquired fame with his book Foundations of Linear Counterpoint (1917; Russian translation, 1931), which concentrates on an analysis of the compositions of J. S. Bach. Among his most important works are Romantic Harmony and Its Crisis in Wagner’s “Tristan” (1920) and a monograph on A. Bruckner (vols. 1–2, 1925), which provides a portrait of the composer as an artist, as well as an analysis of a conception of musical form. Kurth expounded his ideas on the nature of creative work in Music Psychology (1931). A. Schopenhauer’s philosophy influenced his works.