Knud Jeppesen was a Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

  musicologist, composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, and writer on the history of music

Music history

Music history, sometimes called historical musicology, is the highly diverse subfield of the broader discipline of musicology that studies the composition, performance, reception, and criticism of music over time...

.

Jeppeson demonstrated early musical talent at age 10 when he was first encouraged by Hakon Andersen

Hakon Andersen

Jens Hakon Johannes Andersen was a Danish organist and composer. He served as organist for a number of churches around Copenhagen throughout his career.-References:...

 and Paul Hellmuth

Paul Hellmuth

Paul Emil Friederich Hellmuth was a Danish organist and composer.-External links:...

, although he was largely self-taught. Completing primary education in 1911, he first worked in Elbing and Liegnitz (eastern Germany) as an opera coach and and conductor. He found employment in Berlin in 1914, but returned to Denmark due to the outbreak of war. In Copenhagen he became a pupil of prominent Danish composers Carl Nielsen

Carl Nielsen

Carl August Nielsen , , widely recognised as Denmark's greatest composer, was also a conductor and a violinist. Brought up by poor but musically talented parents on the island of Funen, he demonstrated his musical abilities at an early age...

 and Thomas Laub

Thomas Laub

Thomas Linnemann Laub was a Danish organist and composer.-Notable works:*1888 80 rytmiske Koraler, en enstemmig samling*1889–1891 Kirkemelodier, tre hæfter med firstemmige udsættelser...

, and studied musicology at Copenhagen University with Angul Hammerich. He passed the organist exam at the Royal Danish Conservatory of music in 1916. Owing to Hammerich's retirement, there was nobody on the faculty of the university to examine Jeppesen's work; therefore, he subitted his dissertation to the University of Vienna where it was reviewed by Guido Adler

Guido Adler

Guido Adler was a Bohemian-Austrian musicologist and writer.His father Joachim, a physician, died of typhoid fever in 1857...

 and Jeppesen was awarded a doctorate in 1922. He taught music theory at the Royal Danish Academy of Music from 1920 to 1947, also serving on its board of directors. He was organist at Copenhagen's St. Stephens church from 1917-1932 and at the Holmen church

Church of Holmen

The Church of Holmen is a church in central Copenhagen in Denmark, on the street called Holmens Kanal. First built as an anchor forge in 1563, it was converted into a naval church by Christian IV. It is famous for having hosted the wedding between Margrethe II of Denmark, current queen of Denmark,...

 in 1947. He became the first professor of musicology at Aarhus University in 1947.

Jeppesen's name is invariably associated with the study of musical counterpoint

Counterpoint

In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...

, particularly in the style of Palestrina

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the best-known 16th-century representative of the Roman School of musical composition...

. His 1930 Counterpoint: The Polyphonic Vocal Style of the Sixteenth Century has been a standard textbook since its appearance in German (1935) and English (1939), and remains in print today (the third and final edition remains untranslated). He doctoral thesis was enlarged in 1923 and appeared in English in 1927 as "The Style of Palestrina and the Dissonance." His published writings on music mostly by Italian and Danish composers from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Jeppesen engaged in much primary research – locating early manuscript and print copies of old scores and preparing editions with annotations and commentary. In 1962 he finished the first complete thematic catalog of Palestrina's oeuvre. Among his accomplishments were the discovery of ten previously unknown masses by Palestrina in 1949.

Jeppesen's early efforts at composition were poorly received and he turned away from composition in 1919, only to resume after a fifteen year hiatus. He is known for well-crafted songs set to Danish texts, church music, and motets. He also wrote cantatas, organ music, and an opera, Rosaura, which was performed by the Royal Danish Theatre

Royal Danish Theatre

The Royal Danish Theatre is both the national Danish performing arts institution and a name used to refer to its old purpose-built venue from 1874 located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The theatre was founded in 1748, first serving as the theatre of the king, and then as the theatre of the...

 on September 20, 1950. He also made many contributions to Danish hymnology, and his Bygen flygter, Forunderligt så sødt et smil is a classic with Danish church choirs. His style incorporates his knowledge of early counterpoint but also the style of late Viennese romantics including Gustav Mahler

Gustav Mahler

Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...

, to whom he was introduced by Adler. From 1916 to 1931 Jeppesen was Nielsen's closest associate, and Jeppesen wrote several articles important articles about that composer.

Following his retirement in 1957, Jeppesen resided in Italy, enabling him to make several discoveries in Italian libraries culminating in his magnum opus, La frottola (1968-70), a detailed study of frottola

Frottola

The frottola was the predominant type of Italian popular, secular song of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century. It was the most important and widespread predecessor to the madrigal...

.

From 1927 until his death he was active in the International Musicological Society, serving as president from 1949 to 1952.

Writings

• Die Dissonanzbehandlung bei Palestrina (diss., U. of Vienna, 1922; enlarged Copenhagen, 1923, as Palestrinastil med saerligt henblik paa dissonansbehandlingen; Ger. trans., 1925; Eng. trans. as 'The Style of Palestrina and the Dissonance', 1927, 2/1946 (revised))
• ‘Das “Sprunggesetz” des Palestrinastils bei betonten Viertelnoten (halben Taktzeiten)’, Musikwissenschaftlicher Kongress: Basle 1924, pp. 211–19
• ‘Johann Joseph Fux und die moderne Kontrapunkttheorie’, Deutsche Musikgesellschaft: Kongress I: Leipzig 1925, pp 187–8
• ‘Das isometrische Moment in der Vokalpolyphonie’, Festschrift Peter Wagner, ed. K. Weinmann (Leipzig, 1926), pp 87–100
• ‘Über einen Brief Palestrinas’, Festschrift Peter Wagner, ed. K. Weinmann (Leipzig, 1926), pp 100–07
• ‘Die Textlegung in der Chansonmusik des späteren 15. Jahrhunderts’, Beethoven-Zentenarfeier: Vienna 1927, pp 155–7
• ‘Die neuentdeckten Bücher der Lauden des Ottaviano dei Petrucci und andere musikalische Seltenheiten der Biblioteca Colombina zu Sevilla’, Zeitschrift für Musikwissenschaft, xii (1929–30), pp. 73–89.
• Kontrapunkt (vokalpolyfoni) [Counterpoint] (Copenhagen, 1930, 3rd ed. 1962; Ger. trans., 1935, 5/1970; Eng. trans., 1939, 2cd edition)
• ‘Wann entstand die Marcellus-Messe?’, Studien zur Musikgeschichte: Festschrift für Guido Adler (Vienna, 1930), pp 126–36
• ‘Die 3 Gafurius-Kodizes der Fabbrico del Duomo, Milano’, Acta Musicologia, iii (1931), 14–28
• ‘Ein venezianisches Laudenmanuskript’, Theodor Kroyer: Festschrift, ed. H. Zenck, H. Schultz and W. Gerstenberg (Regensburg, 1933), pp 69–76
• ‘Diderik Buxtehude’ Dietrich Buxtehude, Dansk musiktidsskrift, xii (1937), pp 63–70
• ‘Rom og den danske musik’, Rom og Danmark gennem tiderne, ii, ed. L. Bobé (Copenhagen, 1937), pp. 153–76
• ‘Über einige unbekannte Frottolenhandschriften’, Acta Musicologia, xi (1939), pp. 81–114
• ‘Venetian Folk-Songs of the Renaissance’, Papers of the American Musicological Society, 1939, pp. 62–75
• ‘Eine musiktheoretische Korrespondenz des früheren Cinquecento’, Acta musicologia, xiii (1941), pp 3–39
• ‘Das Volksliedgut in den Frottolenbüchern des Octavio Petrucci (1504–1514)’, Emlékkönyv Kodály Zoltán hatvanadik születésnapjára, ed. B. Gunda (Budapest, 1943), pp. 265–74
• ‘Marcellus-Probleme’, Acta musicologia, xvi–xvii (1944–5), pp 11–38
• ‘Choralis Constantinus som liturgisk dokument’, Festskrift til O.M. Sandvik, ed. O. Gurvin (Oslo, 1945), pp 52–82
• ‘Et nodefund paa Konservatoriet’, Dansk musiktidsskrift, xx (1945), pp 41–7, pp 67–70
• ‘Carl Nielsen, a Danish Composer’, Music Review, vii (1946), pp 170–77
• ‘Zur Kritik der klassischen Harmonielehre’, International Musicological Society Congress Report IV: Basle 1949, pp 23–34
• ‘The Recently Discovered Mantova Masses of Palestrina: a Provisional Communication’, Acta musicologia, xxii (1950), pp 36–47
• ‘Pierluigi da Palestrina, Herzog Gugliemo Gonzaga und die neugefundenen Mantovaner-Messen Palestrinas: ein ergänzender Bericht’, Acta musicologia, xxv (1953), pp 132–79
• ‘Cavazzoni-Cabezón’, Journal of the American Musicological Society, viii (1955), pp 81–5
• ‘Eine frühe Orgelmesse aus Castell’Arquato’, Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, xii (1955), pp 187–205
• ‘Palestriniana: ein unbekanntes Autogramm und einige unveröffentlichte Falsibordoni des Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’, Miscelánea en homenaje a Monseñor Higinio Anglés (Barcelona, 1958–61), pp. 417–30
• ‘Et par notationstekniske problemer i det 16. aarhundredes musik og nogle dertil knyttede iagttagelser (taktindelling partitur)’, Svensk tidskirft för musikforskning, xliii (1961), pp. 171–93
• ‘Ein altvenetianisches Tanzbuch’, Festschrift Karl Gustav Fellerer zum sechzigsten Geburtstag, ed. H. Hüschen (Regensburg, 1962), pp. 245–63
• ‘Über italienische Kirchenmusik in der ersten Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts’, Studia musicologica Academiae scientiarum hungaricae, iii (1962), pp. 149–60
• ‘Carl Nielsen paa hundredaarsdagen: nogle erindringer’, Dansk aarbog for musikforskning, iv (1964–5), pp 137–50
• ‘The Manuscript Florence Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Banco rari 230: an Attempt at Diplomatic Reconstruction’, Aspects of Medieval and Renaissance Music: a Birthday Offering to Gustave Reese, ed. J. LaRue and others (New York, 1966 revised), pp 440–47
• ‘Monteverdi, Kapellmeister an S. Barbara?’, Claudio Monteverdi e il suo tempo: Venice, Mantua and Cremona 1968, pp 313–22
• La frottola (Århus and Copenhagen, 1968–70)
• ‘An Unknown Pre-Madrigalian Music Print in Relation to other Contemporary Italian Sources (1520–1530)’, Studies in Musicology: Essays … in Memory of Glen Haydon, ed. J.W. Pruett (Chapel Hill, NC, 1969), pp. 3–17
• ‘Alcune brevi annotazioni sulla musicologia’, Scritti in onore di Luigi Ronga (Milan and Naples, 1973), pp. 275–8

Compositions

• 1906 ”Nordisk Festmarche” for 3 violins, cello, harmonium or piano.
• 1911 "Staka" - Symphonic poem (tenor and piano)
• 1912 "Foraar" for soloists and orchestra (text: Johannes Jørgensen)
• 1915 Strygekvartet i F (elevopgave)
• 1919 Violinsonate
• 1925 Kantate for Rungsted Kostskoles Samfund
• 1930 Sonatine i C-dur (piano)
• 1934 Gud, vend Øren til min Bøn (Motet 4-part mixed choir)
• 1935 Hvad er et Menneske? (Motet for 4-part mixed choir)
• 1936 Reformationskantate
• 1937 Domine, refugium factus es nobis - Cantata for Soprano, and flute or violin solo
• 1938 Sjællandsfar (symphony)
• 1940 To Patetiske sange
• 1941 Hornkoncert
• 1941 Lille Sommertrio (for flute, cello, and piano)
• 1942 Præludium og fuga i e-mol (organ)
• 1942/45 Te Deum Danicum (for the opening of the Danish Radio concert hall)
• 1944 Lille trio (La primavera)
• 1944 Haglskyen (8 part male chorus. Text: Knud Wiinstedt)
• 1945 Dronning Dagmar Messe
• 1946 Kantate ved indvielsen af Aarhus Universitets hovedbygning
• 1949 Ørnen og skarnbassen (for the Københavns Drengekors 25 year jubilee)
• 1950 Rosaura, opera in three acts after texts by the composer and Goldoni
• 1951 Kantate ved genindvielsen af Haderslev Domkirke
• 1951 Du gav mig o herre en lod af din jord (C. R. Sundell)
• 1951 Dagen viger og gaar bort - cantata for alto soloist, mixed chorus, string orchestra or organ (text: Dorothea Engelbretsdatter)
• 1952 Kantate ved Det Jyske Musikkonservatoriums 25-års jubilæum
• 1953 Vintergæk er brudt af mulden (Hymn)
• 1957 50 koralforspil (organ)

Discography

• 1996 Musik ved Susåen Storstrøms Kammerensemble (Lille Sommertrio) (Helikon - HCD1023)
• 2003 Monteverdi - Knud Jeppesen Musikstuderendes Kammerkor, dir. Finn Mathiassen (Point - PCD5161/2)

Editions

• with V. Brøndal: Der Kopenhagener Chansonnier (Copenhagen, 1927, 2cd edition 1965)
• Vaerker af Mogens Pedersøn, Dania sonans, i (Copenhagen, 1933)
• with V. Brøndal: Die mehrstimmige italienische Laude um 1500 (Leipzig and Copenhagen, 1935 (revised))
• Die italienische Orgelmusik am Anfang des Cinquecento (Copenhagen, 1943, enlarged 2cd edition 1960)
• Dietrich Buxtehude: Min Gud er med mig (Der Herr ist mit mir), Samfundet til udgivelse af dansk musik, 3rd ser., lxxxix (Copenhagen, 1946)
• La flora, arie &c. antiche italiane (Copenhagen, 1949)
• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Le messe di Mantova, Le opere complete, xviii–xix (Rome, 1954)
• Balli antichi veneziani per cembalo (Copenhagen, 1962)
• Italia sacra musica: musiche corali italiane sconosciute della prima metà del Cinquecento (Copenhagen, 1962)
• Founding editor of Dania Sonans, issuing editions of early Danish music.