Summary
Knud Jeppesen (15 August 1892 – 14 June 1974) was a Danish musicologist and composer, and the leading scholar of his day on Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, about whose life and music he wrote numerous studies. His name is invariably associated with the study of musical counterpoint, particularly in the style of Palestrina: his 1930 Counterpoint: The Polyphonic Vocal Style of the Sixteenth Century has been a standard textbook since its German (1935) and English (1939) appearances and remains in print, while his dissertation, expanded in 1923 and published in English in 1927 as The Style of Palestrina and the Dissonance, is cited by The New Grove as the "most distinguished and influential example of stylistic analysis at this time". Alongside a long career as organist and teacher in Copenhagen and Aarhus, he produced pioneering primary research on Italian and Danish music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, culminating in his magnum opus La frottola (1968–70). He was also an active composer of songs, church music, motets and cantatas.
Key Points
- Born 15 August 1892, died 14 June 1974; Danish musicologist and composer, the foremost authority of his era on Palestrina.
- Showed early musical talent at age 10, first encouraged by Hakon Andersen and Paul Hellmuth, but was largely self-taught.
- After primary education (1911) worked as an opera coach and conductor in Elbing and Liegnitz (Eastern Germany); employed in Berlin in 1914, returned to Denmark on the outbreak of war.
- In Copenhagen: pupil of Carl Nielsen and Thomas Laub; studied musicology at Copenhagen University with Angul Hammerich; passed the organist exam at the Royal Danish Conservatory in 1916.
- Because Hammerich's retirement left no one on the university faculty to examine his work, he submitted his dissertation to the University of Vienna, where it was reviewed by Guido Adler; doctorate awarded 1922.
- Organist at St. Stephen's Church, Copenhagen (1917–1932) and at Holmen Church (1932–1947); taught music theory at the Royal Danish Academy of Music (1920–1947) and served on its board of directors.
- In 1946 appointed to the new chair of musicology at Aarhus University; founded its Institute of Musicology in 1950 and directed it until 1957.
- Students included the composers Vagn Holmboe (in Copenhagen) and Bent Lorentzen (in Aarhus).
- After retiring in 1957 he lived in Italy, making discoveries in Italian libraries that culminated in (1968–70).