Between the worlds
The university congratulates its Honorary Senator Prof Dr Peter Gülke on his 90th birthday
The University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar congratulates its alumnus, honorary doctor and honorary senator Prof. Dr Dr h.c. mult. Peter Gülke on his 90th birthday on Monday, 29 April 2024.
"We wish him continued good health and unflagging activity," says Prof Anne-Kathrin Lindig, President of the Weimar Music university. "Peter Gülke has always been a creative traveller between the worlds of science and art. In an inimitable way, he has succeeded in building bridges, bringing well-founded ideas into musical practice - and, conversely, drawing inspiration from his busy professional life as a conductor for a research-based approach to our music history. You can learn a lot from him."
Peter Gülke's life and work can be described as a borderline journey: Firstly, there is the biographical path from East to West and back to East again, with Weimar as the starting point and provisional destination, which is joined by a second border crossing: the successful dual existence as a musician and musicologist.
Born in Weimar in 1934, he studied music at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar. After stops in Rudolstadt, Stendal, Potsdam, Stralsund and Dresden, he initially became General Music Director of the Staatskapelle Weimar.
In 1975, he made a name for himself as a musicologist with his book on the music of the European Middle Ages, "Monks, Citizens, Minstrels", which is now regarded as a classic. Peter Gülke did not return to the GDR from a guest appearance that took him to Hamburg in 1983. After his habilitation at the TU Berlin, the music practitioner found a new place to work in Wuppertal, while the theorist published highly acclaimed studies on Brahms, Bruckner and Schubert.
The list of honours bestowed on him is long and includes the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize and the Federal Cross of Merit with Ribbon. Most recently, Peter Gülke was Chief Conductor of the Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra from 2015 to 2020.
[29 April 2024]