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| Peter Wollny | |
|---|---|
| Name | Peter Wollny |
| Birth date | 1956 |
| Birth place | Bonn, West Germany |
| Occupation | Musicologist, editor, conductor |
| Employer | Johann Sebastian Bach Institute, Bach-Archiv Leipzig |
| Notable works | Neue Bach-Ausgabe contributions, Bach-Handbuch |
Peter Wollny is a German musicologist, editor, and conductor known for his leadership at the Bach-Archiv Leipzig and his authoritative work on Johann Sebastian Bach and the Bach family. He has coordinated major editorial projects, contributed to the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, and shaped Bach scholarship through publications, editions, and international collaborations. Wollny’s scholarship intersects with archives, libraries, and research institutions across Europe and North America.
Wollny was born in Bonn and studied musicology at institutions including the University of Cologne, the University of Bonn, and the University of Göttingen, engaging with faculty connected to the Bachgesellschaft, the Gesellschaft für Musikforschung, and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. His doctoral work involved sources held by the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, the Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden, and the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek and brought him into contact with curators from the Bundesarchiv and the Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen. During his studies he attended seminars drawing visiting scholars from the British Library, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and the Library of Congress.
Wollny’s professional trajectory includes positions at the Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Institut, the Bach-Archiv Leipzig, and collaboration with the Neue Bach-Ausgabe editorial board, the Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften, and research centers such as the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences and the Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig. He has worked with libraries and museums including the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Thomaskirche Leipzig, and the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz. Wollny has been involved with international organizations like the International Musicological Society, the Royal Musical Association, and the American Musicological Society, and has served on advisory panels for the European Research Council and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
Wollny’s research focuses on Johann Sebastian Bach, the Bach family, and Baroque repertory involving contemporaries such as Georg Philipp Telemann, Dieterich Buxtehude, Georg Friedrich Händel, George Frideric Handel, Heinrich Schütz, and Johann Pachelbel. He has examined archival sources from the Archiv der Evangelischen Kirche in Hessen und Nassau, the Sächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, and the Niedersächsisches Landesarchiv. His work engages with manuscripts preserved at the Bach-Archiv Leipzig, the Stadtbibliothek Leipzig, and the collections of the Neue Galerie and intersects with scholarship by figures like Philipp Spitta, Arnold Schering, Alfred Dürr, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (as subject), and Dieter Haberl. Wollny has contributed to debates involving attribution, provenance, and performance practice, dialoguing with research from the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien, the Royal College of Music, and the Conservatoire de Paris.
Wollny has edited volumes for the Neue Bach-Ausgabe and contributed to reference works including the Bach-Handbuch, catalogues of the Bach-Archiv Leipzig collections, and critical editions associated with the Breitkopf & Härtel and Bärenreiter publishing houses. His editorial work connects to projects like the Riemenschneider Collected Works, the Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, and multi-volume series issued by the Germanisches Nationalmuseum and the Deutscher Musikrat. He has authored essays in journals such as Early Music, Die Musikforschung, Journal of the American Musicological Society, Eighteenth-Century Music, and the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
Wollny’s contributions have been recognized by institutions including the Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, and awards connected to the Stiftung Bach-Archiv Leipzig and the Mendelssohn Foundation. He has been invited as a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, the British Academy, and the Getty Research Institute, and has received grants from the VolkswagenStiftung, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, and the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung.
As a lecturer and mentor Wollny has taught at universities and conservatories such as the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig, the University of Leipzig, the University of Hamburg, the University of Munich, and visiting posts at the Harvard University, the Yale University, and the Princeton University. His supervision has produced dissertations linked to the International Congress on Baroque Music, the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music, and doctoral programs funded by the European University Institute and the Leibniz Association.
Wollny’s legacy is evident in curated exhibitions at the Bach-Archiv Leipzig, collaborative symposia with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, and partnerships with cultural bodies like the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, and the Musikfesttage Leipzig. His work continues to inform performers at institutions such as the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the Huguenot Choir of Potsdam, and ensembles associated with the Historischer Klangkörper movement. Wollny’s archival advocacy influences acquisition policies at the Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg Carl von Ossietzky and international cataloguing efforts coordinated with the International Council on Archives.
Category:German musicologists Category:20th-century musicologists Category:21st-century musicologists