Abstract :
[en] Friedhelm Brusniak will have duly celebrated his sixty-fifth birthday with birthday cake, sparkling wine and other culinary delicacies in the family. The present academic birthday cake is addressed to the friend and colleague Friedhelm Brusniak in recognition of his life achievement. The authorship is composed of companions with whom Friedhelm Brusniak, on the one hand, was, closely connected during his long career as a scholar, and, on the other hand, with fellow researchers, he came later into contact as a networker in the international context.
For the editor, it was important that the academic freedom of every one should be respected and that no restrictions should be imposed on the authors. The 21 articles, in four languages – German, English, French, Italian – are published in alphabetical order of the authors. (The only exception are the texts by Andreas Eschen and Anna-Christine Rhode-Jüchtern. They are related and printed successively.) The authors come from Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Luxembourg, Austria, Poland, Slovenia, Hungary and the United States of America. The portrait at the beginning of the book was drawn by Barbara Plattner. The articles are preceded by four greeting messages, including a sounding one composed by longtime friend Heinz Werner Zimmermann.
Although ordered without a thematic context, the contributions reflect the considerable spectrum of the long-standing scientific work of Friedhelm Brusniak. In addition to his ambitious work as a university professor and scholar, he did never refrain from accepting additional responsibilities, e.g. from 1994 to 2002 as President of the German Mozart-Society and from 2009 to 2013 as the first chairman of the Hermann Zilcher Society.
The texts in connection with Leo Kestenberg occupy a large part of the book. This will be noted with satisfaction by Friedhelm Brusniak, president (since 2012) of the International Leo-Kestenberg-Society. Furthermore, the reader will find texts on choral, wind and amateur music research ("community music") as well as on questions of music education in a historical context and an empirical perspective. Also, the contributions cover a timeframe of more than 400 years.
They deal s.l. with cultural heritage in a multi-faceted Europe and beyond. Finally, the essays with a philosophical-religious background and in connection with Freemasonry should be emphasized do not stand alone but should be considered as an integrative part. The editor is particularly satisfied and grateful from coming personally in contact with Karl-Heinrich Ehrenforth, the esteemed colleague and friend of Friedhelm Brusniak, and that Prof. Ehrenforth probably provided his last publication to this Festschrift. After his death, his daughter, Christiane Ehrenforth, granted permission to publish.
Friedhelm Brusniak’s affinity for interdisciplinarity was met more unconsciously than consciously. He uses the term "interface research"! This has been the case for biography research since his employment with Conrad Rein as well as for musicological research from his home region Waldeck. This is especially true for choral music research, which became his central field of scholarship at the beginning of the nineties. Friedhelm Brusniak comes from a family wind musicians. In the research efforts of the International Society for the Research and Promotion of Wind Music (IGEB), he recognised the congeniality to choral music research, s.l. "community music". For many years now, his contributions to IGEB conferences have received much attention. Conversely, Friedhelm Brusniak received, since the beginning of the eighties, the decisive impulses from the IGEB under Wolfgang Suppan, which he was able to transfer to choral music research and to the Singer Museum in Feuchtwangen, where he serves as a scientific head.
As a trained music educator and chair of the Department of Music Education at the University of Würzburg, Friedhelm Brusniak maintained European and international partnerships with music pedagogues, initially in the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Süd (AG Süd) and then in the Forum of European Music Pedagogy (FEMP).
His connection with Luxembourg, at the intersection of French and German music pedagogic traditions, was a matter of concern to Friedhelm Brusniak. He was particularly inspired to detect and expand European networks. Please refer to Martin Straus, who provides a more detailed glimpse in the following article. The number of non-German authors is an impressive proof of Friedhelm Brusniak’s constant and interesting view across the borders of his country and his successfully established and maintained contacts.
