Helmuth Osthoff

Helmuth Osthoff was born on 13 August 1896 in Bielefeld (Germany). His musical education already began during his schooldays under Otto Wetzel and Wilhelm Niessen (piano, composition, music theory). After fulfilling his military service in World War I Helmuth Osthoff studied musicology at the conservatory in Münster in 1919, later in Berlin. He finished his studies in 1922 with a doctoral thesis on the renaissance lutenist Santino Garsi da Parma. Helmuth Osthoff then completed his studies privately and at the Stern conservatory under Wilhelm Klatte (composition), James Kwast (piano) and Gustav Brecher (conducting).

After his studies Helmuth Osthoff first worked as a repetiteur at the Leipzig Opera. In 1926 he became assistant to Arnold Schering at the faculty for musicology at the university in Halle, later in Berlin. Since this time Helmuth Osthoff focused his activities on musicology and music history. He was especially interested in the Franco-Flemish School of the 15th and 16th century and published several books about this topic during his lifetime. Still important is his monograph on Josquin Desprez which was published in the 1960s.

In 1937 Helmuth Osthoff was appointed professor for musicology at the university of Frankfurt am Main and became head of the faculty in 1938. During World War II Helmuth Osthoff again fulfilled his military service and fought at the Western Front in 1939. But he was already released in 1940 and could continue his work at the Frankfurt university. During that time Helmuth Osthoff was also assistant to Herbert Gerigk, head of the music section in the „Amt Rosenberg“ (an official body for cultural policy and surveillance within the Nazi party). This contribution forced Helmuth Osthoff to stop his teaching at the Frankfurt University in 1945. In 1948 the denazification process of the Allies came to the conclusion that Helmuth Osthoff was a „Follower“ and so he could resume his position at the university. Helmuth Osthoff then held this position until his retirement in 1964.

After his retirement Helmuth Osthoff moved to Würzburg where he died on 9 February 1983.

The work catalogue of Helmuth Osthoff is small. The reason for that is most likely his focus on musicological research throughout his lifetime. Over a period of 40 years Helmuth Osthoff composed not even two dozens of works. With the kind permission of the Osthoff family I am happy to present here the complete work catalogue for the first time. The catalogue was compiled by Daniel Osthoff, the grandson of Helmuth Osthoff, in May 2021: