Hans Pischner

Hans Pischner (Breslau, now Wrocław, 20 February 1914) was a German musicologist, harpsichordist and cultural administrator whose career unfolded largely in the German Democratic Republic. His career helps to illustrate how musical life in post-war East Germany combined performance, academic research and public administration.

In his native city he studied keyboard instruments with Bronisław von Pozniak and musicology at the university, while working as a music teacher and concert soloist between 1933 and 1939. After the war he joined the Musikhochschule in Weimar (1946–1950), directed the music department of East German radio (1950–1954) and then held a prominent post in the Ministry of Culture (1954–1962). He gained his doctorate at Humboldt University in 1961 with a dissertation on Rameau's theory of harmony, published in Leipzig, and in 1963 he became Intendant of the East Berlin State Opera.

As a harpsichordist he performed in numerous major European musical capitals and recorded a substantial part of Bach's keyboard output, including the violin sonatas with David Oistrakh. His writings on Bach, Wagner, Brecht and Paul Dessau, as well as on the political role of culture, were collected in Musik–Theater–Wirklichkeit (Berlin, 1979). His legacy combines his work as a performer with his role as a manager of musical institutions during a particular period of German history.