Otto Ursprung

Otto Ursprung (Gunzlhofen, Upper Bavaria, 1879 – Schondorf, near Munich, 1960) was a German musicologist whose work focused on Catholic sacred music and the musical history of Bavaria. He began his training within the Church, and this dual vocation as theologian and music scholar shaped his entire output, making him a significant figure in German musicology of the first half of the twentieth century.

He studied philosophy and theology at the Hochschule in Freising and at the University of Munich between 1899 and 1904, the year he was ordained a priest. After four years of pastoral work, he turned to music, first under Gottfried Rüdinger and then under Sandberger and Kroyer at the University of Munich, where he earned his doctorate in 1911 with a thesis on Jacobus de Kerle. Between 1912 and 1926 he was attached to the church of St Cajetan in Munich, and he served as a military chaplain during the First World War. He then became honorary canon of the court church of All Saints, which remained open until the Nazis closed it in 1940. Between 1932 and 1949 he held the honorary post of professor of music history at the University of Munich.

His thesis on Kerle's role in the reforms of the Council of Trent led to his major work, a broad and fundamental survey of Catholic sacred music, in which he brought together his theological and historical knowledge. From this central concern he wrote on the aesthetic foundations of sacred music, the relationship between Gregorian chant and early music, the development of the liturgical drama and early Spanish music. He also wrote an important book on the musical history of Munich and prepared editions of works by Kerle and Ludwig Senfl.

His legacy endures above all in his studies of liturgical music and his work on medieval monody, German lyric poetry and early Spanish music. Although some of his publications are tied to their time, they are still cited as references in studies of the Central European sacred tradition.