Theodor Göllner

Theodor Gollner (born 25 November 1929 in Bielefeld). Is a German musicologist. He studied musicology, philosophy and medieval Latin at the University of Heidelberg, where he worked with Georgiades and received the PhD in 1957. He began teaching at the University of Munich in 1958, where he completed the Habilitation in 1967 with a study of polyphonic lesson settings. In the same year he was a visiting professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara; he joined the faculty there in 1968 and was named professor of music in 1971. In 1973, he was appointed to the chair of musicology at the University of Munich. He became editor of the series Munchner Veroffentlichungen zur Musikgeschichte in 1977 and of the Munchner Editionen zur Musikgeschichte in 1979. He was appointed chairman of the music commission of the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften in 1982 and member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1991.

Gollner's interest centre on medieval music; he has studied early vocal and instrumental polyphony (including the origins of keyboard music), notation and oral musical traditions. His writings on scripture settings have included investigations on psalmody, masses and the relation of both monophobic and polyphonic Gospel settings to liturgical drama from the medieval era up to Viennese classicism.