Franz Magnus Böhme


Franz Theodor Magnus Böhme was a German academic, musicologist, composer, folksong collector and writer on music history and folksong.

Biography

The son of a farmer, Böhme became a primary school teacher in Thuringia. He then studied at the Conservatory in Leipzig under Moritz Hauptmann and Julius Rietz. From 1859 to 1878 he was a choirmaster and music teacher in Dresden, before teaching counterpoint and history of music at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt am Main from 1878 to 1885. After 1885 he returned as a professor to Dresden, where he continued to teach.
Inspired by the example of Ludwig Uhland and Ludwig Erk, he was an avid collector and publisher of folk tunes, and contributed greatly to the establishment of research into German folk music. Böhme died in 1898 in Dresden, and was buried at the Trinitatisfriedhof. Having died in the former DDR, a great part of his legacy, in particular his manuscripts on the history of dance and folk songs passed to the former Institute for folk music research in Weimar. These are now preserved in the University archive/Thuringian state music archive at Weimar. Another part of his legacy, about 16000 collected songs, as well as his own compositions are to be found today in the state library of Saxony and state and university library of Dresden.
A street is named after him in his birthplace, Willerstedt.

Selected works

Collections

  • Altdeutsches Liederbuch. Volkslieder der Deutschen nach Wort und Weise aus dem 12. bis zum 17. Jahrhundert, 1877.
  • Deutscher Liederhort, Neubearbeitung und Fortsetzung des Werkes von Ludwig Erk, 3 Bände, 1893/94
  • Volksthümliche Lieder der Deutschen im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert, 1895.
  • Deutsches Kinderlied und Kinderspiel, 2 Bände, 1870/97.

Books

  • Geschichte des Oratoriums, 1861
  • Geschichte des Tanzes in Deutschland, 1886