John Deathridge

John Deathridge
Born	John William Deathridge (1944-10-21) 21 October 1944 (age 81) Birmingham, England
Occupations	musicologist, conductor, accompanist, broadcaster
Instruments	Piano, organ

John William Deathridge (born 21 October 1944, in Birmingham) is a British musicologist. He was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and at Lincoln College, Oxford (MA, DPhil) culminating with a dissertation on Wagner's sketches for Rienzi , later published by Clarendon Press. ^[1] He is Emeritus Professor of Music at King's College London. Deathridge lives in Cambridge.

Professional life

After graduating from Oxford, Deathridge worked as full-time director of music at St Wolfgang, Munich, where he continued research on Wagner and acted as a conductor and broadcaster. From 1983 to 1996 he was a fellow and director of studies in music at King's College, Cambridge. ^[2] In 1996 he took up the King Edward VII Professorship of Music at King's College London, where he also served as Head of the Department of Music.

Between 2005 and 2008 he served as president of the Royal Musical Association, ^[3] Since December 2011, Deathridge has also served as a member of the board of the European Academy of Music Theatre. ^[4]

Deathridge has also taught at Princeton University and the University of Chicago and served as an editor of the complete edition of Wagner's musical works. ^[5] He retired from King's College London in 2013 where he now holds the title of Professor Emeritus ^[6]

Deathridge's career has included work as a radio and television broadcaster ^{[7] [8]} and as a reviewer for scholarly music journals in Germany and the United Kingdom.

Deathridge's translation of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen into English was published by Penguin Random House in 2018 and he later created a new singing translation for the performance of the Cycle staged by ENO from 2021. ^{[9] [10]}

Selected works

• With Carl Dahlhaus, The New Grove Wagner, 1984, Macmillan Press
• Introduction author, The Family Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. William Ashton Ellis, 1992, University of Michigan Press
• Translation editor, Wagner Handbook, Edited by Ulrich Muller and Peter Wapnewski. Harvard University Press.
• Wagner: Beyond Good and Evil, 2008, University of California Press
• Richard Wagner: The Ring of the Nibelung, 2020, Penguin

Notes and references

1. Deathridge, John (1977). "Wagner's Rienzi: A Reappraisal Based on a Study of the Sketches and Drafts". Clarendon Press.
2. "Professor John Deathridge". Alumni.
3. "Royal Music Association Website, accessed 3 December 2009". Archived from the original on 19 June 2007. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
4. "Europäische Musiktheater-Akademie | Board" . Retrieved 19 June 2024.
5. "Series: Richard Wagner - Complete Works". www.schott-music.com.
6. London, King's College. "Professor John Deathridge". King's College London. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
7. "BBC Audio | In Our Time | Beethoven". www.bbc.com.
8. "BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, Wagner's Philosophers, Wagner and Adorno". BBC.
9. "John Deathridge: Translator | ENO". English National Opera.
10. "English National Opera announces new staging of Wagner's Ring Cycle - ENO". English National Opera. 24 February 2021.

External links

• European Academy of Music Theatre