Siglind Bruhn (born October 11, 1951, in Hamburg) is a German musicologist, writer and concert pianist.

Biography and career

Siglind Bruhn was born in Hamburg. Her father was the engineer Ernst Bruhn, her mother the interpreter Leonore Bruhn née Kieberger. She made her first solo concerts and performances with orchestras as a soloist at the age of 14. During the last two years before her high school graduation (Abitur 1970), she was a student in the piano class of Professor Eckart Besch at the Musikhochschule Hamburg. She completed her studies in the master class of Vladimir Horbowski at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart; 1975 State Examen (equivalent to a Master of Music) in piano performance and piano pedagogy. Concurrently she read Romance studies, Comparative Literature, and Philosophy at Munich University; 1976 Magister Artium (M.A.) with a thesis on the drama of Ramón del Valle-Inclán. During this time she met her future husband, the philosopher Gerhold K. Becker. In 1976–78, Siglind Bruhn wrote her first book, which links the pedagogical heritage of her teacher Horbowski with first attempts at her own research. After another four years of teaching she enrolled in the University of Vienna and the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna for doctoral studies; 1985 Dr. phil. summa cum laude with an interdisciplinary dissertation in musical analysis and psychoanalysis. Two years later she followed her husband, who had accepted a position in Hong Kong, and taught for six years at The University of Hong Kong. During her first sabbatical (1993–1994), which she spent at the University of Michigan, USA, she was invited to join the university's Institute for the Humanities, where she is currently a Life Research Associate for Music and Modern Literatures / Music in Interdisciplinary Dialogue. In 1993 her book concerning Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier was published.^[1] Since 2007 she has been the musical director of an annual series of chamber music concerts in the Southwest German town of Waldkirch.^[2]

Awards

• 2001 Elected Ordinary member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts
• 2008 Honorary Doctorate (Dr. phil. h.c) from Linnaeus University, Sweden

Books (English only)

• Guidelines to Piano Interpretation, Penerbit Muzikal Malaysia, 1989, ISBN 978-967-985-180-9.
• J. S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier: In-depth analysis and interpretation. Mainer International, 1993. ISBN 978-962-580-017-2, 978-962-580-018-9, 978-962-580-019-6, 978-962-580-020-2.
• Images and Ideas in Modern French Piano Music: The Extra-Musical Subtext in Piano Works by Ravel, Debussy and Messiaen. Pendragon, 1997. ISBN 978-0-945193-95-1; paperback edition 2010 ISBN 978-1-57647-197-5
• The Temptation of Paul Hindemith: Mathis der Maler as a Spiritual Testimony. Pendragon, 1998. ISBN 978-1-57647-013-8 -
• Musical Ekphrasis: Composers Responding to Poetry and Painting, Pendragon, 2000. ISBN 978-1-57647-036-7
• Musical Ekphrasis in Rilke's Marienleben, Rodopi, 2000. ISBN 978-90-420-0800-7
• Saints in the Limelight: Representations of the Religious Quest on the Post-1945 Operatic Stage, Pendragon, 2003. ISBN 978-1-57647-096-1
• The Musical Order of the World: Kepler, Hesse, Hindemith, Pendragon, 2005. ISBN 978-1-57647-117-3
• Messiaen's Contemplations of Covenant and Incarnation: Musical Symbols of Faith in the two great piano cycles of the 1940s, Pendragon, 2007. ISBN 978-1-57647-129-6
• Messiaen's Explorations of Love and Death: Musical Signification in the Tristan Trilogy and Three related song cycles, Pendragon, 2008. ISBN 978-1-57647-136-4
• Messiaen's Interpretations of Holiness and Trinity: Echoes of Medieval Theology in the Oratorio, Organ Meditations, and Opera, Pendragon, 2008. ISBN 978-1-57647-139-5
• Frank Martin's Musical Reflections on Death, Pendragon 2011. ISBN 978-1-57647-194-4
• The Music of Jörg Widmann, Gorz 2013. ISBN 978-3-938095-17-1
• J. S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier: In-depth analysis and interpretation. (Second, completely revised edition in one volume.) Gorz 2014. ISBN 978-3-938095-19-5
• Arnold Schoenberg's Journey from Tone Poems to Kaleidoscopic Sound Colors. Pendragon, 2015. ISBN 978-1-57647-248-4
• Debussy's Vocal Music and its Poetic Evocations. Pendragon, 2018. ISBN 978-1-57647-315-3
• Debussy's Instrumental Music in its Cultural Context. Pendragon, 2019. ISBN 978-1-57647-318-4

Essays and editorial work

Essay collections as contributing author:

• Messiaen's Language of Mystical Love. New York: Garland 1998. ISBN 978-0-8153-2747-9
• Encrypted Messages in Alban Berg's Music . New York: Garland 1998. ISBN 978-0-8153-2480-5
• Signs in Musical Hermeneutics [special issue of The American Journal of Semiotics 13/1-4], 1998. ISSN 0277-7126
• Voicing the Ineffable: Musical Representations of Religious Experience. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press 2002. ISBN 978-1-57647-089-3
• Sonic Transformations of Literary Texts: From Program Music to Musical Ekphrasis. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press 2008. ISBN 978-1-57647-140-1
• Since 2000, series editor of the book series "Interplay: Music in Interdisciplinary Dialogue" published by Pendragon Press

Discography

• Maurice Ravel: Histoires Naturelles, Modest Mussorgsky: Songs and Dances of Death. Cornelia Kallisch, mezzo-soprano; Siglind Bruhn, piano. LM-M E 2011 1984
• Paul Hindemith: five sonatas for strings and piano. [a] Andrew Jennings, violin, [b] Yizhak Schotten, viola; [c] Bruce Smith, viola d'amore, [d] Anthony Elliott, violoncello; [e] Derek Weller, double bass; piano: Siglind Bruhn, [a ], [c], [e], Katherine Collier [b], Anton Nel [d]. Equilibrium 1995
• Paul Hindemith: five sonatas for woodwinds and piano. [a] Leone Buyse, flute, [b] Harry Sargous, oboe; [c] Fred Ormand, clarinet; [d] Harry Sargous, English horn; [e] Richard Beene, bassoon; piano: Siglind Bruhn, [a], [ b], [e], Anton Nel [c] [d]. Equilibrium 1995
• Paul Hindemith: five sonatas for piano and brass instruments. [a] Charles Darval, trumpet, [b] Bryan Kennedy, French horn, [c] Charles Darval, alto horn, [d] H. Dennis Smith, trombone, [e] Fritz Kaenzig, tuba; piano: Siglind Bruhn, [a ], [b], [e], Robert Conway [c], Anton Nel [d]. Equilibrium 1996
• Paul Hindemith: Ludus tonalis and Reihe kleiner Stücke. Siglind Bruhn, piano. Equilibrium 1996