Leopold Nowak facts for kids

Leopold Nowak (born August 17, 1904 – died May 27, 1991) was an important Austrian music expert. He is best known for carefully editing the musical works of Anton Bruckner. Nowak worked for the International Bruckner Society. He helped bring back the original forms of Bruckner's music. Many of these pieces had been changed or edited many times over the years.

Early Life and Education

Leopold Nowak was born in Vienna, Austria. When he was young, he studied piano and organ. He learned these instruments at the Imperial Academy of Music in Vienna.

He later studied musicology, which is the study of music history and theory. His teachers were famous experts like Guido Adler and Robert Lach. Nowak studied at the Vienna University. He later taught musicology there from 1932 to 1973.

Important Work and Contributions

In 1946, Nowak took over an important job. He became the music director for the music collection at the Austrian National Library. He followed Robert Haas in this role. Nowak played a key part in saving many important documents about Bruckner's music.

Editing Bruckner's Music

Nowak had a very careful way of editing Bruckner's music. His method was much more scientific than the one used by Robert Haas. For example, Haas sometimes mixed parts from different versions of Bruckner's Symphony No. 8. He would combine the 1887 and 1890 versions into one edition.

Nowak did things differently. He created two separate editions for each version. This way, musicians could see and play each original version as it was meant to be. Nowak also wrote many essays. These essays looked at the deeper ideas behind music by Bruckner and other composers. For instance, he wrote about the rhythm in symphonies by Beethoven and Bruckner.

Work on Mozart's Requiem

Nowak also worked on a new edition of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem. This famous piece of music was left unfinished by Mozart. Nowak studied the handwriting in the music very closely. He was able to tell which parts Mozart wrote himself. He could also tell which parts were added by others, like Süßmayr and Eybler. No one had been able to do this so clearly before him.

In 1985, Nowak received a special award for his work. He was given the Goldene Mozart Medaille. This award recognized his amazing efforts on Mozart's Requiem.

Other Musical Interests

Besides Bruckner and Mozart, Nowak studied many other types of music. He explored Gregorian chant, which is a very old style of church music. He also studied the music of composers like Heinrich Isaac and Joseph Haydn. Nowak was interested in Austrian church music and folk music too. He researched many Austrian composers from the late 1400s onwards.

Nowak's important work on Bruckner's music continued after him. For example, William Carragan carried on his studies, especially on the ending of Bruckner's Ninth Symphony.