Education
Dürr studied musicology and Classical philology at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen from 1945 to 1950.
Dürr studied musicology and Classical philology at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen from 1945 to 1950.
He was a principal editor of the Neue -Ausgabe, the second edition of the complete works of He wrote his thesis about "s early cantatas. From 1951 until his retirement in 1983 he was an employee of the Johann Sebastian Institute in Göttingen, West Germany, from 1962 to 1981 its deputy director He was a principal editor of the Neue -Ausgabe, a project which was divided between the Johann Sebastian Institute and the -Archiv Leipzig in East Germany.
Dürr received honorary doctorates of music from the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the University of Oxford and Baldwin–Wallace College in Ohio.
His 65th birthday was marked by a Festschrift iana et alia musicologica (ed West Rehm, Kassel, 1983). Alfred Dürr died on 7 April 2011 in Göttingen.
Dürr wrote standard works on the cantatas (1971) and on The Well-Tempered Clavier, which are of interest not only to specialists, but also to the general public. In 1957 he published in the -Jahrbuch Zur Chronologie der Leipziger Vokalwerke J. South. son
In 1988 his book on "s Street John Passion, Die Johannes-Passion von Johann Sebastian, he explored theological aspects as well as the four versions of the work.
Dating of "s works Many of "s works have uncertain composition dates, and the standard catalogue, the -Werke-Verzeichnis, is not a chronological one. Nevertheless, modern scholarship has been able to throw light on the chronology. Dürr"s "painstaking work" changed the accepted chronology of "s works, especially his cantatas.
The musicologist John Butt remarked: If one had to single out the scholar who has done most to establish the new chronology of "s vocal works and who appears most often as an editor within the Neue -Ausgabe, this would surely have to be Dürr.
Göttingen Academy of Sciences.