Hermann Kretzschmar

August Ferdinand Hermann Kretzschmar (19 January 1848 – 10 May 1924) was a German musicologist and writer, and is considered a founder of hermeneutics in musical interpretation and study.

From 1871 he was actively teaching in Theory, Composition, Piano and Organ at the Leipzig Conservatory, and acted as director/conductor for various musical societies.

[1] In 1912 he was elected Chairman of the de:Preußische Musikgeschichtlichen Kommission (Prussian Music History Commission) and thus the editor of the Denkmäler deutscher Tonkunst.

[3] In his novel Doktor Faustus, Thomas Mann creates the character of Dr Wendell Kretzschmar, the inspirational and eccentric musicologist, lecturer and teacher of the composer Adrian Leverkühn.

The name is probably given in homage to his real-life contemporary Hermann Kretzschmar, whose essays in musical interpretation were widely read and appreciated around the turn of the twentieth century.