Knud Jeppesen

Knud Jeppesen (15 August 1892 in Copenhagen – 14 June 1974 in Risskov) was a Danish musicologist, composer, and writer on the history of music.

Biography

Jeppeson demonstrated early musical talent at age 10 when he was first encouraged by Hakon Andersen and Paul Hellmuth, although he was largely self-taught. Completing primary education in 1911, he first worked in Elbing and Liegnitz (Eastern Germany) as an opera coach and conductor. He found employment in Berlin in 1914, but returned to Denmark because of the outbreak of war. In Copenhagen he became a pupil of prominent Danish composers Carl Nielsen and Thomas Laub, and studied musicology at Copenhagen University with Angul Hammerich. He passed the organist exam at the Royal Danish Conservatory of music in 1916. Owing to Hammerich's retirement, there was nobody on the faculty of the university to examine Jeppesen's work; therefore, he submitted his dissertation to the University of Vienna, where it was reviewed by Guido Adler and Jeppesen was awarded a doctorate in 1922.