Borchard was born and grew up in
Lingen, Germany. She studied musicology, German studies, and history in
Bonn and
Berlin. She wrote her dissertation about
Clara Wieck and
Robert Schumann.[1] In 2000, she wrote her
habilitation about
Amalie and
Joseph Joachim.[2] She has been the editor of the Viardot-Garcia studies,[3] and of the online encyclopedia MUGI of
Hamburg University.[4] Together with Kerstin Schüssler-Bach she has been the editor of the Brahms studies of the Brahms Society.[5]
Beatrix Borchard was a lecturer of musicology at the
Hochschule der Künste Berlin for ten years. She has worked for the
Goethe-Institut, in Germany and in countries such as China, Portugal and Romania.[6] She was professor of musicology of the Musikwissenschaftliches Seminar Detmold-Paderborn of the
Paderborn University for a short time. In 2002 she was appointed professor of musicology at the
Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg.[6] She is head of a project Orte und Wege europäischer Kulturvermittlung durch Musik (Locations and paths of European cultural exchange by music), which is sponsored by the
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).[7]
Beatrix Borchard was the author of several radio features, has been moderator of concerts, and made two films for the
NDR, one a documentary about Clara Schumann (NDR 1996) and another about Hausmusik (NDR 1997). She collaborated on other music films. A documentary about the sisters
Maria Malibran and Pauline Viardot, including a biography of the singer Pauline Viardot, is planned to appear in 2018.[3][6]
Work
Clara Schumann. Ein Leben. Ullstein, Frankfurt/Main – Berlin 1991 (four editions),
ISBN3-548-35367-3
Clara Schumann. Ihr Leben. Eine biographische Montage. 3rd edition Olms, Hildesheim 2015,
ISBN978-3-487-08553-1; review[8]
Borchard was an editor of the following works:
Adriana Hölszky.Klangportraits vol. 1, Furore Verlag; Musikfrauen, Berlin 1991[9]
with Monika Schwarz-Danuser: Fanny Hensel geb. Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Komponieren zwischen Geselligkeitsideal und romantischer Musikästhetik. 2nd edition, Furore Verlag, Kassel 2002,
ISBN3-927327-54-9
with Heidy Zimmermann: Musikwelten – Lebenswelten. Jüdische Identitätssuche in der deutschen Musikkultur. Böhlau, Köln / Weimar / Wien 2009 (series Jüdische Moderne, volume. 9),
ISBN978-3-412-20254-5
References
^Robert Schumann und Clara Wieck. Bedingungen künstlerischer Arbeit in der 1. Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts. Beltz, Weinheim / Basel 1985 (Ergebnisse der Frauenforschung, Bd. 4),
ISBN3-407-58263-3 (Hochschulschrift; also
University of Bremen, dissertation, 1983);
Furore Verlag [
de], Kassel, 2nd edition,
ISBN3-927327-06-9
^Stimme und Geige:
Amalie und
Joseph Joachim – Frau und Mann. Biographie und Interpretationsgeschichte. Böhlau Verlag, Wien 2005, 2. Aufl. 2007 (= Wiener Veröffentlichungen zur Musikgeschichte, Band 5),
ISBN978-3-205-77629-1