VISI Faculty: Deen Larsen
The
founder and director of the Franz-Schubert–Institut, Deen Larsen,
was born in Richfield, Utah, U.S.A. in 1943 and has lived in Austria
since 1973. Larsen studied literature and philosophy at Reed College
in Portland, Oregon (B.A.), at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut
(M.phil.), and at the University of Vienna (Mag.phil., Dr.phil.). His
main scholarly interests are German poetry from the age of Goethe, the
philosophy of symbolic forms, the writings of James Joyce, and American
social history. Larsen has taught poetry of the Lied and opera history
at Stanford in Austria, the Yale School of Music, and the Vienna Academy
of Music. He has been awarded the Emperor Friedrich Medal in Bronze and
the Culture Prize for Music of the City of Baden, as well as the Gold
Medal of Honour of the Province of Lower Austria in recognition of the
international significance of the Franz-Schubert-Institut.