His­to­ri­cal In­ter­pre­ta­ti­on Prac­tice (HIP) Mas­ter

Eine junge Frau mit Fagott und ein junger Mann am Cembalo, beide lächeln.
(Foto: Janine Bächle)

Course content

Course content

The post­gra­dua­te cour­se is ai­med at mu­si­ci­ans who re­gard know­ledge of his­to­ri­cal cir­cum­s­tan­ces in re­la­ti­on to the in­ter­pre­ta­ti­on of mu­sic of past cen­tu­ries as es­sen­ti­al to their per­so­nal ap­proach to mu­sic.

This con­cerns both the use of his­to­ri­cal in­stru­ments cor­re­spon­ding to the re­spec­tive epochs or their co­pies, as well as prac­ti­cal per­for­mance know­ledge gai­ned through sources and trea­ti­ses. The sty­listic span wi­t­hin the cour­se ran­ges from mu­sic be­fo­re 1600 to the 19th cen­tu­ry.

Bet­ter ca­re­er op­por­tu­nities in the or­ches­tra

The goal is to pro­vi­de ar­tis­tic trai­ning for mu­si­ci­ans who can hold their own in free­lan­ce mu­si­cal life be­cau­se of their sty­listi­cal­ly com­pre­hen­si­ve edu­ca­ti­on and main­tain a con­stant in­te­rest in new in­sights for mu­si­cal in­ter­pre­ta­ti­on.

By tea­ching ad­di­tio­nal tech­ni­cal play­ing and sty­listic skills and know­ledge, the cour­se also aims to open up bet­ter ca­re­er op­por­tu­nities for or­ches­tral mu­si­ci­ans on the job mar­ket.

Sub­jec­ts of His­to­ri­cal In­ter­pre­ta­ti­on Prac­tice

Stu­dy is avail­ab­le in the fol­lo­wing ma­jors: re­cor­der, trans­ver­se flu­te, his­to­ri­cal oboe, ba­ro­que bas­so­on/dul­ci­an, na­tu­ral horn, na­tu­ral trum­pet, his­to­ri­cal vio­lin/vio­la, ba­ro­que vio­lon­cel­lo, vio­la da gam­ba, vio­lo­ne/his­to­ri­cal dou­ble bass, lute, harp­si­chord, fort­epia­no, and or­gan.

in the summer and winter semester
Start of study
4 semesters
Standard duration of study
Master of Music (M.Mus.)
Degree
120 CP
Credit Points
German
Language

Requirements

Requirements

Ad­mis­si­on to the Mas­ter's pro­gram­me His­to­ri­cal In­ter­pre­ta­ti­on Prac­tice re­qui­res a com­ple­ted uni­ver­si­ty de­gree: Ba­che­lor's de­gree, Di­plo­ma in Mu­sic, Ar­tis­tic Ma­tu­ri­ty Ex­ami­na­ti­on, First Sta­te Ex­ami­na­ti­on for the Tea­ching Pro­fes­si­on at Grammar Schools for Mu­sic, Mu­sic Tea­cher's Di­plo­ma, Church Mu­sic (A Ex­ami­na­ti­on) or ex­ami­na­ti­ons com­pa­ra­ble to the­se cour­ses of stu­dy in Ger­ma­ny or ab­road, as well as a suc­cess­ful­ly com­ple­ted ap­ti­tu­de test (on his­to­ri­cal or on mo­dern and his­to­ri­cal in­stru­ment).

Dates & Dead­lines

Dates & Deadlines

Dates & Deadlines

Aptitude tests for summer semester 2026*

Aptitude tests for winter semester 2025/2026*

MA Historical Interpretation Practice (HIP): Application deadline for summer semester 2026

Subject to change

*You will receive details of your aptitude test dates with your invitation approx. 3 to 4 weeks before your aptitude test appointment.

Studentin spielt Naturhorn
(Foto: Janine Bächle)

Application

Application

Online application

What do I need for the application?

Proof of German language skills

Here you will find a list of re­qui­red Ger­man lan­guage skills for all de­gree pro­grams. Plea­se check which of the­se re­qui­re­ments ap­p­ly to your de­gree pro­gram.

Aptitude test

Aptitude test

The qua­li­fy­ing ex­ami­na­ti­on con­sists of an ex­ami­na­ti­on in the main sub­ject and an ex­ami­na­ti­on in the com­pul­so­ry sub­ject harp­si­chord (ex­cept main sub­jec­ts harp­si­chord and lute). The pre­pa­red pro­gram­me in the main sub­ject should last at least ap­prox. 20-30 mi­nu­tes, the com­mis­si­on re­ser­ves the right to select mu­sic from it las­ting ap­prox. 15 mi­nu­tes. The pro­gram­me must be per­for­med (at least to a lar­ge extent) on a his­to­ri­cal in­stru­ment. For all works that re­qui­re an ac­com­p­ani­ment, this is usual­ly per­for­med on the harp­si­chord.

Requirements in the major

Com­pul­so­ry sub­ject harp­si­chord

For all sub­jec­ts (ex­cept for the main sub­ject harp­si­chord, fort­epia­no and lute) an ex­ami­na­ti­on in harp­si­chord is com­pul­so­ry. For this, a pie­ce of ap­prox. 3 - 5 mi­nu­tes du­ra­ti­on (e.g. In­ven­ti­on by J. S. Bach or Piè­ce de Cla­vecin by Cou­pe­rin) should be pre­pa­red. The qua­li­fy­ing ex­ami­na­ti­on for the com­pul­so­ry sub­ject harp­si­chord is con­duc­ted tog­e­ther with the main sub­ject ex­ami­na­ti­on.

Lesefassung: Eignungsprüfungsordnung der HfMDK Frankfurt

[Nicht-amt­li­che Le­se­fas­sung. Stand: 27.10.2025]

Study and Examination regulations

Study and Examination regulations

The Stu­dy and Ex­ami­na­ti­on Re­gu­la­ti­ons (SPO) set out the frame­work con­di­ti­ons and re­gu­la­ti­ons for your stu­dies. They ap­p­ly tog­e­ther with the Ge­ne­ral Re­gu­la­ti­ons (for Ba­che­lor's and Mas­ter's de­gree pro­gram­mes) or the SPoL (for tea­cher trai­ning de­gree pro­gram­mes). All ver­si­ons of the SPO for your de­gree pro­gram­me (in­clu­ding ear­lier ver­si­ons for stu­dents of pre­vious aca­de­mic ye­ars) can be found at Ex­ami­na­ti­ons.

Lesefassung: Allgemeine Bestimmungen für Bachelor- und Masterstudiengänge der HfMDK Frankfurt

Stand: 27.05.2019

Studien- und Prüfungsordnung für den Masterstudiengang Historische Interpretationspraxis (2023)

[136/2023, 23.06.2023]

Questions & Contact

Questions & Contact

Ques­ti­ons about the stu­dy pro­gram?

Questions about the online application?

Read more