Karl Königs Beitrag zur Musiktherapie in der Heilpädagogik

Abstract

Simultaneously with the establishment of music therapy training courses in London and Vienna in 1958/1959, the article by the doctor and founder of the Camphill movement Karl König on Music Therapy in Curative Education was published. König dealt with basic musical elements such as melody, harmony and rhythm and their therapeutic effect on children with severe contact disorders, motor- and hearing impairment. He contributed to the development of anthroposophical music therapy and gave impulses for further research into the effect of music with regard to life, to vitality. In particular, Paul Nordoff, Hans Heinrich Engel, Hermann Pfrogner and Maria Schüppel took up these and advanced them further in their phenomenological research. Thus the work of König and the Camphill Movement seems to have had a historical influence on the development of music therapy. The qualitative approach of internalizing elements of music is relevant again today.