Born Friedrich Wilhelm Stein[1] in Gerlachsheim,[2][1] Stein first studied theology in Heidelberg and Berlin. He graduated with the Staatsexamen in Karlsruhe in 1902.[3] He then studied with Philipp Wolfrum who, being both a conductor and conductor, became a model for his own work.[2] Stein played organ concerts, but still studied music and musicology with Arthur Nikisch and Hans Sitt at the Leipzig Conservatory until 1906.[2][4] In Leipzig he had close contact with Max Reger and Karl Straube.[2]
Stein worked in Jena from 1906 as an organist for the town and the university. He found in an archive in Jena the orchestral parts of the so-called Jena Symphony, which he published in 1911, thinking that it might have been written by Ludwig van Beethoven.[5] He found the name "Beethoven" in two parts, and summarized: "As we do not as yet know of anyone, amongst the followers of Haydn and Mozart towards the end of the 19th century, to whom we could attribute such a composition, which heralds the Master ...".[6] The work was performed as one by Beethoven, until H. C. Robbins Landon, a scholar of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, found in 1957 manuscript portions of the symphony in the Landesarchiv in Rudolstadt, by Friedrich Witt.[6]
Stein's dissertation in 1910 was Geschichte des Musikwesens in Heidelberg bis zum Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts (History of music in Heideberg until the end of the 18th century).[4] In 1914 he succeeded Reger as court director of music in Meiningen. As an academic teacher, he was Außerordentlicher Professor in Jena from 1913.[7] In 1919 he was appointed Außerordentlicher Professor for musicology in Kiel, and from 1928 also in Ordinarius.[3] In Kiel he was also the organist at the St. Nikolai, Kiel until 1923 and Generalmusikdirektor from 1925 to 1933.[4]
In 1932 he became a member of the Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur. In July 1933, he became Reichsleiter der Fachgruppe Musik of the Kampfbund, responsible for music.[3] Under the Nazis, he was director of the Musikhochschule in Berlin.[4] Among his students was Sergiu Celibidache.[8]
After World War II, he lost all his functions and worked freelance. He was later president of the Verband für evangelische Kirchenmusik.[4] Stein died in Berlin.[9]
