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1957 – 1958
Studied at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava under Prof. Alexander Moyzes (composition)
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1958 – 1963
Studied at the Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava (musicology)
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1963 – 1966
Research fellow (aspirant) at the Institute of Musicology, Slovak Academy of Sciences
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1966 – 1969
Head of the Department of Theory and Aesthetics at the Institute of Musicology, SAS; 1966 awarded CSc., 1968 PhDr.
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1967 – 1969
External editor for the journal Slovenská hudba (Slovak Music)
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1969
Research stay at the Institute for Experimental Musicology in West Berlin (emigration)
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1969 – 1973
Scholarship holder of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Hindemith Foundation at the State Institute for Music Research (Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung) in Berlin
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1973 – 1977
Associate Professor of Music Aesthetics at Justus Liebig University in Giessen (Justus Liebig Universität)
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1976
Habilitated in Musicology at Justus Liebig University in Giessen
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1978
Appointed Professor at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt am Main (music theory subjects)
Peter Faltin was a Slovak musicologist active abroad. He studied musicology at the Faculty of Arts of Comenius University in Bratislava, later worked as a research fellow at the Institute of Musicology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, and after 1969 lived in Germany. His work was primarily focused on extensive research and publishing activities, as well as organizational efforts. Although he never lectured at his alma mater, he regularly participated in student meetings, enriching them with his insights and contributions to discussions. His main areas of interest were music aesthetics, music psychology, music sociology, and semiotics.
He served as an external editor for the journal Slovak Music and as chair of the editorial board of the journal Hudobný život (Musical Life), where he primarily focused on reflections on New Music and the compositional avant-garde in Slovakia. “He published a number of journal studies (among them, especially the afterword to the publication of Cikker’s opera libretto Vzkriesenie [Resurrection] is a prime example of a reflection on an operatic work that remains relevant to this day).” (In: Hudobný život, 1989/16, I. Marton)
Among his most important publications are the anthology Hudba a chápanie (Music and Understanding, 1973), edited in cooperation with Hans P. Reinecke, Fenomenológia hudobnej formy (Phenomenology of Musical Form, 1979), and Význam estetických znakov. Hudba a reč (The Meaning of Aesthetic Signs. Music and Language, 1984).
One of his pioneering works was the study Experiment ako estetický jav (Experiment as an Aesthetic Phenomenon, 1963), which won a national award for the best student scientific paper. During his years in Slovakia, he also published a monograph on Igor Stravinsky (1965) and a theoretical work Funkcia zvuku v hudobnej štruktúre (The Function of Sound in Musical Structure, 1966).
Together with Ladislav Kupkovič and Peter Kolman, Peter Faltin was one of the initiators and main organizers of the International Seminars for Contemporary Music in Smolenice in 1968 and 1969. These events significantly shaped the development of the compositional avant-garde in Slovakia.
After emigrating, he worked as a lecturer and professor at several universities in Germany. As a result, he was considered a representative of German musicology, and his name appeared alongside notable figures such as Tibor Kneif, Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht, and Carl Dahlhaus.