Born in Munich,[1] the son of Walther Rehm, Wolfgang studied musicology from 1948 to 1952 at the University of Freiburg (subsidiary subjects: modern German literary history and medieval history) and graduated in 1952 with a work on the chanson work of the Franco-Flemish composer Gilles Binchois.[1][2]
From 1952 to 1954, Rehm worked as a trainee at the music publishing house Breitkopf & Härtel in Wiesbaden and began on 1 May 1954 as a research assistant and editor at Bärenreiter in Kassel, initially with a focus on complete editions, such as the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe (NMA) in 1955.[1] In 1960, he became the general editor of the NMA, together with Wolfgang Plath, who was later succeeded by Dietrich Berke.[2] Rehm was the chief editor of Bärenreiter from 1971, and from 1975 a member of the management board with responsibility for book and music production. The next complete edition at Bärenreiter was the Neue Schubert-Ausgabe.[1][3]
In 1981/82 Rehm moved to Salzburg and was a full-time member of the editorial board of the NMA from 1981 to 1994.[3] He participated until 30 June 2007, the date of the official completion of the 132 volumes of the NMA, for which Rehm shared responsibility.[1][2]
From 1975 to 1986, Rehm was responsible for the program of the Kasseler Musiktage [de], and from 1985 to 1997 of the Mozart Week in Salzburg.[2] From 1965 he was a member of the Central Institute for Mozart Research (today: Academy for Mozart Research) at the International Mozarteum Foundation, Salzburg, serving on the board of trustees from 1991 to 1999.
Die Neue Mozart-Ausgabe. Texte. Bilder. Chronik 1955–2007 (together with Dietrich Berke and with the collaboration of Miriam Pfadt), Kassel etc. 2007[6][7]
Mozarts Nachlass und die Andrés. Dokumente zur Vertheilung und Verlosung von 1854, Offenbach am Main, 1999[8]
Musikwissenschaftliche Einführung zur Faksimile-Ausgabe von Mozarts Autograph zum Don Giovanni KV 527, in Mozarts Operas in Facsimile IV, The Packard Humanities Institute, Los Altos, California, 2009[9]
