Scholar

(b Ilimbav, Sibiu, May 14, 1914; d Bucharest, April 20, 1997). Romanian ethnomusicologist. He studied at the Bucharest Royal Academy of Music (1931–6) and became Brăiloiu's closest collaborator, working with him at the folklore archive of the Society of Romanian Composers (1935–49); he continued his research appointment there when the archive was incorporated in the Institute of Ethnography and Folklore (1949), undertaking several field studies and collecting numerous examples of Romanian folksong, some of which have been recorded. He was Brăiloiu's successor in the folklore department of the Royal Academy of Music (1943–8), where he held various posts before becoming professor (1954–9). In 1956 he did research in China and from 1965 to 1967 he was the folklore expert of the Ministry of Culture of the United Arab Republic in Cairo, where he made recordings of Egyptian and Nubian folksong. In ...

(b Rome, June 29, 1801; d Rome, June 12, 1863). Italian musicologist and composer. Ordained a Roman priest in 1823, his life was entirely directed towards the deliverance of liturgical music from what he saw as the debased theatrical style of contemporary composers and the neglect and incompetence of singers and organists in regard to Gregorian chant and Renaissance music. He contributed most importantly to this goal through his editions, particularly the Raccolta di musica sacra (Rome, 1841–6), the seven volumes of which provided the first large modern collection of Palestrina's music. Palestrina was Alfieri's ideal for new church music, which, according to his Ristabilimento, should be grave, succinct and suited in expression to the words, which were to be presented clearly and with few repetitions. His own compositions, many of them published at Rome, exemplified these principles.

Alfieri was also a pioneer in Italy in the historical study of Gregorian chant, which he sought to restore to its original purity, although along lines that now appear somewhat arbitrary and subjective. His early ...

(b Barcelona, March 27, 1862; d Barcelona, March 31, 1908). Spanish composer, folklorist and music critic. He studied composition with Antonio Nicolau and Anselmo Barba and piano with C.G. Vidiella in Barcelona and was music critic for various journals there, including La renaixensa, L'avenç and, from 1905 to 1908, El poble català. He published his Collecció de 6 melodies per a cant i piano and five Cansons per cant i piano (both Barcelona, 1887), which are settings of poems by Angel Guimerá, Francisco Matheu y Fornells, Apeles Mestres and Jacinto Verdaguer. He illustrated the latter volume himself, and some of his work was displayed at an exhibition of the Sociedad de Acuarelistas in Barcelona. A distinguished folklorist as well as a sensitive composer and skilful melodist, he collected Catalan folksongs and published arrangements of 23 of these in Cansons populars catalanas (Barcelona, 1891). He used native rhythms and melodies in his songs and piano pieces (among them ...

[Lione, Leo, Leon]

(b Chios, 1588; d Rome, Jan 19, 1669). Italian theologian and scholar of Greek origin. He went to Italy as a child and studied philosophy, theology, and classics in Rome at the Greek Catholic Collegio di S Atanasio from 1599 to 1610. After a period in Chios he studied medicine in Rome until 1616. Thereafter he was employed in the Vatican Library and was responsible for moving the Biblioteca Palatina from Heidelberg to Rome in 1622–3. In 1661 he succeeded Luca Holstenio as chief curator of the Vatican Library. He wrote extensively on a wide range of subjects including theology, Byzantine studies, classical antiquity, and Italian letters. He was a member of the Accademia degli Incogniti, which played an important role in early Venetian opera. He is significant for the history of music by virtue of his Drammaturgia … divisa in sette indici (Rome, 1666), a compendious and surprisingly accurate list of dramatic works of all kinds, including opera librettos, published in Italy; it also lists many unpublished works. A second, vastly enlarged and updated edition by Giovanni Cendoni, Apostolo Zeno, Giovanni degli Apostoli, and others unnamed (Venice, ...

(b Aberdeen, Oct 27, 1800; d Georgetown, British Guiana [now Guyana], July 28, 1843). Scottish musical scholar. The son of William Dauney of Falmouth, Jamaica, he was educated at Dulwich College, London, and at Edinburgh University. He was called to the Scottish Bar in 1823. About 1839 he left Scotland for British Guiana, where he became solicitor-general.

Dauney’s importance as a scholar rests on his book Ancient Scotish Melodies from a Manuscript of the Reign of James VI (Edinburgh, 1838/R), which consists of a partial transcript of the Skene Manuscript as well as a lengthy ‘Dissertation Illustrative of the History of the Music of Scotland’ and some historical documents, also transcribed. The manuscript, in mandore tablature, was compiled about 1625 by John Skene of Hallyards, Midlothian. It contains some 115 items of which over half are Scottish native airs, or folksongs, and the rest – Scottish, English, French, Dutch and Italian – comprise ballad tunes, dance tunes and partsong arrangements. In Dauney’s time it belonged to the Advocates’ Library in Edinburgh, now the National Library of Scotland (Adv.5.2.15). Dauney’s transcription was valuable in drawing attention to early, simple versions of such Scottish tunes as ...

(b New York, 27 Sept 1941; d Chicago, 13 June 2017). American musicologist. He graduated BA from Amherst College in 1963. He then studied at Princeton University under Strunk and Lockwood, taking the MFA in 1965 and the PhD in 1970. In 1968 he joined the faculty at the University of Chicago. He was on the board of directors of the AMS, 1974–6, and was on the editorial boards of the Rossini and Verdi critical editions.

Gossett’s interests include 15th-century sacred music, the theoretical writings of Rameau, and 19th-century Italian opera, particularly the works of Rossini. His dissertation and subsequent articles on Rossini stress the need to investigate manuscript sources of music and librettos; in them he distinguishes authentic from unauthentic sources, points out those aspects of a work which arise from specific performances or operatic conventions, and identifies Rossini’s borrowings and self-borrowings. He wrote many of the introductions for two facsimile series, ...

(b Frankfurt, Dec 2, 1874; d London, April 27, 1955). German antiquarian music dealer. He worked with the firms of Josef Baer in Frankfurt, Brentano in New York and Breslauer & Mayer in Berlin before joining Leo Liepmannssohn in Berlin in 1903. Later that year he bought the business from Liepmannssohn, subsequently continuing its well-known series of auction sales. In ...

(b Strehla, Jan 24, 1782; d Reudnitz, nr Leipzig, Sept 30, 1864). German music publisher and bibliographer. After learning the trade he opened a retail music business in Leipzig in 1807 and soon extended this to a music publishing firm, to which he added a musical hire service and later a commission business. He was a close friend and the principal publisher of Heinrich Marschner, and for a time he promoted Schumann and Mendelssohn, published works by Berlioz, Chopin, Czerny, Clara Schumann and Friedrich Wieck, and issued songs and ballads by Loewe. Studies, didactic works and tutors for the popular instruments of the day were a prominent part of his publishing programme.

In 1817 Whistling published his Handbuch der musikalischen Literatur and Hofmeister published its successive supplements from the second (1819) and went on to produce further catalogues dealing with musical practice and music literature in German-speaking countries (from ...

(Patrick Stirling )

(b Hove, Sussex, Nov 22, 1935). English antiquarian music dealer and bibliographer . His interest in musical sources and documentation was first inspired by his enthusiasm for Berlioz, and in 1958 he bought the first items in his Berlioz collection. In December 1960 he acquired the firm of Leonard Hyman (founded 1929). Until 1963 he conducted the business under its old name, but from then on used his own; he retired in 1996. His remarkable series of catalogues, together with his smaller ‘Quartos’, are of permanent value as a record of the wide range of important material from the 16th to the 20th centuries that passed through his hands, whilst institutional and private collections of many kinds benefited greatly from his acute understanding of their differing natures and needs. He has served on the editorial board of the New Berlioz Edition since its inception, was founder and initially publisher of the facsimile series Music for London Entertainment ...

(b Pittsburgh, PA, Jan 29, 1915; d Paterson, NJ, March 18, 1995). American writer on jazz, record producer, and folklorist. He coedited one of the first scholarly books on jazz with Charles Edward Smith, Jazzmen: the Story of Hot Jazz Told in the Lives of the Men who Created It (New York, 1939). Supported in part by Guggenheim Fellowships (1953, 1955), Ramsey conducted extensive fieldwork throughout the American South, photographing African American life and recording interviews and music. The results of his travels are detailed in his books Been Here and Gone (New Brunswick, NJ, 1960) and Where the Music Started (New Brunswick, NJ, 1970). Many of his field recordings were released by Folkways Records as Music of the South (1954). He produced a historical anthology of recordings for Folkways titled Jazz (1950–53). Later, grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (...

[Albrecht]

(b Munich, Oct 5, 1914; d Oxford, Aug 3, 2004). English antiquarian music dealer of German birth. He was educated at the Wilhelmsgymnasium in Munich and settled in England in September 1933. He continued his studies in London, with Robin Flower at the British Museum in palaeography, and then at the Warburg Institute, where he worked on palaeography, medieval book illustration and iconography as assistant to Wittkower and Saxl. He studied musicology privately with Wellesz. In 1955 Rosenthal and his wife Maud bought the London business of Otto Haas, which they continued under Haas’s name, extending its tradition of scholarly expertise. Rosenthal’s fine judgment, based on his specialized academic training, contributed to the firm’s leading position among antiquarian dealers. It has handled the sale of many famous collections, including those of Cortot, Scholes and Prunières, as well as many notable single items. He also became a trustee of the Beethoven-Haus, Bonn, and of the Paul Sacher Stiftung, Basle, for which he negotiated acquisitions of the Stravinsky, Webern, Maderna, Wolpe, Carter, Birtwistle, Kagel and other archives. He was awarded the Hon. MA (Oxon) in ...

(b Eichstätt, Feb 23, 1921). German antiquarian dealer, publisher and bibliographer. He founded his antiquarian business at Tutzing near Munich in 1949, issuing a number of catalogues each year. Several of these have become useful works of reference on individual composers, including Brahms, Mozart, Paganini and Schumann, while an innovative series devoted to individual publishers, including Schott, André and Universal Edition, has also been produced. By 1998 the firm had issued over 350 antiquarian catalogues, usually devoted to one of three specialist areas: important manuscripts and letters, first and early editions, and music literature. Through its prolific but scrupulously detailed catalogues, the firm established itself as one of the most important in postwar Europe.

In 1958 Schneider founded a publishing house which has produced some fine facsimiles such as Beethoven's Missa solemnis (Kyrie only) and Brahms's Clarinet Trio. A significant aspect of the firm's activity has been the publication of scholarly series such as the pioneering Musikbibliographische Arbeiten guides to the first editions of composers from Mozart to Messiaen. Other series include Orff-Dokumentation (8 vols.), a catalogue of music in the Hoboken Collection (...