Scholar

(b Piraeus, May 19, 1929). Greek composer and musicologist. He graduated in theology from Athens University (1954), in neo-Byzantine music (1955) and harmony (1956) from the Piraeus League Conservatory, and in counterpoint, fugue and composition (1959) from the Hellenic Conservatory, where he studied with Yannis A. Papaïannou. At Brandeis University (1962–5) he studied composition (with Arthur Berger), Byzantine music palaeography and electronic music. In 1950 he revived the boys' choir of the Greek Royal Palace, which he directed until 1967. He also established and conducted the Athens Chamber Chorus (1958–61). Between 1961 and 1963 he taught Byzantine music at the Holy Cross Theological Academy, Boston, Massachusetts. In 1965 he established the first electronic music studio in Athens. He was a founder-member (1965) and later president (1975–85) of both the Hellenic Association for Contemporary Music and the Greek section of the ISCM. In ...

[Erik]

(b Ilmajoki, Feb 2, 1911; d Tampere, Sept 2, 1996). Finnish musicologist and folklorist. He studied at Helsinki Conservatory (1929–36) and under A.O. Väisänen at Helsinki University (MA 1942), where he took the doctorate in 1956 with a dissertation on the polska in Finland. His extended fieldwork on folk music and instruments in Finland and Sweden resulted in a collection of over 10,000 melodies (now in Tampere University library). After teaching music at Helsinki Conservatory (1951–7) and lecturing at Helsinki University (1957–62) he held a research grant from the State Humanities Committee (1962–75). He was professor of folk research at Tampere University (1975–7) and director of the university folk research institute (1977–81). He was active in many folk music research organizations. A list of his writings is included in the Festschrift Kentältä kentälle: juhlakirja Erkki Ala-Könnin 70 - vuotispäiväksi 2.2.1981...

(b Magdeburg, March 31, 1902; d Kiel, Jan 20, 1961). German musicologist. He studied at the Essen Conservatory (1913–21), at the University of Münster and (1921–5) at Berlin with Wolf, Abert, Sachs and von Hornbostel. From 1925 to 1937 he held various teaching posts, organized music festivals in Bremen (1929), Essen (1931) and Aachen (1933), and was active in the Reichsverband Deutscher Tonkünstler und Musiklehrer. After a short period as choral adviser to the Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda, he joined the Staatliche Institut für Deutsche Musikforschung, Berlin, in 1939, becoming professor there in 1940 and director in 1941. In 1942 he was elected a member of the Senate of the Preussische Akademie der Künste, representing on that body the interests of musicology.

After the war he became director of the Landesinstitut für Musikforschung, Kiel, in 1947, where he remained until his death, becoming professor at the University of Kiel in ...

(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 Santiago, June 29, 1885; d Santiago, Aug 17, 1959). Chilean composer and ethnomusicologist. He studied the violin, music theory and composition at the Santiago Conservatorio National de Música (1899–1908). The Chilean government then sent him to France and Spain for further study (1910–11). On returning to Chile he was elected to the Folklore Society and worked for the Ministry of Education in improving the teaching of music in the state schools (1924–8). He travelled again to Europe in 1922 and was one of the founders of the International Academy of Fine Arts in Paris (1923). In 1928 he was appointed professor of composition at the Conservatorio National, which had recently become part of the arts faculty of the University of Chile. There, until his retirement in 1946, he taught many Chilean composers who later came to international prominence. On another visit to Europe, also in ...

(b S Antônio de Jesus, Bahia, Dec 6, 1895; d Rio de Janeiro, Jan 25, 1981). Brazilian musicologist and folklorist. After graduating from law school in Rio de Janeiro, he set out to be an author, journalist and critic. His first writings dealt with criticism and philosophy, but he also wrote important works on music, including the well-known História da música brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, 1926). The second edition (1942) contains over 150 musical examples and gives a chronological treatment to the art-music tradition as well as a detailed account of Brazilian folk and popular music. This was the standard Brazilian reference book for many years.

From 1947 Almeida turned his attention to folk music and folklore studies. For many years he was a member of the executive board of the International Folk Music Council. He was a founder-member of the Brazilian Academy of Music and chief of the information service of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations. He was also the first chairman of the Comissão Nacional de Folclore, created in ...

(Paoliello de)

(b Varginha, Dec 6, 1911; d São Paolo, Feb 23, 1984). Brazilian folklorist and musicologist. At the São Paulo Conservatory of Drama and Music, Mário de Andrade directed her towards the study of Brazilian folk and popular musical traditions; she also studied ethnography and folklore with Dina Lévi-Strauss (1937). Her main areas of activity were sound archive organization, ethnomusicology and folklore: she organized and directed the Discoteca Pública Municipal de São Paulo from its foundation in 1935 until her retirement in 1968. The collection of historical recordings, the Discoteca Oneyda Alvarenga of the Centro Cultural São Paulo, was named after her to honour her contributions to the field. She was a founder-member of the Brazilian Academy of Music, a member of the Conselho Nacional de Folclore of the Ministry of Education and of the executive committee of the International Association of Music Libraries, a corresponding member of the International Folk Music Council, and a member of the Conselho de Música Popular Brasileira, do Museu da Imagem e do Som established at Rio de Janeiro. Her publications include editions of the volumes on music in the complete works of Mário de Andrade....

(b Neuss, July 6, 1899; d Lüdenscheid, Sept 1, 1994). German musicologist and choir director. He studied musicology with Ludwig at Göttingen University (1919–21) and subsequently with Gurlitt at Freiburg University, where he received the doctorate in 1924 with a dissertation on the melodies Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen and Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh' darein. He was a lecturer at the Bauernhochschule in Rendsburg (1924–5) and at the Volkshochschule in Kassel (1925–6). He then acted as music consultant to the Central Office for General Librarianship in Leipzig (1926–8) and lectured in Protestant church music at the University of Münster (1930–39). After the war he lectured at the Landeskirchenmusikschulen of Hanover (1947–8) and the Rhineland (1949–57).

In the early 1920s Ameln embarked on a fruitful career as a choral and orchestral conductor and director of choral courses. His object was the authentic performance of old music, and this was coupled with considerable editorial work. He edited the journal of the Finkenstein League, ...

(b Santiago, Chile, Jan 2, 1963). American composer, guitarist, ethnomusicologist, educator, and producer of Chilean birth. He immigrated to the United States as a child and studied guitar with Joseph Torello, Vincent Bredice, Lou Mowad, and George Aguiar. Amigo enrolled at Florida State University (1980) where he studied classical guitar with Bruce Holzman and William Carter and was active as a performer of popular music. In 1986, he moved to Los Angeles, earning a degree in political science from California State University, Northridge (BA 1995) and degrees in ethnomusicology (MA 1988, PhD 2003) from the University of Calfornia, Los Angeles. He studied in Los Angeles with Kenny Burrell, Gary Pratt, Harihar Rao, and wadada leo Smith. Amigo also performed with African, Arabic, funk, hard rock, free jazz, jazz, and reggae groups, and worked as a session guitarist for Hans Zimmer, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, and Les Hooper, among others....

[Avenpace]

(b Zaragoza, north Spain; d Fez, Morocco, c1139). Philosopher, administrator and composer. He spent much of his life, first in Zaragoza and then in Játiva, south Spain, as vizier to various Almoravid governors, and later moved to Fez.

His Kitāb fī al-nafs (‘Book on the soul’) deals with acoustics. He is also reported to have written a substantial treatise on music that could stand comparison with that of al- Fārābī, but this, unfortunately, has not survived. However, his reputation as a composer stayed alive for some considerable time, and his songs are still mentioned by Ibn Khaldūn (1332–1406). He was also a dexterous ‘ūd player. The fullest, if still succinct, account of his achievements is provided by al-Tīfāshī (d 1253), according to whom he studied for several years with female professional musicians (qiyān) and subsequently introduced two important innovations. One resulted in improvements to two of the important song forms, while the other, more general, is intriguingly characterized as a fusion of ‘Christian’ and ‘Eastern’ song. The resulting synthesis was to establish itself as the dominant style in Muslim Spain, effacing that of the earlier school of Ziryāb....

[Benua, Aleksandr Nikolayevich]

(b St Petersburg, 21 April/May 3, 1870; d Paris, Feb 9, 1960). Russian stage designer, director and art historian. He was one of a neo-Romantic group of St Petersburg artists (including Diaghilev, Bakst and Nuvel) associated with the journal Mir iskusstvo (1898–1905). After graduating in law he lived in France for a time. In his writings and as an artist, he tried to promote the understanding of both western European modernism and the national Russian cultural tradition. Thanks to his and Diaghilev’s propagandist work, from 1899 the stage designs at the St Petersburg court theatres began to reflect trends in contemporary Russian painting, a process that Benois attempted to intensify and accelerate with his own designs (as in those for Götterdämmerung, Mariinsky Theatre, 1902). He played an important part in the Russian opera and ballet guest season in Paris in 1908 (organized by the ...

(b Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey, UK, March 14, 1940). English dealer in musical instruments, rare music books, music iconography, and related ephemera. After leaving school at the age of 16, Bingham trained as a quantity surveyor and opened his own surveying business in 1961, about the same time he began dealing in general antiques. He had a partnership in a musical instrument business for one year until 1966, when he opened his first independent shop at 247 Kings Road, London. Through extensive travels Bingham obtains and sells both Western and non-Western instruments. He specializes in assembling collections of European woodwinds, illustrating their development also with patent documents, methods, and other materials. His shop at 11 Pond Street features collections of metronomes, oil paintings of musicians, trade cards, tuning forks, and trade catalogues in addition to instruments. Major museum clients include the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the National Music Museum (South Dakota), the Musée de la Musique (Paris), and the Musashino Academia Musicae (Tokyo), while private collectors have included Joe R. Utley, Nicholas Shackleton, and H. Iino. Bingham has also published several important works on musical instruments, such as William Waterhouse’s ...

[Rudolph] (Pickett)

(b Guthrie, OK, Jan 21, 1899; d Gilmanton, NH, Aug 25, 1985). American writer on music. He attended Dartmouth College and earned the BS in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. In the 1940s he served as jazz critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Herald Tribune. He wrote a pioneering serious history of jazz, Shining Trumpets (1946), and with Harriet Janis was co-author of the first history of ragtime, They All Played Ragtime (1950). The latter work established him as the leading authority in this field, and eventually prompted a revival of the music. Also with Janis, he founded Circle Records, a small but significant jazz label which became the first to issue the Library of Congress recordings of Jelly Roll Morton. In 1953 they sold Circle Records – apart from the Morton recordings – to Jazzology Records. From 1947 to 1950...

(b Rome, Nov 10, 1922; d Florence, Dec 8, 2009). Italian administrator, pianist and musicologist. He was a piano pupil of Casella at the Accademia di S Cecilia, Rome, and of Cortot at the Ecole Normale de Musique, Paris; he also studied composition with Virgilio Mortari and musicology with Luigi Ronga at the University of Rome and P.M. Masson at the Sorbonne. After performing widely in Europe and the USA, he devoted himself to teaching and musicology, holding posts at the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh (1948–51), the Pesaro Conservatory (1951–7), the Rome Conservatory (1957–67), and Perugia University (1967–93). In 1978 he founded the periodical Esercizi: arte musica spettacolo. His book L’arte clavicembalistica di Domenico Scarlatti, prompted by his own playing, was one of the first to approach the subject in the context of both historical background and stylistic criticism. In addition to serving as director of ...

(b Winter Park, FL, July 28, 1935; d Amherst, MA, July 21, 2009). American singer, choral director, educator, and music historian. He studied at Bethune-Cookman College (BA 1957) and the Eastman School of Music (MA 1964, PhD 1973), and was Professor of Music Theory and African-American Music at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (1973–99). Boyer was a leading authority on African-American gospel music, to which he made contributions as a scholar, editor, performer, and educator. With his brother James, he performed and recorded with major gospel stars and also as The Boyer Brothers duo. At the same time he toured widely as a soloist and directed many gospel choirs, including the Voices of New Africa House Workshop Choir (1973–7) and the Fisk Jubilee Singers during his tenure as United Negro College Fund Distinguished Scholar-at-Large (1985–7). He arranged spirituals and gospel songs and edited ...

(b Lugoj, 20 March/April 2, 1877; d Bucharest, Dec 19, 1968). Romanian composer, folklorist and administrator. He studied privately in Lugoj with Josif Czegka and Sofia Vlad-Rădulescu, in Blaj with Iacob Mureşianu, in Sibiu with Hermann Kirchner and in Braşov with Paul Richter. Extremely active in the musical life of Romania, he participated in the foundation of the Romanian Opera, the Romanian National Theatre (1919), the Dima Conservatory, Cluj (1920), the Society of Romanian Composers (1920) and the Astra Conservatory, Braşov (1928); during this period he directed the opera houses in Cluj and Bucharest. He collected more than 2000 folksongs, recorded on 214 cylinders, and made use of them in his ten books of Doine şi cântece poporale (‘Doinas and Other Folksongs’) and in eight books of instrumental pieces published as Jocuri populare româneşti (‘Romanian Folkdances’); he also published a scholarly collection, ...

(b Elgin, IL, May 25, 1914; d DeKalb, IL, Feb 17, 2003). American music educator, scholar, and administrator. He obtained degrees in instrumental music (BS 1937) and in education and English (MA 1939) from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, and in musicology from University of Michigan (PhD 1950). He taught music and English in the public schools of Griffith, Illinois (1938–41), and in the laboratory school at Eastern Illinois State Teachers College (1941–3). After serving in the US Army during World War II (1943–6), he completed his doctoral studies and joined the music faculty at the University of Michigan (1949), where he established a leading doctoral program in music education and directed 51 doctoral dissertations. He served as dean of the School of Music (1969–79) and retired from the faculty in 1984. Britton was president of the Music Educators National Conference (MENC) (...

(Medforth)

(b Hoylake, April 9, 1924; d Florence, Feb 28, 2007). English musicologist and radio producer. He studied classics at Queen’s College, Oxford (BA 1948, MA 1951), and took the BMus at the RCM (1955), where his professors included Archie Camden, Patrick Hadley and C.T. Lofthouse. In 1951 he joined the BBC, subsequently becoming music producer (1956), chief producer of opera (1970–76) and external services music organizer (1976–83). He was a member of the editorial committee of the Verdi collected edition; he became Fellow of the British Academy in 1987 and was appointed OBE in 1991. His principal field of research was 19th-century Italian opera, particularly Verdi and his contemporaries, and Puccini. In his monumental The Operas of Verdi (1973–81) each work is taken in turn, first examining the framework of social conventions and historical background, then tracing the history of its composition and first performance and finally presenting a detailed critique of the music....

(Carlo Zanobi Salvadore Maria)

(b Florence, Sept 8/14, 1760; d Paris, March 15, 1842). Italian, composer, conductor, teacher, administrator, theorist, and music publisher, active in France. He took French citizenship, probably in 1794, and was a dominant figure in Parisian musical life for half a century. He was a successful opera composer during the Revolutionary period, and had comparable success with religious music from the beginning of the Restoration. He was made director of the Paris Conservatoire and consolidated its pre-eminent position in music education in Europe.

In the biographical preface to his work catalogue, compiled in 1831, Cherubini gave 8 and 14 September as his dates of birth, but the records of the baptistery of S Giovanni state that he was born on 14 September (and baptized the following day). He was the tenth of 12 children. It has been claimed that his mother died when he was four years old (Pougin, ...

(b De Pere, WI, Nov 24, 1911; d Scarsdale, NY, Dec 30, 1990). American administrator and musicologist. He was educated at St Norbert College, West De Pere (1925–9), and afterwards studied piano in Europe and at the New England Conservatory, Boston. He toured as a concert pianist and taught piano until 1942, when he became music director of the educational division of CBS radio; from 1947 to 1954 he produced and directed various broadcast series, including ‘Invitation to Music’, ‘20th-century Concert Hall’, and programmes of the New York PO and the Boston SO. Daniel co-founded the Contemporary Music Society with Stokowski. In 1954 he helped set up CRI, where he also served as a director, and from 1954 to 1977 he headed the concert-music division of BMI. He has been on the board of directors of many organizations, including the American SO (1962–72), the American Music Center (...