Collector or Curator

(b Hornborga, Västergötland, May 6, 1785; d Enköping, Sept 25, 1871). Swedish pastor and folksong collector. After studying theology, he took a clerical post in Stockholm from 1809 to 1820, and from 1820 was pastor in Enköping. In 1811 he became a member of the Götiska Förbund and was deeply involved in the collecting of early folk tales, poems and melodies. He was an amateur flautist, but had little training in music; his friends helped him notate the melodies he heard.

Afzelius was the first to notate and publish the folksong Näckens polska, which he heard sung by a peasant girl in Småland in 1810, and to which he later wrote the poem Djupt i havet; the melody and text were printed in the journal Iduna in 1812. He collaborated with Erik Gustaf Geijer in the three-volume collection, Svenska folkvisor (1814–17), and supplied a number of melodies for Olof Åhlström’s anthology, ...

[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 Grevesmühlen, Mecklenburg, Germany, March 13, 1822; d at sea, May 7, 1875). American viola player, clarinettist, writer, and collector of music literature of German birth. An original member of the Germania Musical Society, Albrecht toured the United States with the orchestra 1848–54. His Skizzen aus dem Leben der Musik-Gesellschaft Germania is the only known recollection of the ensemble by a member. A shorter, unsigned, but very similar account appeared in the New York Musical World (2 September 1854). A lifelong follower of Etienne Cabet’s Icarian communism, Albrecht described the Germania as sharing its precepts of equality in rights, duties, and rewards.

Albrecht’s passion for music literature had been encouraged by Siegfried Dehn in Berlin, where the future Germanians met. While touring with the orchestra, Albrecht amassed a collection of at least 661 volumes. Dwight’s Journal acknowledged in 1854 that this was the largest collection in the United States. Albrecht sold his library to Joseph Drexel in ...

(b Westminster, London, Jan 1648; d Oxford, Dec 14, 1710). English scholar, composer and music collector. He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford (after early training in mathematics at Westminster School), in 1662, receiving the BA, MA and DD degrees in 1666, 1669 and 1682 respectively. He took holy orders and was assigned the rectorate at Wem, Shropshire, but chose to remain at Christ Church, becoming a canon in 1681 and dean (a unique position in Oxford as head of both college and cathedral) in 1689, also serving as vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford, 1692–5. He was a leader of the Oxford resistance to James II's Catholic advances, and under William III he became one of the chief defenders of High Church practices, publicly opposing both the comprehension of non-Anglicans and revisions to the prayer book. He was an industrious and practically minded scholar, producing books on logic, heraldry and architecture, designing a number of Oxford buildings, serving as draftsman and engraver for the Oxford Almanacks, and producing a sizable body of compositions for the English cathedral service. His account of Greek music survives in manuscript (...

(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 ...

(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 Basle, Oct 11, 1495; d Basle, April 1562). Swiss humanist, musician and lawyer. The son of the printer Johannes Amerbach, he began studying the classics in Engental (near Basle) as the private pupil of Conrad Leontorius, who in 1507 described him as ‘both talented and lazy’. Between 1507 and 1509 he continued his education in Schlettstadt at the distinguished humanist school run by Hieronymus Gebwiler and by 1510 had matriculated at the University of Basle. In 1513 he was awarded the degree of baccalaureus artium, and upon graduation moved to Freiburg im Breisgau, where as a candidate for the degree of magister artium he specialized in ethics, physics and grammar. While in Freiburg he also began studying law under Ulrich Zasius and later continued these studies with Andrea Alciati in Avignon where, in 1525, he was awarded the degree of doctor juris. It was during his student days that Amerbach’s close relationship with Erasmus began; when the Dutch humanist died in Basle in ...

(b Hofterup, Malmöhus län, July 29, 1864; d Lund, March 31, 1921). Swedish collector of folk music. He took degrees in philosophy and law at the University of Lund, in which town he held a succession of legal and official appointments. His principal interest outside his professional work was folk music, and it was on his initiative that the Folkmusikkommissionen was formed in 1908. He made a notable collection of some 12,000 melodies (songs, dances, wedding marches and herdsman’s calls) which were later edited and published by Olof Andersson as Svenska låtar (Stockholm, 1922–40/R).

(Emanuel)

(b Vårdö, April 27, 1879; d Turku, Dec 27, 1969). Finnish musicologist and folklorist. After qualifying as an organist and choirmaster (1900), he studied (1901–5) at the Helsinki Music Institute (later the Sibelius Academy) and Helsinki University (MA 1915), taking the doctorate there in 1923 with a dissertation on the bowed harp. In 1906 he was a co-founder of the Brage Society for the preservation of Swedish-Finnish culture and from its inception he was president of its music section and conductor of its choir. He taught music in Helsinki and then became a lecturer in Scandinavian music history at the university (1925) and professor of musicology and folk literature (1926–46) and rector (1929–36) at the Finland-Swedish University of Åbo (Turku). In 1926 he founded the latter's music history collection, which in 1950 became the basis of the Sibelius Museum. As a musicologist he made valuable contributions to the study of early music history in Finland; he also collected folk music and studied folk music instruments of Swedish-speaking regions in Finland....

(b 19 Aug 1858; d 27 Sept 1934). Horticulturalist, amateur musician, and collector of music. Her home, Warley Place in Great Warley, Essex, contained a large library: its contents, assembled with ‘taste and discrimination’, included printed partbooks of music by Bateson, Gibbons, Morley, Forbes, Watson, Wilbye, and Yonge, and editions of the music of Purcell, Handel, Corelli, and Zipoli. There were also some manuscripts, including autograph works of Bach, Mendelssohn, Schubert, and Liszt; the Willmott manuscript – owned by the Norwich grocer John Sadler, containing Latin texted motets by Byrd, Tallis, etc.; as well as the only known manuscript copy of Purcell’s Sonata in G minor z780 (today known as the Armstrong-Finch manuscript, named after its two copyists). Willmott also owned autograph letters of Wagner, Liszt, Mendelssohn, and Rossini.

Willmott, a member of the Folk Song Society and a capable musician, was an important customer of the London bookseller Bernard Quaritch. A large number of invoices to her from that firm show she often had a balance owing of several hundred pounds. An invoice dated ...

(b Buenos Aires, April 13, 1913; d Buenos Aires, June 2005). Venezuelan-Argentine ethnomusicologist, folklorist and composer, wife of Luis Felipe Ramón y Rivera. She studied the piano under Rafael González (1923–31) and composition with Athos Palma (1928–33) at the Buenos Aires National Conservatory of Music, instrumentation with Villa-Lobos in Brazil (1937), anthropology (1938–40) and, with Carlos Vega, folklore and musicology (1938–44) at the Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Buenos Aires. She took the doctorate in musicology in 1967 at the Argentine Catholic University with a dissertation on Argentine folk music. She was an associate member of the Instituto Argentino de Musicología from 1938 to 1950. After working as the first professor of ethnomusicology at the Escuela Nacional de Danzas de Argentina (1950–52) she moved to Caracas, Venezuela, where she has held appointments as research fellow in folklore and ethnomusicology at the Instituto Nacional de Folklore de Venezuela (...

(b Tehran, Nov 7, 1915; d Los Angeles, March 5, 1994). Armenian musicologist, folklorist and composer. After moving to Yerevan in 1923 he studied composition at the Yerevan Conservatory. From 1944 he taught harmony at the conservatory and completed a second degree at the Institute of Art of the Armenian Academy of Sciences with Kushnaryov, 1945–8. In 1951 he began taking part in folklore expeditions around Armenia and in 1955 he completed his dissertation at the conservatory on Armenian neumatic (khazer) notation. He joined the staff of the Institute of Arts in 1956 and was appointed professor in 1962 at the conservatory, where he also served intermittently as head of the music theory department until 1991. He was made an Honoured Representative of the Arts of Armenia in 1961. He participated in many congresses both within and outside the former Soviet Union, and was highly regarded as a teacher....

(b Kranz, Russia, July 7, 1896; d Trondheim, Norway, Nov 19, 1963). Norwegian collector of musical instruments and founder and director of the Ringve Museum in Trondheim. An amateur singer, she had no formal musical training, but three siblings became professional musicians. In 1920 Victoria (née Rostin) married Christian Anker Bachke (1873–1946), the last private owner of Ringve manor outside Trondheim. Together they made plans for two museums: one for the history of the manor and its inhabitants, another for musical instruments, which they had begun to collect. Upon Christian’s death, his will established a foundation encompassing the land and buildings, and Mrs Bachke began serious collecting to prepare the museum, which opened in 1952 in the manor’s main building, a well-kept example of historicist architecture and interior decoration from the second half of the 19th century. Her main gifts for this task were enthusiasm and useful contacts, notably in France and Italy. One of her advisors was the Danish musicologist and organologist Godtfred Skjerne. Before she died, Mrs Bachke had collected about 1000 instruments of European and non-Western classical and folk traditions. She desired that the instruments be playable. Today the Ringve Museum has a national responsibility for collections of musical instruments in Norway, with educational and scientific staff and a conservation workshop. It remains a foundation under the administration of Museene i Sør-Trøndelag AS....

[Ennal, Charles-Ernest]

(b Fockenhof, Kurland, Feb 14, 1722; d Paris, March 24, 1791). French dilettante, amateur violinist and composer, patron of the arts and instrument collector. A magnificent and very wealthy nobleman, he both amused and astounded his contemporaries. M. Audinot in his comic opera La musicomanie (1779), and possibly E.T.A. Hoffmann in his tale Die Serapionsbrüder (1819), attempted to evoke his strange personality, emphasizing its ridiculous nature.

At the death of his father, a landed nobleman, in 1747, Bagge inherited a large fortune which enabled him to study the violin in Italy with Tartini. By 1750 he had settled in Paris; in the following year he was awarded the title chambellan du Roi de Prusse (then Frederick II) and married the daughter of the Swiss banker Jacob Maudry. With Maudry's death in 1762 the very large inheritance proved a source of contention to the ill-matched couple and they soon separated. Bagge later attempted to gain possession of the inheritance of Mme Maudry, who had died in ...

(b Croydon, South London, UK, April 11, 1863; d Oxford, Feb 9, 1939). English ethnographer, museum curator, and collector. He was appointed first curator of the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford (GB.O.prm), in 1893, having worked there as assistant from its foundation in 1884, and continued as curator until his death. He enriched the collection enormously by contacting every anthropologist he knew, through the Royal Anthropological Institute of which he became President, and government officers and administrators in districts all over the British possessions, asking them to acquire objects of ethnographic interest with as much documentation as possible. He travelled widely and acquired many objects himself, all of which, more than 15,000 items including hundreds of musical instruments, he bequeathed to the museum. Consequently the Pitt Rivers became one of the world’s great ethnographic museums, particularly rich in folk and non-Western musical instruments, most of them well documented with photographs and often with field recordings. Balfour published ...

(b London, UK, July 17, 1946). Conservator of musical instruments and maker of brasses, based in Ottawa, Canada. After studying fine arts and English at the University of Toronto, he joined the Canadian Conservation Institute, Ottawa, in 1975 as a conservator of furniture and wooden objects. He was trained in instrument conservation at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, and received a PhD from the Open University in 1999. He has undertaken wide-ranging projects in the conservation, display, and use of historical instruments in European and North American museums. He has received awards from the American Musical Instrument Society, the Galpin Society, and the Historic Brass Society for his numerous writings. He was named senior conservator at the Canadian Conservation Institute in 1991 and retired in 2007.

Barclay began in 1976 to make reproduction trumpets after models by Johann Carl Kodisch, Johann Leonhard Ehe (iii), and Hanns Hainlein. His book ...

(b Exeter, Jan 28, 1834; d Lewtrenchard, Devon, Jan 2, 1924). English clergyman, folksong collector, novelist and writer. He was educated at Cambridge (MA, 1856), ordained in 1864, and on his father’s death in 1872 he inherited the family estates at Lewtrenchard, where he became rector in 1881 and served as a Justice of the Peace. He travelled extensively and wrote voluminously on theological and general topics; he was also a pioneer in the collection of English folksong. Between 1888 and 1891 he published 110 examples, transcribed from performances by singers in Devon and Cornwall, as Songs and Ballads of the West. The collection was made jointly with the Rev. H.F. Sheppard, sub-dean of the Savoy Chapel, with whom Baring-Gould also collaborated to produce A Garland of Country Song (1895) and English Minstrelsie (1895–6). Their first joint publications in the field preceded by several years the folksong collections of W.A. Barrett, Frank Kidson, John Stokoe and J.A. Fuller Maitland, and were themselves preceded only by John and Lucy Broadwood’s ...

(b Széplak, April 7, 1799; d Mainz, Oct 4, 1854). Hungarian composer, theatre director and collector of folksongs. He came from a Hungarian noble family and embarked on a career in the civil service; it was not until 1829 that he first appeared on the musical scene, when he and Lajos Menner founded and became directors of the first Pest singing school. Bartay was one of the first to publish Hungarian folksongs: in 1833–4 he published a two-volume collection Eredeti nép-dalok klavir-kísérettel (‘Original folksongs with piano accompaniment’), and in 1834 he brought out one of the earliest Hungarian books on music theory, Magyar Apollo.

In 1837 his comic opera Aurelia, oder Das Weib am Konradstein had its première at the Pest Town Theatre, and in 1839 his comic opera Csel (‘Ruse’) was first performed at the Pest Hungarian Theatre as Ferenc Erkel's benefit performance (Erkel later composed variations on themes from this opera). Bartay was director of the National Theatre in ...

(b Mladcová, nr Gottwaldov, March 16, 1837; d Mladcová, June 11, 1906). Moravian folksong collector and dialectologist. He was educated at the Gymnasium in Olomouc and at the University of Vienna and became a schoolteacher in Strážnice (1864), Olomouc, Těšín and in 1869 at the first Czech Gymnasium in Brno. From 1888 he directed the second Czech Gymnasium in Old Brno, where he was in contact with Janáček. In collaboration with other schoolteachers and organists, he organized the collecting, categorizing and editing of Moravian folksongs, and through his four published collections and about 4000 other folksongs which appeared in ethnographic monographs he became recognized as the successor to Sušil, the pioneer of Moravian ethnomusicology.

Like many other early scholars in European folk music, Bartoš sometimes changed the song texts, thereby reducing the documentary value of his collections; from a musical point of view, only part of his third collection (...