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Robert Donington (4 May 1907 – 20 January 1990) was a British
musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...
and instrumentalist influential in the
early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classi ...
movement and in
Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
studies. He was educated at St Paul's School, London, and studied at the
University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...
. His expert knowledge of early instruments and the interpretation of pre-classical music owed much to a period of study with
Arnold Dolmetsch Eugène Arnold Dolmetsch (24 February 1858 – 28 February 1940), was a French-born musician and instrument maker who spent much of his working life in England and established an instrument-making workshop in Haslemere, Surrey. He was a leading f ...
at
Haslemere The town of Haslemere () and the villages of Shottermill and Grayswood are in south west Surrey, England, around south west of London. Together with the settlements of Hindhead and Beacon Hill, they comprise the civil parish of Haslemere in ...
,
Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...
. He was appointed OBE in the 1979 Birthday Honours. He was born in
Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...
, and died in
Firle Firle (; Sussex dialect: ''Furrel'' ) is a village and civil parish in the Lewes district of East Sussex, England. Firle refers to an old-English/Anglo-Saxon word ''fierol'' meaning overgrown with oak. Although the original division of East ...
,
Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...
at the age of 82.


Books

*''The Instruments of Music'' (1949). *''Tempo and Rhythm in Bach's Organ Music'' (1960). *''The Interpretation of Early Music'' (1963). *''Wagner's Ring and its Symbols'' (1963). *''String playing in baroque music'', with recorded illustrations by
Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name: * Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor ** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England ** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to t ...
, George Malcolm, (1977). *''A performer's guide to baroque music'' (1973). *''The Rise of Opera'' (1981). *''Baroque Music: Style and Performance, a Handbook'' (1982). *''Opera and its symbols : the unity of words, music, and staging'' (1990).


Articles

*The Psychology of ''Tristan'', ''Times Literary Supplement'', 18 June 1971, pp 699–700


Sources

Sadie, S. (ed.) (1980) ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians'', ol. #5


External links

* Obituary in ''Early Music'', November 199

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donington, Robert 1907 births 1990 deaths English musicologists Officers of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century British musicologists People from Leeds People from Firle Wagner scholars