Karl Leichter (13 October 1902 in Näpi,

Rakvere Parish Rakvere Parish () is a rural municipality of Estonia, in Lääne-Viru County. Rakvere municipality surrounds the city of Rakvere and is located in north east Estonia. The shape of the municipality resembles to a butterfly. Rakvere Parish is one ...

– 7 March 1987 in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

) was an Estonian

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

. In 1929 he graduated in theory and composition, studying under

Heino Eller Heino Eller (7 March 188716 June 1970) was an Estonian composer and pedagogue, known as the founder of contemporary Estonian symphonic music. Life and career Eller was born in Tartu on 7 March 1887, where he took private lessons in violin and ...

with pupils such as

Eduard Tubin Eduard Tubin ( – 17 November 1982) was an Estonian composer, conductor, and choreographer. Life Tubin was born in Torila, Tartu County, Governorate of Livonia, then part of the Russian Empire. Both his parents were music lovers, and his fath ...

Alfred Karindi Alfred Karindi (born Alfred-Nikolai Karafin; 30 May 1901 – 13 April 1969) was an Estonian organist and composer. Life and work Alfred Karindi was born on 30 May 1901 in the village of Kõnnu, Illuka Parish. In 1920 he entered the Tartu H ...

Eduard Oja Eduard Oja (17 January 1905 in Palupõhja – 16 April 1950 in Tartu) was an Estonian composer, conductor, music teacher and critic. His father was a forest warden. Between 1919 and 1925 he studied at Tartu Teachers' College at Tartu University ...

and

Olav Roots Olav Roots (26 February 1910 – 30 January 1974) was an Estonian conductor, pianist and composer. Roots was born in Uderna. He studied at the Music School of Tartu from 1923 to 1928, studying piano with Artur Lemba and composition under Hein ...

. Between 1929 and 1931 he worked in the Estonian Folklore Archives. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the ensuing

Soviet occupation of Estonia The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, (abbreviated Estonian SSR, Soviet Estonia, or simply Estonia ) was an administrative subunit ( union republic) of the former Soviet Union (USSR), covering the occupied and annexed territory of Estonia ...

, he worked hard to re-establish functioning musical education and musicological research. For a short period, he was dean of

Tallinn State Conservatory The Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (''Eesti Muusika- ja Teatriakadeemia'') began as a mixed choir of the Estonia Society Musical Department (EMD) on the eve of World War I. The assembly of the Estonia Society created the Tallinn Higher Musi ...

, but quickly lost his position due to political reasons. Only after

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

's death could he slowly work his way back to a position as a teacher and eventually as the Chair of the Department of Composition and Musicology. He later worked in Stockholm and Helsinki. The Eduard Tubin Museum of Alatskivi Castle today contains exhibits related to him and his other peers who studied with him at the Tartu school. His large archive of correspondence with many important musicians throughout Estonia and abroad was donated by his widow to the Estonian Museum of Theatre and Music in the 1990s.

References

1902 births 1987 deaths People from Rakvere Parish People from Kreis Wierland Estonian musicologists Estonian folklorists Soviet musicologists {{Estonia-bio-stub