Klaus Philipp Wachsmann (8 March 1907 – 17 July 1984) was a British

ethnomusicologist Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...

of German birth. Born in 1907 in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

, he is considered a pioneer in the study of the traditional musics of Africa. His studies in Germany (on pre-Gregorian chant under mentor Erich von Hornbostel) were interrupted by the rise of the Nazis in 1933, where he was also forbidden to marry his 'Aryan' fiancée Eva Buttenburg, a singer. Consequently they both migrated to Britain in 1936.Oldfield, Sybil. ''The Black Book: The Britons on the Nazi Hit List'' (2020), p.233-4 While in the UK Wachsmann gained funding by the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning to study African languages at the

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...

in London. His wife worked as a voice coach. With help from the

Church Missionary Society The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British mission society working with the Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as mission ...

they then moved to

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The south ...

in 1937, where Wachsmann compiled an extensive collection of field recordings between 1949 and 1952. The full collection was originally deposited at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

where they form part of the World and Traditional Music collection. He founded the International Folk Music Council, where he first met Charles Seeger, subsequently a lifelong friend. After a year's leave in England was appointed as founding curator of Kampala's Uganda Museum, where he stayed until 1957. In order to present music as a living experience he employed professional musicians as museum attendants who gave performances every day. Many of his photographic records are housed at

Makerere University Makerere University, Kampala (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922. It became an independent national university in 1970. Today, Makerere University is composed of n ...

. In 1957 he and his wife returned to England, where he was put in charge of ethnological collections at the Wellcome Foundation. He had hoped to find a teaching position at a British University, but failed to do so. So in 1963 they moved to the US, where Wachsmann was appointed Professor of Music at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

from 1963 to 1968.Obituary, ''The Times'', 21 July 1984, p.10 During the 1970s he continued teaching at various locations (Illinois, Texas, Edinburgh, Belfast, Cologne) and in 1975 established a home back in England, at a stone cottage in Tisbury, Wiltshire. He became a contributor on musical instruments and ethnomusicology to the ''

New Grove Dictionary ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theor ...

'' of 1980.Sue Carole De Vale.
Intrusions: A Remembrance of Klaus Wachsmann (1907-1984)
', in Ethnomusicology, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Spring - Summer, 1985), pp. 272-282 His book ''Essays on Music and History in Africa'' was published in 1971.
/ref> He died in 1984 at home aged 77, survived by his wife Eva and two children, Katrin and Philipp.

References

External links

Klaus Wachsmann page
from UCLA site
Klaus Wachsmann Collection Online at British Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wachsmann, Klaus 1907 births 1984 deaths American ethnomusicologists UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music faculty 20th-century American musicologists