Dr. Ragheb Moftah (1898–2001) was an

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian

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 ...

and scholar of the

Coptic music Coptic music is the music sung and played in the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Coptic Catholic Church. It has some roots in ancient Egyptian music and many elements of ancient Egyptian music continue to survive in Coptic liturgical music, with add ...

heritage. He co-authored the article on "Coptic Music" for the ''

Coptic Encyclopedia The ''Coptic Encyclopedia'' is an eight-volume work covering the history, theology, language, art, architecture, archeology and hagiography of Coptic Egypt. The encyclopedia was written by over 250 Western and Egyptian contributing experts in th ...

''. He spent much of his life studying the recording and notation of Coptic

liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

texts. The son of Habashi Moftah and Labiba Shalaby, Moftah was one of nine children.

Education

He studied in

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at the Faculty of Agriculture in the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

in the

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

and obtained a BSc in agriculture. His great passion was music. He obtained degrees in Music from Bonn and in Catholic Southern Germany at the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

. He made a studio at St. Mary

Coptic Orthodox The Coptic Orthodox Church (), also known as the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, is an Oriental Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Christian church based in Egypt. The head of the church and the Apostolic see, See of Alexandria i ...

Church Kasriet El-Rihan in Old

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

. In 1927 he invited Prof. Ernest Newlandsmith from

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, who transcribed all the Coptic Heritage 1928-1936.

Institute of Coptic Studies

In 1955 he was responsible for the Music & Hymn Department at the

Institute of Coptic Studies The Institute of Coptic Studies is a postgraduate academic institute affiliated with the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. It was founded in Cairo, Egypt, in 1954, and its Grand President is Pope Tawadros II, the Pope of Alexandria and Patr ...

and moved the primary studio he had already made in St. Mary Church. He began recording the hymns and all the Church services with Mlm. Mikhail's voice and then published in more talented voices on cassette tapes, for a total of 54 tapes.

St. Basil's mass

In 1970, he invited the scientist Margit Toth to collaborate in producing a transcription of St. Basil's Mass, building on a partial edition by Professor Ernest Newlandsmith, who had prepared responses and the first part in each priest's (solo) part. He and Margit Toth later worked closely as well with Martha Roy, an ethnomusicologist and lifelong resident of Egypt, who came from a family of American Presbyterian missionaries. With these colleagues, Moftah prepared an edition of the mass, accompanied by musical notations and with Coptic, English and Arabic text. In 1998 The

American University in Cairo The American University in Cairo (AUC; ) is a private research university in New Cairo, Egypt. The university offers American-style learning programs at undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels, along with a continuing education program. ...

published this annotated edition as ''The Coptic Orthodox Liturgy of St. Basil''. In 1992, he offered his works to the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

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to be kept over generations using the latest technology.

Personal life

In 1963 Dr. Moftah married Mary Gabriel Rizq. He is the father of Micah Moftah, Architect.

References

"Coptic Music" (co-authored by Ragheb Moftah), Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia

External links