Robert Lachmann
Robert Lachmann (28 November 1892 – 8 May 1939) a German ethnomusicologist, polyglot (German, English, French, Arabic), musicologist, orientalist and library official. He was an expert in the music of the Orient, a member of the Berlin School of Comparative Musicology and one of its founding fathers.
Robert Lachmann was born in Berlin, and arrived in Palestine in April 1935, after he had been dismissed from his position at the Berlin National Library, following the Nazis' rise to power. He came to Jerusalem at the invitation of Judah L. Magnes, chancellor and later president (1935–1948) of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, to establish a center of Oriental music and the "Archive for Oriental Music".
He participated in the 1932 Cairo Congress of Arab Music. He died in Jerusalem, aged 46.
Literary works
- Die Musik in den tunisischen Staedten, 1922
- the only editor of the "Zeitschrift für vergleichende Musikwissenschaft"( The Journal of Comparative Musicology), 1933-35 (Gesellschaft zur Erforschung des Musik des Orients - The Society for the Study of Oriental Music, from 1930-)
- Musik des Orients, 1929
References
Katz, Ruth, The Lachmann Problem (The Hebrew University Magnes press, Jerusalem, 2003)
Davis, Ruth F, Robert Lachmann: the Oriental Music Broadcasts 1936-37 (A-R Editions Inc, Middleton, Wisconsin 2013)