Constantin_Brăiloiu_recording_with_phonograph

Constantin Brăiloiu (13 August 1893 in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

– 20 December 1958 in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

) was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and internationally known

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 ...

. Brăiloiu was born in

. He studied in Bucharest (1901–1907),

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

(1907–1909),

Vevey Vevey (; frp, Vevê; german: label=former German, Vivis) is a town in Switzerland in the canton of Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Geneva, near Lausanne. The German name Vivis is no longer commonly used. It was the seat of the district of ...

and

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

(1909–1912) as well as

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

(1912–1914). In 1920 he founded the ''Societatea Compozitorilor Român'' (SCR, Society of Romanian Composers) along with other composers, and he served as general secretary of the organization between 1926 and 1943. In 1928 he initiated the composer's collective ''Arhiva de folklore'' (folklore archive), which soon became one of the largest folk music archives of its time. From 1928 he and sociology professor

Dimitrie Gusti Dimitrie Gusti (; 13 February 1880 – 30 October 1955) was a Romanian sociologist, ethnologist, historian, and voluntarist philosopher; a professor at the University of Iaşi and the University of Bucharest, he served as Romania's Minister of ...

visited the various regions of Romania in order to make sound recordings. In 1931 he published the article "Schiţa unei metode de folclor muzical" (Sketch of a method for music folklore), which became one of the foundational texts for ethnomusicology. In 1943 he became cultural consultant for the Romanian embassy in

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

. Due to the political incidents in his homeland he stayed from then on in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. In 1944 he organized another archive in

, ''Les Archives internationales de musique populaire (AIMP)'', that was part of the Musée d'ethnographie de Genève (Geneva Museum of Ethnography). He served as director for the AIMP from 1944 until his death in 1958, and collected musical recordings from all over the world. In particular, between 1951 and 1958 he released 40 volumes in the series ''Collection universelle de musique populaire enregistrée'' (Universal collection of recorded popular music) on

78 rpm records A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...

. In 1948 he became assistant professor (''maître de conférence'') at the

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...

in Paris. Brăiloiu was a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy from 1946.Membrii Academiei Române din 1866 până în prezent
at the Romanian Academy site

Writings

* ''Schiţa unei metode de folclor muzical'' ("Esquisse d'une méthode de folklore musical"). In: Boabe de Grâu, Jg. 2, Nr. 4, 1931. * ''Sur une ballade roumaine : (la Mioritza)''. Kundig, Geneva 1946. * ''A propos du Jodel''. In: ''Kongressbericht der Internationalen Gesellschaft für Musikwissenschaft, 4. Kongress, Basel 1949''. Bärenreiter Verlag, Basel 1951, S. 69–71. * ''Le rythme aksak''. Abbeville 1952. * ''Sur une mélodie russe''. In: Pierre Souvtchinsky,

Vladimir Fédorov Vladimir Fédorov (5 August 1901, Chernihiv – 9 April 1979, Paris) was a French musicologist, librarian, and composer of Russian birth. He studied with André Pirro at the Schola Cantorum de Paris and studied composition privately with Paul Vid ...

, Gisèle Brelet (Hrsg.): ''Musique russe''. Presses universitaires de France, Paris 1953. * ''Le vers populaire roumain chanté''. Ed. de l'Institut universitaire roumain Charles I, Paris 1956. * ''La rythmique enfantine : notions liminaires''. Elsevier, Paris/Brussels 1956. * ''Folklore musical''. Encyclopédie de la musique; Fasquelle, Paris 1959. * ''Réflexions sur la création musicale collective''. In: ''Diogène''. (Paris) Nr. 25, 1959, S. 83–93. * ''Vie musicale d'un village: recherches sur le répertoire de Dragus (Roumanie) 1929-1932''. Institut universitaire roumain Charles Ier, Paris 1960. * ''Problèmes d'ethnomusicologie''. Minkoff Reprint, Geneva 1973. (Collected works edited by Gilbert Rouget) * ''Problems of ethnomusicology''. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1984. (English translation by A.L. Lloyd of the collected works), digitally printed (Cambridge 2009) (hbk.), (pbk.) * ''Opere 1-5''. Ed. Muzicală a Uniunii compozitorilor din Republica Socialistă România, Bukarest, Bd. 1: 1967, Bd. 2: 1969, Bd. 3: 1974, Bd. 4: 1979, Bd. 5: 1981. (Collected works, translated and edited by ) * ''Opere 6. Prima Parte''. Editura Muzicală, Bucharest 1998. (with Emilia Comişel)

References

External links

Biography on the website of ''Musée d'Ethnographie de Genève''
(French)
Online data bank of the Brailoiu collection of recordings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brailoiu, Constantin 1893 births 1958 deaths 20th-century composers Romanian composers Romanian ethnomusicologists Corresponding members of the Romanian Academy Musicians from Bucharest Romanian expatriates in Switzerland Romanian defectors 20th-century musicologists Lausanne Conservatory alumni