Emanuel Winternitz (Vienna, Austria, 4 August 1898 – New York City, 20 August 1983) was an Austrian-born museum professional who became the first

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of the Department of Musical Instruments at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in New York City.

Career

Born in

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

, then capital of the

Austro-Hungarian empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, Winternitz served in World War I. He then practiced law in Vienna in the 1920s and 1930s. Winternitz emigrated to the United States in 1938, after the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

. In 1941, He started work at the Metropolitan as a lecturer. He became "Keeper" of the instruments the following year, and was named Curator in 1949 when Musical Instruments was made a curatorial department. At the Department of Musical Instruments, Winternitz was responsible for saving the musical instruments collection from a plan to turn them over to a Music Library proposed by

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

. He was also a musical instruments researcher, credited as the "father of the field of musical iconography". In 1973 Winternitz was named curator emeritus at the museum. He continued to teach at the

Graduate Center The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and post-graduate university in New York City. Serving as the principal doctorate-granting institution of the C ...

of the

City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...

until his death.In his will, he left his archives consisting of documents, working materials of his writings, and photographs, to the Research Center for Music Iconography of the Graduate Center, City University of New York. The center also owns a manuscript of his unpublished memoires ''The luggage of an immigrant''. His complete publications are available here https://gc-cuny.academia.edu/EmanuelWinternitz.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winternitz, Emanuel 1898 births 1983 deaths People associated with the Metropolitan Museum of Art Austrian musicologists Music historians Lawyers from Vienna Jewish emigrants from Austria to the United States after the Anschluss 20th-century musicologists