James Haar (July 4, 1929 – September 15, 2018) was an American

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

and W.R. Kenan Jr. Professor Emeritus of Music at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

. A specialist in

Renaissance music Renaissance music is traditionally understood to cover European music of the 15th and 16th centuries, later than the Renaissance era as it is understood in other disciplines. Rather than starting from the early 14th-century '' ars nova'', the Tr ...

, he was the Editor-in-chief of the ''

Journal of the American Musicological Society The ''Journal of the American Musicological Society'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal and an official journal of the American Musicological Society. It is published by University of California Press The University of California Press, othe ...

'' from 1966 to 1969 and served as the president of

American Musicological Society The American Musicological Society (AMS) is a musicological organization which researches, promotes and produces publications on music. Founded in 1934, the AMS was begun by leading American musicologists of the time, and was crucial in legitim ...

from 1976 to 1978. He was elected a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

in 1987.Slonimsky, Nicolas and Kuhn, Laura (2001)
"Haar, James"
''

Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'' is a major reference work in the field of music, originally compiled by Theodore Baker, PhD, and published in 1900 by G. Schirmer, Inc. The ninth edition, the most recent edition, was published in 20 ...

''. Schirmer Books. . Online version retrieved February 9, 2016 . Haar was born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. He received his BA from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1950 and his MA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1954. He returned to Harvard to complete his PhD under John Ward and

Nino Pirrotta Nino Pirrotta (13 June 1908 in Palermo – 22 January 1998 in Palermo) was an Italian musicologist of international renown who specialized in Italian music from the late medieval, Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Life and career In 1931 Pir ...

, graduating in 1961. His doctoral dissertation, ''Musica mundana: Variations on a Pythagorean Theme'', explored the ancient belief in ''

musica universalis The ''musica universalis'' (literally universal music), also called music of the spheres or harmony of the spheres, is a philosophical concept that regards proportions in the movements of celestial bodies – the Sun, Moon, and planets – as a ...

'' and its effect on musical thought in the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. It remains one of the standard works on the subject. His teaching career began at Harvard (1960–1967), followed by the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

(1967–1969), and then

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

, where he was appointed a professor in the music department in 1969 and served as chair of the department from 1971 to 1977. In 1978, he was appointed Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he remained for the rest of his academic career. ''The Science and Art of Renaissance Music'', a collection of some of Haar's key essays and studies written over three decades, was published by Princeton University Press in 1998.Lange, Marjory E. (Winter, 2000)
Review: ''The Science and Art of Renaissance Music'' by James Haar, Paul Corneilson"
''

The Sixteenth Century Journal ''The Sixteenth Century Journal: The Journal of Early Modern Studies'' (SCJ) is a quarterly journal of early modern studies. The senior editors are Merry Wiesner-Hanks and Patricia Phillippy. It is published by Sixteenth Century Publisher Inc. an ...

'', Vol. 31, No. 4 , pp. 1203–1204. Retrieved via

JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...

February 9, 2016 .

References

Further reading