Klaus Philipp Wachsmann (8 March 1907 – 17 July 1984) was a British
ethnomusicologist of German birth. Born in 1907 in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, he is considered a pioneer in the study of the traditional musics of Africa. His studies in Germany (on pre-Gregorian chant under mentor
Erich von Hornbostel
Erich Moritz von Hornbostel (25 February 1877 – 28 November 1935) was an Austrian ethnomusicologist and scholar of music. He is remembered for his pioneering work in the field of ethnomusicology, and for the Sachs–Hornbostel system of mus ...
)
[ were interrupted by the rise of the Nazis in 1933, where he was also forbidden to marry his 'Aryan' fiancée Eva Buttenburg, a singer. Consequently they both migrated to Britain in 1936.][Oldfield, Sybil. ''The Black Book: The Britons on the Nazi Hit List'' (2020), p.233-4]
While in the UK Wachsmann gained funding by the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning
The Council for At-Risk Academics (CARA) is a charitable British organisation dedicated to assisting academics in immediate danger, those forced into exile, and many who choose to remain in their home countries despite the serious risks they face ...
to study African languages at the School of Oriental and African Studies
SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...
in London. His wife worked as a voice coach. With help from the Church Missionary Society
The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British mission society working with the Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as mission ...
they then moved to Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...
in 1937, where Wachsmann compiled an extensive collection of field recordings between 1949 and 1952. The full collection was originally deposited at the British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
where they form part of the World and Traditional Music collection. He founded the International Folk Music Council
The International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM) is a scholarly non-governmental organization which focuses on the study, practice, documentation, preservation, and dissemination of traditional music and dance of all countries. Founded in Lo ...
, where he first met Charles Seeger
Charles Louis Seeger Jr. (December 14, 1886 – February 7, 1979) was an American musicologist, composer, teacher, and folklorist. He was the father of the American folk singers Pete Seeger (1919–2014), Peggy Seeger (b. 1935), and Mike Seeger ( ...
, subsequently a lifelong friend.[
After a year's leave in England was appointed as founding curator of Kampala's ]Uganda Museum
The Uganda Museum is located in Kampala, Uganda. It displays and exhibits ethnological, natural-historical and traditional life collections of Uganda's cultural heritage. It was founded in 1908, after Governor George Wilson called for "all articl ...
, where he stayed until 1957.[ In order to present music as a living experience he employed professional musicians as museum attendants who gave performances every day.][ Many of his photographic records are housed at ]Makerere University
Makerere University, Kampala (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922. It became an independent national university in 1970. Today, Makerere University is composed of ni ...
.
In 1957 he and his wife returned to England, where he was put in charge of ethnological collections at the Wellcome Foundation
The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of one of the predecessors of Glax ...
. He had hoped to find a teaching position at a British University, but failed to do so.[ So in 1963 they moved to the US, where Wachsmann was appointed Professor of Music at the ]University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
from 1963 to 1968.[Obituary, ''The Times'', 21 July 1984, p.10] During the 1970s he continued teaching at various locations (Illinois, Texas, Edinburgh, Belfast, Cologne) and in 1975 established a home back in England, at a stone cottage in Tisbury, Wiltshire. He became a contributor on musical instruments and ethnomusicology to the '' New Grove Dictionary'' of 1980.[Sue Carole De Vale. ]
Intrusions: A Remembrance of Klaus Wachsmann (1907-1984)
', in Ethnomusicology, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Spring - Summer, 1985), pp. 272-282
His book ''Essays on Music and History in Africa'' was published in 1971.
/ref> He died in 1984 at home aged 77, survived by his wife Eva and two children, Katrin and Philipp.[
]
References
External links
Klaus Wachsmann page
from UCLA site
Klaus Wachsmann Collection Online at British Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wachsmann, Klaus
1907 births
1984 deaths
American ethnomusicologists
UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music faculty
20th-century American musicologists