Robert Donington (4 May 1907 – 20 January 1990) was a British

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 m ...

and instrumentalist influential in the

early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classic ...

movement and in

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

studies. He was educated at St Paul's School, London, and studied at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

. His expert knowledge of early instruments and the interpretation of pre-classical music owed much to a period of study with

Arnold Dolmetsch Eugène Arnold Dolmetsch (24 February 1858 – 28 February 1940), was a French-born musician and instrument maker who spent much of his working life in England and established an instrument-making workshop in Haslemere, Surrey. He was a leading f ...

Haslemere The town of Haslemere () and the villages of Shottermill and Grayswood are in south west Surrey, England, around south west of London. Together with the settlements of Hindhead and Beacon Hill, they comprise the civil parish of Haslemere i ...

, Surrey. He was appointed OBE in the 1979 Birthday Honours. He was born in

Leeds Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the thi ...

, and died in Firle, Sussex at the age of 82.

Books

*''The Instruments of Music'' (1949). *''Tempo and Rhythm in Bach's Organ Music'' (1960). *''The Interpretation of Early Music'' (1963). *''Wagner's Ring and its Symbols'' (1963). *''String playing in baroque music'', with recorded illustrations by

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name: * Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor ** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England ** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to t ...

, George Malcolm, (1977). *''A performer's guide to baroque music'' (1973). *''The Rise of Opera'' (1981). *''Baroque Music: Style and Performance, a Handbook'' (1982). *''Opera and its symbols : the unity of words, music, and staging'' (1990).

Articles

*The Psychology of ''Tristan'', ''Times Literary Supplement'', 18 June 1971, pp 699–700

Sources

Sadie, S. (ed.) (1980) ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians'', ol. #5

External links

* Obituary in ''Early Music'', November 199

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donington, Robert 1907 births 1990 deaths English musicologists Officers of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century British musicologists People from Leeds People from Firle Wagner scholars