Manfred Fritz Bukofzer (27 March 1910 – 7 December 1955) was a German-born 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 m ...

Life and career

He studied at

Heidelberg University } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

and the Stern conservatory 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 constitu ...

, but left Germany in 1933 for Switzerland, where he obtained a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

from the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis'', German: ''Universität Basel'') is a university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universiti ...

in 1936. In 1939 he moved to the United States where he remained, becoming a U.S. citizen. He taught at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

from 1941 until his premature death from

multiple myeloma Multiple myeloma (MM), also known as plasma cell myeloma and simply myeloma, is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell that normally produces antibodies. Often, no symptoms are noticed initially. As it progresses, bone pain, ...

. Bukofzer is best known as a historian of early music, particularly of the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

era. His book ''Music in the Baroque Era'' is still one of the standard reference works on the topic, although some modern historians assert that it has a Germanic bias – for example, in minimizing the importance of

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

(Italian by origin) during the development of musical style in the 17th century. In addition to Baroque music, he was a specialist in English music and music theory of the 14th through 16th centuries. His other scholarly interests included

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

and

ethnomusicology 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 ...

. Furthermore, during his time at Berkeley, Bukofzer conducted several successful operas, including ''The Beggar's Opera'', ''Dido and Aeneas'', and ''Village Barber''. Among his influential students was Leonard Ratner. He was married to Ilse Kämmerer.

Selected bibliography

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References

Citations

Sources

External links

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Bukofzer Collection
at the University of California, Berkeley 1910 births 1955 deaths Deaths from multiple myeloma Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States University of California, Berkeley faculty 20th-century American musicologists People from Oldenburg (city) {{academic-stub