Alexander Hyatt King, also known as Alec Hyatt King, (18 July 1911,

Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley, in Greater London. Until 1965 it was part of the historic county of Kent. It is located south-east of Charing Cross, situated north of Elmers End and E ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

— 10 March 1995,

Southwold Southwold is a seaside town and civil parish on the English North Sea coast in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk. It lies at the mouth of the River Blyth within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town is a ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

) was an English

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 bibliographer, who was a

music librarian Music librarianship is the area of librarianship that pertains to music collections and their development, cataloging, preservation and maintenance, as well as reference issues connected with musical works and music literature. Music librarians usu ...

of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

and leading scholar on

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

. Educated at

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 independent, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose of ...

and

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

, he began his career at the British Museum as a cataloguer in February 1934; a post he remained in until December 1944 when he succeeded William Charles Smith as Superintendent of the Music Room. He remained in that position until 1973 when he was named Music Librarian of the Reference Division 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 ...

. He also concurrently served as the British Museum's Deputy Keeper of the Department of Printed Books from 1959 until his retirement in 1976. He was involved in the early days of the

British Institute of Recorded Sound The British Library Sound Archive, formerly the British Institute of Recorded Sound; also known as the National Sound Archive (NSA), in London, England is among the largest collections of recorded sound in the world, including music, spoken word a ...

: as Chairman in 1952 he helped find accommodation for the collection within the British Museum.Saul, Paul.
A Note on the Institute's pre-history
, in ''IASA Journal'' 13, July 1999 Hyatt King married art historian Evelyn Davies in 1943 and there were two sons. In the 1950s, they were living at 19, Rudall Crescent, London, NW3. He moved to

for his final years and is buried in

Reydon Reydon is a village and civil parish, north-west of Southwold and south-east of Wangford, in the East Suffolk district and the ceremonial county of Suffolk, England. Its population of 2,567 in 2001 including Easton Bavents eased up to 2,582 a ...

churchyard.

Selected bibliography

''See for a complete bibliography'' * * *

References

1911 births 1995 deaths Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Employees of the British Library Employees of the British Museum English musicologists Librarians from London People educated at Dulwich College Mozart scholars Music librarians {{UK-music-bio-stub