# Robert Lachmann

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**Robert Lachmann** (28 November 1892 – 8 May 1939) was a German [ethnomusicologist](/source/Ethnomusicology), [polyglot](/source/Multilingualism) (German, English, French, Arabic), [orientalist](/source/Orientalism) and librarian. He was an expert in the musical traditions of the [Middle East](/source/Middle_East), a member of the Berlin School of [Comparative Musicology](/source/Ethnomusicology) and one of its founding fathers. After having been forced to leave Germany under the [Nazis](/source/Nazi_Germany) in 1935 because of his [Jewish](/source/Jews) background, he emigrated to [Palestine](/source/Palestine_(region)) and established a rich archive of ethnomusicological recordings for the [Hebrew University of Jerusalem](/source/Hebrew_University_of_Jerusalem).[1]

## Life and contributions to ethnomusicology of the Middle East

Robert Lachmann was born in [Berlin](/source/Berlin), and had learned French and English as a young man. Having been assigned as [interpreter](/source/Language_interpretation) at a German camp for [prisoners of war](/source/Prisoner_of_war) (POW)[2] during [World War I](/source/World_War_I), he became interested in the languages, songs and customs of POWs from North Africa and India, and started to learn [Arabic](/source/Arabic), which he later followed up at [Berlin university](/source/Humboldt_University_of_Berlin). He also studied [comparative musicology](/source/Comparative_musicology) with [Johannes Wolf](/source/Johannes_Wolf_(musicologist)), [Erich von Hornbostel](/source/Erich_von_Hornbostel) and [Curt Sachs](/source/Curt_Sachs) and published his Ph.D. [dissertation](/source/Thesis) in 1922, based on urban music in Tunisia. Apart from his study *Musik des Orients* (Music of the Orient), 1929, that compares musical systems of various “Oriental” traditions from North Africa to the Far East, and a translation of a musical [treatise](/source/Treatise) by the ninth-century Arab scholar [Al-Kindi](/source/Al-Kindi) in 1931, he edited the "*Zeitschrift für vergleichende Musikwissenschaft*" (*Journal of Comparative Musicology)*[3] from 1932-35.

In 1935, he was dismissed from his position as music [librarian](/source/Librarian) at the [Berlin State Library](/source/Berlin_State_Library), because he was Jewish, and emigrated to [Jerusalem](/source/Jerusalem). On the invitation of [Judah L. Magnes](/source/Judah_Leon_Magnes), chancellor and later president (1935–1948) of [The Hebrew University of Jerusalem](/source/Hebrew_University_of_Jerusalem), Lachmann established a center for [Middle Eastern music](/source/Middle_Eastern_music) and the university's archive for "Oriental music". With the assistance of only one sound technician, he recorded almost 1000 new examples of [secular](/source/Secularity) and [liturgical](/source/Liturgy) music.[4] His sound archive was later incorporated into the National Sound Archives of the [National Library of Israel](/source/National_Library_of_Israel). Lachmann died in [Jerusalem](/source/Jerusalem) at age 46.

Apart from his earlier field studies in Tunisia and [Morocco](/source/Morocco), he participated in the 1932 [Cairo Congress of Arab Music](/source/Cairo_Congress_of_Arab_Music) and was responsible for recording the performances of the artists and ensembles invited to the conference.[4] His important contribution to the [ethnomusicology](/source/Ethnomusicology) of North Africa and the Middle East is reflected in a description of his radio programmes, transmitted by the English language programme of the [Palestine Broadcasting Service](/source/Palestine_Broadcasting_Service) (PBS) in 1936-1937, by British musicologist [Ruth F. Davis](/source/Ruth_F._Davis):[5]

Focusing on [sacred](/source/Sacred) and [secular](/source/Secularity) musical traditions of different “Oriental” communities living in and around Jerusalem, including [Bedouin](/source/Bedouin) and [Palestinian Arabs](/source/Palestinians), [Yemenite](/source/Yemen), Kurdish and [Baghdadi](/source/Baghdad) [Jews](/source/Jews), [Copts](/source/Copts) and [Samaritans](/source/Samaritans), Lachmann's lectures were illustrated by more than thirty musical examples performed live in the studio by local musicians and singers and simultaneously recorded on metal disc. In two lectures (numbers 10 and 11), based on commercial recordings, he [contextualized](/source/Contextualization_(sociolinguistics)) the live performances with wide-ranging surveys of the [urban](/source/Urban_area) musical traditions of North Africa and the Middle East, extending beyond the Arab world to [Turkey](/source/Turkey), [Persia](/source/Iran), and [Hindustan](/source/Hindustan)."[1]

## Publications

- *Die Musik in den tunisischen Städten* (Music in the cities of Tunisia), 1922, (Ph.D. dissertation)
- *Musik des Orients (Music of the Orient*), Berlin, 1929
- with Mahmoud el-Hefni, eds., *Ja'qūb Ibn Isḥāq [al-Kindi](/source/Al-Kindi): Risāla fī Khubr tā'līf al-alhān: Über die Komposition der Melodien,* Veröffentlichungen der Gesellschaft zur Erforschung der Musik des Orients, 1 (Leipzig: Fr. Kistner and C. F. W. Siegel, 1931).
- Editor of the *Zeitschrift für vergleichende Musikwissenschaft (Journal of Comparative Musicology)*, 1933-35 (Gesellschaft zur Erforschung des Musik des Orients - The Society for the Study of Oriental Music,) from 1930-1935
- *Jewish Cantillation and Song in the Isle of Djerba.* (Archives of Oriental Music) Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1940

## Further reading

- [Davis, Ruth F.](/source/Davis,_Ruth_F.) *[Ethnomusicology and Political Ideology in Mandatory Palestine: Robert Lachmann's "Oriental Music" Projects](https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/mp/9460447.0004.205/--ethnomusicology-and-political-ideology-in-mandatory?rgn=main;view=fulltext)*, in: Music & Politics 4, Number 2 (Summer 2010), p. 1–15. (with audio examples of Lachmann's radio programmes)
- [Davis, Ruth F.](/source/Davis,_Ruth_F.), ed. (2013). *Robert Lachmann's Oriental Music Broadcasts, 1936-1937: A Musical Ethnography of Mandatory Palestine*, Middleton, Wisconsin, A-R Editions. ([ARSC](/source/Association_for_Recorded_Sound_Collections) Awards for Excellence 2014)
- Katz, Israel J. with the collaboration of Sheila M. Craik (2020). *Robert Lachmann's Correspondence with [Henry George Farmer](/source/Henry_George_Farmer) (from 1923 to 1938).* E.J. Brill, Leiden
- [Katz, Ruth](/source/Ruth_Katz) (2003). *The Lachmann Problem* . The Hebrew University Magnes press, Jerusalem
- Lingas, A. (2018). [*The Oriental music broadcasts, 1936–1937: a musical ethnography of mandatory Palestine.*](https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/21528/) Ethnomusicology Forum, 27(2), pp. 243–245. doi: 10.1080/17411912.2018.1508359
- [*Robert Lachmann and Tunisia*](https://lachmann.tn)

## References

1. Davis, Ruth F. (Summer 2010). "Ethnomusicology and Political Ideology in Mandatory Palestine: Robert Lachmann's "Oriental Music" Projects". *Music and Politics*. **IV** (2). [doi:10.3998/mp.9460447.0004.205](https://doi.org/10.3998/mp.9460447.0004.205). [hdl:2027/spo.9460447.0004.205](https://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.9460447.0004.205). [ISSN 1938-7687](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1938-7687)

1. Photographs and personal information of some of these POWs can be seen in this book from 1916, published under the title "Unsere Feinde" (Our Enemies): Stiehl, Otto (1916). ["Unsere Feinde 96 Charakterköpfe aus deutschen Kriegsgefangenenlagern"](https://www.europeana.eu/item/9200231/BibliographicResource_2000092036607) (in German). *Europeana Collections*. Stuttgart: Julius Hoffmann. Retrieved 2020-12-06.

1. Farmer, H. G. (April 1934). ["Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Musikwissenschaft. Edited by Robert Lachmann in conjunction with E. M. von Hornbostel and Johannes Wolf. \[Gesellschaft zur Erforschung der Musik des Orients. Jahrgang 1, Nr. 1.\] 9¼ × 6½, pp. 24 + 4 (music, etc.). Berlin: Max Hesses Verlag, 1933."](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-royal-asiatic-society/article/zeitschrift-fur-vergleichende-musikwissenschaft-edited-by-robert-lachmann-in-conjunction-with-e-m-von-hornbostel-and-johannes-wolf-gesellschaft-zur-erforschung-der-musik-des-orients-jahrgang-1-nr-1-9-6-pp-24-4-music-etc-berlin-max-hesses-verlag-1933/993407F061BC6E8BAA4CA6B6BA57A9F2). *Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society*. **66** (2): 392–394. [doi:10.1017/S0035869X00080138](https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00080138). [ISSN 2051-2066](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/2051-2066)

1. ["Robert Lachmann | Jewish Music Research Centre"](https://www.jewish-music.huji.ac.il/content/robert-lachmann). *www.jewish-music.huji.ac.il*. Retrieved 2020-08-25.

1. ["Dr Ruth Davis"](https://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/people/dr-ruth-davis). *Corpus Christi College University of Cambridge*. 2016-12-22. Retrieved 2020-08-25.

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