Helfritz, Hans

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Helfritz, Hans

Helfritz, Hans, German ethnomusicologist and composer; b. Hilbersdorf, July 25, 1902. He studied with Hindemith at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, and with Wellesz in Vienna. In 1936 he went to South America and lived mostly in Chile, where he worked on problems of musical folklore. In 1956 he undertook a journey along the west coast of Africa and made recordings of native songs. In 1962 he settled in Ibiza in the Balearic Islands. He composed orch. works and chamber music; in some of them, he makes use of South American and African motifs.

Writings

Amerika, Land der Inka, Maya und Azteken (Vienna, 1965); Die Götterburgen Mexikos (Cologne, 1968); Mexiko, Land der drei Kulturen (Berlin, 1968).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire