Jacobi, Erwin R(euben)

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Jacobi, Erwin R(euben)

Jacobi, Erwin R(euben), Swiss musicologist; b. Strasbourg, Sept. 21, 1909; d. Zürich, Feb. 27, 1979. He studied economics in Berlin, obtaining a diploma of engineering in 1933. From 1934 to 1952 he lived in Israel, where he studied harpsichord with Pelleg and composition with Ben-Haim; in 1952 he went to the U.S. to study with Landowska (harpsichord), Hindemith (composition), and Sachs (music history); completed his studies at the Univ. of Zürich (Ph.D., 1957, with the diss. Die Entwicklung der Musiktheorie in England nach der Zeit von Jean-Philippe Rameaw, publ. in Strasbourg, 1957-60; 2nd ed., rev. and aug., Baden-Baden, 1971). He was an asst. lecturer there (from 1961), and also a visiting prof. at the Univ. of Iowa (1970) and at Ind. Univ. (1971–72). He wrote a number of valuable articles on Baroque composers for various music journals, and ed. J.-P. Rameau: Complete Theoretical Writings (Rome, 1967-72). He also publ. Albert Schweitzer und die Musik (Wiesbaden, 1975) and served as ed. of his writings.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire