Tourna, Habib Hassan

views updated

Tourna, Habib Hassan

Tourna, Habib Hassan, Arab composer and ethnomusicologist; b. Nazareth, Dec. 12, 1934. He studied at the Haifa Cons. and the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv (1956-62); then went to the Free Univ. of Berlin, where he received a Ph.D. with a diss. on Arab music theory (1968). He went on to teach there, and to work at the Internationale Institut für Vergleichende Musikstudien und Dokumentation. His studies of Arab music theory and history greatly influenced his compositions, which include Oriental Rhapsody for 2 Flutes and Percussion (1958), Reflexus I for 23 Strings (1965), and Maqam for Natalie for Piano (1974). He publ. Die Musik der Araber (Wilhelmshaven, 1975).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

About this article

Tourna, Habib Hassan

Updated About encyclopedia.com content Print Article