Jacobsthal, Gustav

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JACOBSTHAL, GUSTAV

JACOBSTHAL, GUSTAV (1845–1912), German musicologist. Born in Pyritz, Pomerania, Jacobsthal studied music and history at the University of Berlin (1863–70) and wrote a Ph.D. thesis on mensural notation in the 12th and 13th century. Jacobsthal was a professor of musicology at the University of Strasbourg from 1875 to 1905, the only person to hold such a post at a German university at the time. He was a pioneer in the application of historical and philological research in the study of early medieval music. Among his famous disciples were F. Genrich and P. Wagner. His writings are mainly on the music of the Middle Ages, comprising his books Die Mensuralnotenschrift des 12. und 13. Jahrhunderts (1871, rep. 1973) and Die chromatische Alteration im liturgischen Gesange der abendlaendischen Kirche (1897, rep. 1970).

bibliography:

ng2; mgg2; F. Genrich, Die Strassburger Schule fuer Musikwissenschaft (1940).

[Amnon Shiloah (2nd ed.)]