Henry George Farmer

Henry George Farmer (born January 17, 1882 in Birr , Ireland , † December 30, 1965 in Law , South Lanarkshire , Scotland ) was a British music historian , composer , conductor and musician. He mainly dealt with the history of Arabic music , whose influence on medieval European music theory he emphasized, as well as Persian and Turkish music as well as the history of European military music and Scottish brass music . Farmer was considered an authority on the theory of Arabic music and the history of Arabic musical instruments.

Career

Henry George Farmer was born in 1882 to Henry George Farmer († 1900) and Mary Ann Harling in Birr Barracks in the village of Crinkle, which was then part of King's County (now County Offaly ). His interest in oriental music probably stems from his father, who served as an interpreter in the British Army's Leinster Regiment in British India and the Middle East and spoke fluent Arabic and Hindustani . The boy received lessons in violin and clarinet at the Regimental School in Birr. Local newspapers reported that when he was ten years old he was giving violin concerts with his older sister. Farmer's piano and harmony teacher was the organist at St. Brendan's Catholic Church , where he was a chorister.

At the age of 13 he was on a vacation trip with his father in London , where they heard the Royal Artillery Orchestra at a Sunday afternoon concert, conducted by Ladislao Zavertal. The boy was enthusiastic and immediately wanted to become an orchestra musician. A year later, in 1896, he was accepted as a young musician in this orchestra and worked in the back row. In order to improve his position, he took private lessons on the violin and clarinet from several teachers, so that in 1902 he was promoted to first horn player and played in this position until 1910. At the same time he also appeared with other orchestras as a musician and occasionally as a conductor.

When Farmer had to quit his music career because of a fracture disease that he may have contracted during the long marches of the Royal Artillery Band , his conducting career began at the Broadway Theater in New Cross , London. While he was the musical director there from 1910 to 1913, he was also active in many other musical fields, with which he earned his living. He has taught music in several county schools, founded the Irish Orchestra in London and conducted 1911-12 concerts organized by the National Sunday League .

In 1914 Farmer received an offer to become musical director of the Coliseum Theater in Glasgow . In the first half of the year he held this position, after which he moved to the Empire Theater there , to which he remained connected as a conductor until 1947. His conducting activity fell into the evening hours, so that - apart from theater rehearsals on Monday mornings - he found time during the day for his studies.

He had already joined the Amalgamated Musicians' Union (AMU) before moving to Glasgow . This union wanted to enforce minimum wages and better working conditions for orchestral musicians. As president of their local branch in Glasgow, he founded the Scottish Musicians' Benevolent Fund in 1918 , a charity for musicians who should receive financial help in times of illness and other problems. Such an organization was necessary at a time when sound films were spreading in cinemas and musicians accompanying silent films were becoming unemployed. The organization is now active across Great Britain under the name Musicians' Benevolent Fund . In 1919 he founded the Glasgow Symphony Orchestra , whose Sunday concerts he conducted until the 1940s. The Dr Farmer's Sax Band first performed in the Winter Garden , a glass building in Glasgow Green , around 1918 . The Scottish Music Society was also founded in 1936.

In 1927 Farmer was elected to the board of the Executive Committee of the Musicians 'Union , which was an amalgamation of the AMU and the National Orchestral Union of Professional Musicians , another musicians' union. From 1929 to 1933, Farmer was the editor of the association's magazine and himself wrote the majority of the articles in which the social problems of musicians were widely discussed. In order not to appear too much as a one-man magazine, he hid his articles behind half a dozen pseudonyms.

After the BBC was founded in 1922 , it was one of Farmer's duties as a union official, at the invitation of John Reith , to negotiate the contracts under which the musicians were to be employed. Farmer was a member of the BBC's Scottish Advisory Committee on Music from 1928 to 1939 and editor of the Musicians' Journal from 1929 to 1933 . From 1951 to 1965 he worked as a librarian at the Glasgow University Library and looked after their music collection. Henry George Farmer died shortly before his 84th birthday.

Research in the field of Arabic music

The publisher William Reeves, who had published a book Farmers about the Royal Artillery Band in 1912 ( The Rise and Development of Military Music ), commissioned Farmer to translate the work of the French musicologist Francisco Salvador-Daniel , La musique arabe from 1863 into English. Salvador-Daniel was director of the Paris Conservatory and was involved in the socialist uprising of the Paris Commune , about which Farmer had published a number of articles in 1911. Farmer was therefore interested in the author and its subject. Farmer later expressed himself not particularly convinced of his translation and saw too many open questions on this topic, which were answered contradictingly in the existing English-language literature. In order to be able to pursue Arabic music in the original Arabic texts, he began to study Arabic as an external student at the University of Glasgow in 1918 with Thomas Hunter Weir. There he met the orientalist James Robson, with whom he had a lifelong friendship and occasional collaboration.

In 1924 Farmer received his MA degree and in 1926 his doctorate ( Ph.D. ) with the work A Musical History of the Arabs , which was published in 1929 under the title A History of Arabian Music to the XIIIth Century . This was followed by the Carnegie Research Fellowship for the years 1930–1931 and 1931–1932 as well as the Leverhulme Research Fellowship for 1933–1935. Their money enabled him to travel to libraries on the European continent to look for Arabic manuscripts.

Farmer was the only representative from Great Britain to travel to the Cairo Conference on Arabic Music in 1932. There he was elected head of the commission for manuscripts and music history. In 1934 he held the Cranb Music Lectures at the University of Glasgow . In the same year the University of Glasgow awarded him the D.Litt ( Doctor of Letters ), in 1949 he received an honorary doctorate D.Mus ( Doctor of Music ) from the University of Edinburgh . Farmer turned down the offer of a professorship in music at Cairo University in 1946 and instead stayed in Glasgow.

From 1947 to 1965, Farmer was Vice President of the Glasgow University Oriental Society . At the Royal Scottish Academy of Music he was on the Board of Directors from 1950 to 1962 .

effect

Illustration of the šāh-rūd in the manuscript of the Kitāb al-mūsīqī al kabīr of al-Farabi, which is kept in Cairo .

Farmer researched Arabic music from the Arabic manuscripts he found in the archives. He translated, commented on and interpreted the works of important Arab and Persian music theorists and historians. His sources included the writings of the philosopher al-Kindī (around 800-873), the Kitāb al-Mūsīqā al-kabīr ("The great book of music") and the Kitāb fi 'l-īqāʿāt ("Book on rhythms ") From al-Farabi (872 / 3–950), al-ʿIqd al-farīd (" The only collar ") by Ibn ʿAbd Rabbihi (860–940), the Kitāb al-aġanī (" The Book of Songs ") from Abū l-Faraǧ (897–967), the works of the Jewish philosophers Saadia Gaon (882–942) and Maimonides (1135–1204) to the Ottoman writer Evliya Çelebi (1611–1683). From the ten-volume travel diary ( Seyahatnâme ) Çelebis, Farmer sorted out the sections in which musical instruments are mentioned and combined them into a classification of musical instruments used in Ottoman music , which was published in 1937.

Farmer did not do field research, he was hardly interested in Arabic folk music or contemporary classical music. Although he praised the authors of his sources, such as Evliya Çelebi, being musicians themselves and therefore being able to describe the musical instruments in detail, he neglected performance practice and concentrated entirely on historical music theory. After he retired from the Empire Theater in 1947 , in the following years he mainly occupied himself with studying Arabic texts. His goal was a complete documentation of the Arabic musical instruments. There were many individual publications with translations and descriptions of them; However, he did not achieve his overall project of classifying the hundreds of instruments in all Arab countries.

Farmer has been describing Arabic music since 1925 as a preserver of tradition and as a further development of the music theory handed down from ancient Greece and emphasized its influence on medieval European music theory. This “influence theory” contradicted Kathleen Schlesinger 1925 ( Is European Musical Theory Indepted to the Arabs? A Reply to “The Arabian Influence on Musical Theory” by Henry George Farmer ) and Otto Ursprung 1934 ( To the question of the Arab or Moorish influence on Western music of the Middle Ages ). In later publications, Farmer defended his theory. The Arabian Influence on European Musical Theory (1925), The Arabic Musical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library (1925) and Historical Facts for the Arabian Musical Influence (1930) established its international reputation.

Farmer, who lived in Glasgow for most of his life, carefully collected manuscripts, letters and work materials. They are now kept in the Special Collections Department of the Glasgow University Library.

Publications (selection)

Monographs

• Memoirs of the Royal Artillery Band: Its Origin, History and Progress. An Account of the Rise of Military Music in England. Boosey & Co., London 1904 ( at Internet Archive )
• The Rise and Development of Military Music . William Reeves, London 1912 (New York 1970)
• Edited and translated: The Music and Musical Instruments of the Arab with Introduction on How to Appreciate Arab Music by Francisco Salvador Daniel . 1915 (Boston 1973, Portland 1976)
• The Arabic Musical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library: A Descriptive Catalog With Illustrations of Musical Instruments . William Reeves, London 1925
• The Arabian Influence on Musical Theory . William Reeves, London 1925.
• Byzantine Musical Instruments in the Ninth Century . William Reeves, London 1925.
• A History of Arabian Music to the XIIIth Century . (Dissertation) London 1929 (Luzac & Company, London 1967, 1973. at Internet Archive )
• Historical Facts for the Arabian Musical Influence . Ayer Publishing, London 1930 (London 1964, New York 1971, 1974. at Internet Archive )
• The Organ of the Ancients, From Eastern Sources (Hebrew, Syriac and Arabic) . William Reeves, London 1931. ( at Internet Archive )
• Edited and translated: Al Fārābī's Arabic-Latin Writings on Music . Glasgow 1934 (New York / London / Frankfurt 1965)
• Translated and commented: Turkish Instruments of Music in the Seventeenth Century. As described in the Siyāḥat nāma of Ewliyā Chelebī . Civic Press, Glasgow 1937 (Longwood Press, Portland, Maine 1976)
• Studies in Oriental Musical Instruments . The Civic Press, Glasgow 1939.
• The Sources of Arabian Music: An Annotated Bibliography of Arabic Manuscripts Which Deal With the Theory, Practice, and History of Arabian Music . Self-published, Bearsden 1940.
• Maimonides on Listening to Music. Self-published, Bearsden 1941.
• Saʿadiyah Gaon on the Influence of Music. London 1943.
• Concerts in 18th Century Scotland . Proceedings of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow for the 143rd session 1944–1945, Glasgow 1945.
• The Glen Collection of Musical Instruments . Glasgow 1945.
• The Minstrelsy of The Arabian Nights: A Study of Music and Musicians in the Arabic Alf laila wa laila . Self-published, Bearsden 1945. ( at Internet Archive )
• A History of Music in Scotland . Hinrichsen Edition, London 1947 (London 1969, New York 1970)
• Music Making in the Olden Days: The Story of the Aberdeen Concerts, 1748–1801 . Hinrichsen Edition, New York 1950.
• Cavaliere Zavertal and the Royal Artillery Band . Hinrichsen Edition, Museum House, London 1951.
• Oriental Studies, Mainly Musical . Hinrichsen Edition, London / New York 1953.
• History of the Royal Artillery Band, 1762-1953 . Royal Artillery Institution, London 1954.
• The Song Captions in the Kitab al-aghani al-kabir . H. Baron, London 1955.
• Bernard Shaw's Sister and Her Friends: A New Angle on GBS EJ Brill, Leiden 1959.
• The Science of Music in the Mafatih Al-Ulum . Reprinted from: Transactions of the Glasgow University Oriental Society , Vol. 17, Glasgow 1959.
• Handel's Kettledrums, and Other Papers on Military Music . Hinrichsen Edition, London 1965.
• Al-Farabi's Arabic-Latin Writings on Music in the Ihsa al-`ulum . Hinrichsen Edition, London 1965.
• British bands in battle . Hinrichsen Edition, London 1965.
• In German: Islam. ( Heinrich Besseler , Max Schneider (Hrsg.): Music history in pictures . Volume III. Music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Delivery 2) VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1966.

items

• The Arab Influence on Music in the Western Soudan. In: Musical Standard XXIV, 448, November 1924, pp. 158f.
• The Influence of Music: From Arabic Sources. In: Proceedings of the Musical Association , 52nd Session, 1925, pp. 89-124.
• The Old Persian Musical Modes. In: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, no. 1, January 1926, pp. 93-95.
• A North African Folk Instrument. In: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, no. 1, January 1928, pp. 24-34.
• Music in Mediæval Scotland. In: Proceedings of the Musical Association , 56th Session, 1929, pp. 69-90.
• Greek Theorists of Music in Arabic Translation. In: Isis, vol. 13, no. 2, February 1930, pp. 325-333.
• British Musicians a Century Ago . In: Music & Letters, vol. 12, no. 4, October 1931, pp. 384-392.
• A Forgotten Composer of Anthems: William Savage (1720–1789). In: Music & Letters, vol. 17, no. 3, July 1936, pp. 188-199.
• The Structure of the Arabian and Persian Lute in the Middle Ages. In: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 71, no. 1 , January 1939, pp. 41-51.
• An outline History of Persian Music and Musical Theory. In: A Survey of Persian Art. , Ed. by Pope and [Phyllis] Ackerman, vol. 3, Oxford University Press 1939.
• Unknown Birthdays of Some Georgian Musicians. In: Music & Letters, vol. 20, no. 3, July 1939, pp. 299-303.
• Some Notes on the Irish Harp. In: Music & Letters, vol. 24, no. 2 , April 1943, pp. 100-107.
• To Historic March. In: Music & Letters, vol. 26, no. 3, July 1945, pp. 172-177.
• Ghosts: An Excursus on Arabic Musical Bibliographies. In: Isis, vol. 36, no. 2, January 1946, pp. 123-130.
• Crusading Martial Music. In: Music & Letters, vol. 30, no. July 3 , 1949, pp. 243-249.
• Music Down Below. In: The Musical Times, vol. 90, no. 1279 , September 1949, pp. 307-309.
• Henry George Farmer. Birr man recalls sixty years of a town's musical traditions. In: Midland Tribune , June 17, 1961.
• Monster Kettledrums. In: Music & Letters, vol. 43, no. 2, April 1962, pp. 129-130.
• ʿAbdalqādir ibn Ġaibī on Instruments of Music. In: Oriens, vol. December 15, 1962, pp. 242-248.

In addition, Farmer wrote several articles for the 1949-1968 first edition of the music in history and present , the first edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam and the fifth edition of A Dictionary of Music and Musicians , edited by George Grove in 1954.

literature

• Gabriele Braune: Farmer, Henry George. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in history and present , person part 6, 2001, Sp. 740–742.
• Israel J. Katz: Farmer, Henry George . In: Stanley Sadie (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol. 8, Macmillan, London 2001, pp. 571-573.
• Carl Cowl, Sheila M. Craik: Henry George Farmer: a bibliography. With essays by Trevor Herbert and Amnon Shiloah . Glasgow University Library, Glasgow 1999.
• James Robson: Dr. Henry George Farmer. Obituary. In: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, No. 3/4. October 1966, p. 164f.

Web links

• Henry George Farmer. University of Glasgow
• Henry Farmer Papers. Sp Coll MS Farmer. Glasgow University Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gabriele Braune, MGG, Col. 740
2. ↑ Reproduced in: Henry George Farmer: Islam. ( Heinrich Besseler , Max Schneider (Hrsg.): Music history in pictures. Volume III. Music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Delivery 2) VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1966, p. 97.
3. ↑ George Dimitri Sawa: Music Performance Practice in the Early Abbāsid Era 132-320 AH / 750-932 AD. The Institute of Mediaeval Music, Ottawa 2004, p. 9.