John Frederick Rowbotham

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John Frederick Rowbotham (born April 18, 1854 in Bradford , † October 20, 1925 in Sutton Cheney , County Leicestershire ) was a British clergyman, composer and music historian .

Life

Rowbotham was born the son of a minister from Edinburgh . After attending school in Rossall (County Lancashire ) and the Academy of Edinburgh, he studied classical philology and theology at the University of Oxford . He graduated with honors. He then studied music in Oxford, Berlin - here he attended the Stern Conservatory for three years - Paris , Dresden and Vienna .

He then entered the service of the Church of England . From 1892 Rowbotham was vicar in Ratley , from 1895 in Huntly . From 1896 he was chaplain in Budapest . He returned to England the following year and was vicar at Abbotsley before moving to Sutton Cheney in 1916, where he spent the rest of his life.

plant

After graduating, Rowbotham made the decision to write a comprehensive work on music history . Despite its length of over 1,500 pages in the first three published volumes, it only came from the beginnings to the 11th century.

Rowbotham left a mass for double choir and orchestra as well as numerous vocal works . He has also written numerous magazine articles and contributions to the Chambers Encyclopaedia . He was one of the first musicologists to systematically study the music of non-European ethnic groups. He thus promoted the development of ethnomusicology . Even if after him numerous writings on musical archeology , on the music of antiquity and on the origin of musical instruments , etc. a. by Richard Wallaschek , who pursued other theories, Rowbotham's publications form the foundation of earlier music history up to the present day.

Publications (selection)

  • A History of Music . 3 vol. Strasbourg: Trübner 1885–87
  • The Death of Roland . Strasbourg: Trübner 1887
  • The Private Life of Great Composers . London: Isbister & Co 1892
  • A Short History of Music . London: Richard Bentley & Son 1893
  • The History of the Troubadours and the Courts of Love . London: Swan Sunshine 1895
  • The Human Epic . London: Gay & Bird 1903