Rodolphe d'Erlanger

Rodolphe d'Erlanger (born June 7, 1872 in Boulogne-Billancourt , France , † October 29, 1932 in Tunis , Tunisia ), originally Rudolf Franz Freiherr von Erlanger , was an Anglo-French born in France and later living in England and Tunisia Painter, musicologist and orientalist . Of German-American descent, he became a British citizen in 1894.

Self-portrait

origin

His grandfather, Raphael Freiherr von Erlanger , founded the quickly successful banking house Erlanger & Söhne in Frankfurt am Main in 1848 , later working with his four sons.

His father Frédéric Emile Baron von Erlanger (1832–1911) expanded the Paris branch so successfully that it became an independent, world-class bank. Among other things, he became an important financier of railway construction. He married the American Marguerite Mathilde Slidell (1842–1927).

Rodolphe d'Erlanger had three brothers. The oldest was the natural scientist Professor Dr. phil. Raphael Baron Slidell von Erlanger .

The second oldest brother Emile Beaumont Baron d'Erlanger (1866–1939) was the real banker, musician, music lover and patron of the arts. His father entrusted him with the chairmanship of the northern railroad companies. He also financed the design of the Chanel Tunnel Company (the predecessor of Eurotunnel ) and, among other things, rented some halls for initial construction studies as early as 1890. He moved the main focus of the Parisian banking house Erlanger to London, where he acquired British citizenship in 1891 and also had his title of baron confirmed. His wife Rose Marie Antoinette d'Erlanger called Kate was born Catherine de Robert d'Aqueria de Rochegude (born August 30, 1874, † 1959). They lived in Falconwood, near Shooters Hill, in the south-east of Greater London, but mostly in the former house of Lord Byron in Rutland Gate, a street in the London Kensington area , right on Knightsbridge. While still living in Beverly Hills , she saw herself as the patroness of the Ballets Russes under Sergei Dyagilev .

His third oldest brother, Frédéric A. Baron d'Erlanger, began his musical studies in his French hometown in his youth and became a recognized composer. He also worked as a banker in Paris and later in London.

education

As the youngest son, Rodolphe d'Erlanger did not have to complete an apprenticeship as a banker like his brothers, but developed a strong tendency towards painting at an early age. In his youth he studied at the Julian Academy in Paris under the direction of Jules-Joseph Lefebvre and Tony Robert-Fleury and began a career as a painter between the subjects of oriental studies and landscape.

Family and career

On June 19, 1897, he married in London, like his two oldest brothers, into the European nobility. His wife Maria Elisabetta Cleofee Scolastica Contessa Barbiellini- Amidei (born October 14, 1875 Rome ) was descended from two ancient Italian noble families . She was the daughter of Count Francesco Barbiellini-Amidei of Perugia and the American Harriet Lewis, born in New London, Connecticut . The young couple commuted between their home in Middlesex , England, and the grand family home in Paris.

On July 2, 1898, the eldest son Leo Frédéric Alfred Baron d'Erlanger was born in London . Since his grandfather Count Barbiellini-Amidei chamberlain of Pope Leo XIII. This child became the namesake and even godfather of this child. Rodolphe d'Erlanger painted landscapes, portraits, scenes and streets from Paris and Deauville , Italy , England, Egypt and especially in Tunisia , which he discovered for himself since 1882/83.

The Erlanger & Söhne banking house was involved in the economic scandal in the second half of the 19th century, when the Husainids ruling Tunisia at that time with their beys from Tunis and the corrupt Prime Minister Mustapha Khaznadar from European banks, including the banking house , between 1860 and 1866 Erlanger & Söhne, took out two loans totaling CHF 24 million. These loans rose to CHF 125 million in just four years thanks to leverage such as commissions and claims for interest and damages, etc. Since the Tunisian state declared bankruptcy and had to place itself under international financial supervision, France decided to secure its Algerian interests by military occupation and the establishment of a protectorate, which lasted long after the end of the Second World War. The acquisition of a property by his father Frédéric Emile Baron d'Erlanger (1832–1911) can be seen from this period. He "bought" the entire property of his lands from the Beys of Tunis and sent his son Rodolphe on site to inspect the purchase more closely.

Since he was not interested in banking and he liked the landscape and culture, also because of his poor health - especially his lung and bronchial disease - and his father gave him the property, he decided to stay there.

Erlanger's palace Ennejma Ezzahra in Sidi Bou Saïd , Tunis

Sidi Bou Saïd , a village about 20 km northeast of Tunis in the north of Tunisia on the rock of Carthage on the Gulf of Tunis , had particularly enchanted him. He settled in the former fishing village, had a now famous palace in the Moorish style called Ennejma Ezzahra ("Star of Venus") built there from 1912 to 1922 and ensured that the village was listed. From then on, all new buildings had to be built in the same Andalusian style as the white, cubic houses with blue wooden verandas, window bars and nailed doors. As a music lover, he opened his doors to artists by organizing gatherings and evenings where art, music and literature mingled. The artists also included the German painters August Macke and Paul Klee during their trip to Tunis in 1914. After his death in 1932, von Erlanger bequeathed his cultural assets to Tunisia, making Ennejma Ezzahra palace a center for Arabic and other musical styles from the Mediterranean .

Significance for the music ethnology of Arabic music

The musicological achievement of Erlangers consists in the project founded by him of recording and writing down the history and the repertoire of Arabic music under the title "La musique arabe" as well as the translation of these descriptions into French. Thanks to his partners, especially his secretary Manoubi Snoussi , the musicologist Henry George Farmer , the orientalist Bernard Carra de Vaux , the Syrian Ali Darwish and the Tunisian Ahmed El-Wafi , a six-volume work on classical Arabic music that is still trend-setting today was created. Rodolphe d'Erlanger was only alive when the first volume was completed in 1930. The other volumes appeared after his death, the final sixth volume not until 1959. The work is still considered a valuable source of information for musicians and scientists and was republished in 2001 in collaboration with the Institut du Monde Arabe . He also arranged for sound recordings of Arabic and North African music performances.

At the beginning of the 1930s, the Egyptian King Fuad I of Egypt commissioned him to organize the first congress for Arabic music from March 28 to April 3, 1932 in Cairo, which included numerous music ensembles from North Africa and the Middle East as well as musicologists and Westerners Musicians like Béla Bartók and Paul Hindemith were invited. For health reasons, he was unable to attend the symposium and died on October 29 of the same year.

literature

• Ruth Davis: Baron Rodolphe d'Erlanger. In: Virginia Danielson, Dwight Reynolds, Scott Marcus (Eds.): The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. Volume 6: The Middle East . Garland, London 2002, pp. 501-503
• Gabriele Mendelssohn: The Erlanger family: bankers, patrons, artists. Leinpfad-Verlag, Ingelheim 2005, ISBN 3-937782-24-9 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Museum: CMAM, Center of Arab and Mediterranean Music, Ennejma Ezzahra. Retrieved August 20, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Rodolphe Erlanger: La musique arabe . Geuthner: Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris 2001, ISBN 978-2-7053-3684-4 ( worldcat.org [accessed August 20, 2020]).
3. ^ First Congress of Arab Music in 1932: A Richly Diverse Palette of Rhythm and Timbre - Qantara.de. Retrieved August 20, 2020 . 

Web links

Commons : Painting studio of Rodolphe d'Erlanger  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Painting by Rodolphe d'Erlanger on artnet

• Photo by Rodolphe d'Erlanger
• Biography du Baron D'Erlanger (French)
• Article about Rodolphe d'Erlanger of the Lebanese Foundation for Arabic Musicology AMAR (English.)