Jacques Handschin on Musicology. Science and Education

Abstract

The article presents materials related to the pedagogical activities of the prominent Russian-Swiss musicologist and organist Jacques (Yakov Yakovlevich) Handschin (1886, Moscow — 1955, Basel). Based on the example of two articles related to different periods of the scholar’s work and a number of additional materials (including epistolary sources), the author of the article examines the specifics of his work with his students, as well as his views on musicology as a pure (fundamental) science and as an academic discipline in the systems of higher education in Switzerland and Russia. In the context of modern Handschin-research, this study is the first to address the scholar’s pedagogical views and beliefs. In addition to the materials of the two analysed articles (the fragments of which are presented in Russian translation for the first time), it introduces a range of epistolary sources on the history of academic musicology of the 20th century.

Keywords

• handschin
• musicology
• musicology education
• ‘university of music’
• basel musicology seminar