Kunst, Jaap (Jakob)

Kunst, Jaap (Jakob), noted Dutch ethnomusi-cologist; b. Groningen, Aug. 12, 1891; d. Amsterdam, Dec. 7, 1960. He began playing the violin at an early age, and soon became interested in Dutch folk songs. He received a degree in law at the Univ. of Groningen (1917), then toured with a string trio in the Dutch East Indies (1919). He remained in Java, where he worked in a government post in Bandung while pursuing his interest in indigenous Javanese music. He subsequently founded an archive there for folk instruments, field recordings, books, and photographs for the Batavia museum. He returned to the Netherlands in 1934, and in 1936 became curator of the Royal Tropical Inst. in Amsterdam, which developed into one of the most important organizations of its kind in Europe. He gave lectures at the Univ. of Amsterdam (1953), becoming a member of its faculty (1958). Kunst is credited with having coined the word “ethnomusicology” as a more accurate term than “comparative musicology.”

Writings

With C Kunst Van-Wely, De toonkunst van Bali (Weltevreden, 1924; part 2 in Tijdschrift voor Indische taal-, land-en volkenkunde, LXV, Batavia, 1925); with R. Goris, Hindoe-Javaansche muziekinstrumenten (Batavia, 1927; 2^nd ed., rev., 1968, as Hindu-Javanese Musical Instruments); A Study on Papuan Music (Weltevreden, 1931); Musicologisch onderzoek 1930 (Batavia, 1931); Over zeldzame fluiten en veelstemmige muziek in het Ngada-en Nagehgebied, West-Flores (Batavia, 1931); De toonkunst van Java (The Hague, 1934; Eng. ed., 1949, as Music in Java; 3^rd ed., aug., 1973); Verslagen van den ambtenaar voor het systematisch musicologisch onderzoek in den Indischen archipel omirent de door hem verrichte werkzaamheden (Bandung, 1934); Een en ander over den Javaanschen gamelan (Amsterdam, 1940; 4^th ed., 1945); De waardering van exotische muziek in den loop der eeuwen (The Hague, 1942); Music in Flores: A Study of the Vocal and Instrumental Music among the Tribes Living in Flores (Leiden, 1942); Music in Nias (Leiden, 1942); Een en ander over de muziek en den dans op de Kei-eilanden (Amsterdam, 1945); Muziek en dans in de buitengewesten (Amsterdam, 1946); De inheemsche muziek en de zending (Amsterdam, 1947); Around von HornbosteVs Theory of the Cycle of Blown Fifths (Amsterdam, 1948); The Cultural Background of Indonesian Music (Amsterdam, 1949); Begdja, het gamelan-jongetje (Amsterdam, 1950); De inheemsche muziek in Westelijk Nieuw-Guinea (Amsterdam, 1950); Metre, Rhythm and Multipart Music (Leiden, 1950); Musicologica: A Study of the Nature of Ethno-musicology, Its Problems, Methods and Representative Personalities (Amsterdam, 1950; 2^nd ed., aug., 1955, as Ethnomusicology; 3^rd ed., 1959; suppl., 1960); Kulturhistorische Beziehungen zwischen dem Balkan und Indonesien (Amsterdam, 1953; Eng. ed., 1954); Sociologische Undingen in der muziek (The Hague, 1934). FOLK SONG EDITIONS: Terschellinger volksleven (Uithui-zen, 1916; 3^rd ed., 1951); Noord-Nederlandsche volksliederen en -dansern (Groningen, 1916-18; 2^nd ed., 1918-19); Het levende lied van Nederland (Amsterdam, 1918-19; 4^th ed., 1947); Songs of North New Guinea (Weltevreden, 1931); Oude westersche liederen uit oostestersche landen (Bandung, 1934).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire