Lang, Paul Henry

Lang, Paul Henry, eminent Hungarian-born American musicologist, editor, and teacher; b. Budapest, Aug. 28, 1901; d. Lakeville, Conn., Sept. 21, 1991. He studied bassoon with Wieschendorf, chamber music with L. Weiner, composition with Kodâly, and counterpoint with Koessler at the Budapest Academy of Music (graduated, 1922), then studied musicology with Kroyer and comparative literature with Ernst Curtius and Friedrich Gundorff at the Univ. of Heidelberg (1924). He subsequently studied musicology with Pirro, art history with Henri Focillon, literature with Fernand Baldensperger and Félix Gaiffe, and aesthetics with Victor Basch at the Sorbonne in Paris (degree in literature, 1928). He settled in the U.S. in 1928, becoming a naturalized American citizen in 1934; studied musicology with Kinkeldey and French literature and philosophy with James Frederick Mason at Cornell Univ. (Ph.D., 1934, with the diss. A Literary History of French Opera). He was an asst. prof, at Vassar Coll. (1930–31); assoc. prof., Wells Coll. (1931–33); visiting lecturer, Wellesley Coll. (1934–35); assoc. prof, of musicology, Columbia Univ. (1933-39; full prof., 1939; prof, emeritus, 1970). He was vice-president of the American Musicological Soc. (1947–49) and president of the International Musicological Soc. (1955–58). From 1945 to 1973 he was ed. of the Musical Quarterly; from 1954 to 1963, music ed. of the N.Y. Herald Tribune. He publ. the valuable and very popular book Music in Western Civilization (N.Y., 1941; many subsequent reprints) and the important and comprehensive study George Frideric Handel (N.Y., 1966). He also ed. several vols, of articles reprinted from the Musical Quarterly, and the anthologies The Concerto 1800-1900 (N.Y., 1969) and The Symphony 1800-1900 (N.Y, 1969). A. Mann and G. Buelow ed. his Musicology and Performance (New Haven, 1997).

Bibliography

E. Strainchamps and M. Maniâtes, eds., Music and Civilization: Essays in Honor of PH. L (N.Y, 1984).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire