The Music holdings in Baron Rodolphe d’Erlanger’s archives (1910-1932)

Baron Rodolphe d’Erlanger (1872-1932) was the first Orientalist to settle in an Arab country (Tunisia) and surround himself with music scholars and performers in order to set about an unprecedented cultural and civilizational project that aimed to regenerate and promote Arab music. The paper archives carrying his name, which represent the scholarly and musical output of this first “musicological research centre” and of the pioneers of musicology, are a mine of information, with music transcriptions and work on lost or now unfamiliar musical traditions: the Hebrew cantillations of the Jews of Tunisia, the music of Tunisia’s black community, the music of the Arab-Andalusian tradition, ritual music, Tuareg chants, horse-riding songs, street cries, Tripolitanian airs, Arabian airs, etc. These documents offer the world in general and researchers across the globe a wealth of varied and original material.