Baron Rodolphe d'Erlanger (b. Boulogne-Billancourt, France, June 7, 1872; d. Tunis, October 29, 1932) was a French painter and musicologist specializing in Arabic music. He studied in Paris and London.

He helped to organize the 1932 Cairo Congress of Arab Music,[1] the idea of which he had suggested to king Fuad I of Egypt. Although he was too ill to attend and died soon after, he sent an ensemble from Tunisia to perform in Cairo at the Congress. He is also known for his six-volume work about the history of Arabic music.

His palace at Sidi Bou Said, in northern Tunisia, which he named Ennejma Ezzahra (sometimes spelled Nejma Ezzohara), was built between 1909 and 1921.[2] The structure now houses the Centre des musiques arabes et méditerranéennes. He helped to revive the musical genre known as ma'luf during the 1920s.

[edit] References

• Davis, Ruth (1997). "Traditional Arab Music Ensembles in Tunis: Modernizing Al-Turath in the Shadow of Egypt. Asian Music, v. 28, no. 2 (Spring/Summer 1997), pp. 73-108.

[edit] External links

• Article from The New York Times
• Paintings by Rodolphe d'Erlanger
• Painting from the Tate Gallery

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