Ernst Thomas Ferand (born Ernő Freund; 5 March 1887 – 29 May 1972) was an American musicologist and music educator of Hungarian birth. He was also known as Ernest Ferand and Ernst Ferand-Freund.
Biography
Ferand was born in 1887 in Budapest, Austria-Hungary. He attended the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music and the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. He became interested in the methods of Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, and from 1925 to 1938 he taught at Dalcroze's Schule Hellerau-Laxenburg in Austria. In 1938 he published the influential treatise Die Improvisation in der Musik (Improvisation in Music).Solis, Gabriel & Bruno Nettl. Musical Improvisation: Art, Education, and Society. 2009.
He fled Europe after the Nazi annexation of Austria, finding refuge in the United States. From 1939 until 1965 Ferand was affiliated with the New School of Social Research.Weber, Horst & Stefan Drees. "Sources Relating to the History of Emigre Musicians 1933-1950". p. 201 He wrote a number of articles which were published in The Musical Quarterly and the Journal of the American Musicological Society.
In 1974, Bruno Nettl wrote that Ferand was "the single outstanding authority in international musicology on this subject [of improvisation]." Peter Wishart described Ferand as "perhaps the most widely acknowledged authority on the subject [of improvisation in Western music.]"Wishart, Peter. "Review: Improvisation in Nine Centuries of Western Music". The Musical Times, vol. 103, No. 1431. May, 1962
Ferand died on May 29, 1972, in Basel, Switzerland.
Bibliography
Books
(1938). Die Improvisation in der Musik: eine entwicklungsgeschichtliche und psychologische Untersuchung. Zürich: Rhein-Verlag. (1956). Die Improvisation; in Beispielen aus neun Jahrhunderten abendländischer Musik (Improvisation in Nine Centuries of Western Music). Köln: A. Volk Verlag. (1957). "Improvisation", die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (Encyclopedia) vol. 6, Kassel; Basel: Bärenreiter. pp. 1093-1135. (1961). Improvisation in nine centuries of western music; an anthology with a historical introduction. Köln: Arno Volk Verlag. Series: Das Musikwerk (Anthology of music), no. 12.
Articles
References