Willi Apel

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Memorial Resolution
PROFESSOR EERITUS WILL APEL
(1893-1988)
Willi Apel, Professor Emeritus of Music at Indiana University, died peacefully at his home in Bloomington late in the afternoon of March 14, 1988, half a year short of observing his 95th birthday. He had been at his desk earlier that morning, stubbornly holding to a lifelong habit of producing some bit of scholarly work every day. A sheet of paper partially rolled out of his well- worn manual typewriter had been nearly filled up with a translation into German of a latin text sitting open to the side--mute testimony to the alert, inquisitive, and disciplined mind that for half a century sought out subjects of timely interest in musicology and satisfied many of them with scholarship of remarkable durability and influence.

Apel was appointed Professor of Music at Indiana University in 1950 and was named Professor Emeritus when he reached age 70 in 1963, although he continued teaching until 1970. Two years later, Indiana University celebrated his distinguished career as a scholar by naming him Doctor of Music honoris causea--a celebration enacted more than once elsewhere, most recently in 1982 by the University of Padua.
Born in Konitz, Germany (now Chojnice, Poland), Apel first studied mathematics at Bonn (1912] and Munich (1913-14) then at Berlin (1918-22). Already a pianist of some accomplishment--he had worked with Edwin Fischer, among other noted teachers--Apel developed an interest in musicology around 1925 and essentially taught himself. He took his doctorate at Berlin in 1936, defending a thesis on Accidentien und Tonalitlt in den Musikdenkmblern des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts. That same year, he fled his benighted homeland, arriving in this country among the first wave of German-speaking scholars who would alter the character and course of American musicology.
Settling in Boston, Apel soon found piecemeal employment as a lecturer at schools in the area, including Harvard University and Radcliffe College, the Longy School, and the Boston Center for Adult Education. One day, he went to hear Dom Anselm Hughes deliver a guest lecture at Harvard on liturgical music. Afterwards, the two of them discussed the possibility of compiling a dictionary of liturgical chant and approached Harvard University Press with the idea. The editor suggested instead a dictionary of music, which failed to interest Hughes, but Apel seized on the project and produced what became the first truly professional dictionary of music in English, the original Harvard Dictionary of Music (1944; 2nd ed. enl. 1969)].

Apel's dictionary made his name familiar to generations of American music students, performers and musicologists alike, and called it as well to the attention of Dean Wilfred Bain at Indiana University. When Bain learned to his surprise that Apel was not teaching at Harvard, a mistaken belief widely held at the time, he immediately offered him a continuing faculty appointment to begin in the fall of 1950. By then, the influence of Apel the generalist and teacher had already extended far beyond the environs of Boston, not only because of the Harvard Dictionary but also because of his Notation of Polyphonic Music, 900-1600 (Cambridge, 1942; rev. 1961) together with his and Archibald T. Davison's Historical Anthology of Music (2 vols.; Cambridge, 1946-50; vol. 1, rev. 1950). The overwhelming majority of the current membership of the American Musicological Society know these three publications to be central and crucial components in their education as professionals.

The interests of Apel the specialist remained intertwined with those of Apel the generalist throughout his life, leading to a succession of major books and editions, among them: French Secular Music of the Late Fourteenth Century (3 vols.; Cambridge, 1950); Gregorian Chant (Bloomington, 1958); Geschichte der Orgel und Klaviermusik bis 1700 (Kassel, 1967), later revised and translated into English by his colleague at Indiana, Hans Tischler (Bloomington, 19720; and ten volumes in the Corpus of Early Keyboard Music (1963-75], for which he also served as general editor.

A complete bibliography of Apel's lifetime of published work, including book translations into other languages, would be impractical in such a context as this. Suffice it to say that in his 90th year an enduring scholarly vigor saw through publication of Die Italienische Violinmusik im 17. Jahrhundert (Wiesbaden, 1983), which had been conceived as one part of a planned exhaustive review of the entire body of early violin music not unlike his History of Keyboard Music to 1700. He has recently cooperated with Thomas Binkley, his colleague on the Indiana University faculty, in the latter's revising and editing of Apel's own English translation of the violin book, the publication of which has been scheduled for spring of 1989 [IU Press). Binkley is also responsible for compiling Medieval Music (Stuttgart, 1986], a collection of Apel's articles and reviews on the subject. His miscellaneous writings on the music of later periods have also been collected by Binkley for a second volume now being readied for publication (Steiner).

Apel has been a member of the American Musicological Society, a member of the International Musicological Society, and a fellow of the Medieval Academy of America.

A disciplined life dedicated to deeds makes of itself a worthy monument. So has Willi Apel made his life. The bright memory endures for those who knew him well-above all, his devoted wife Ursula Siemering Apel--and challenges us to imitation in the very sense Apel himself would have understood the word.

In recognition of Willi Apel's contribution to Indiana University and to the larger world of music, be it resolved that this memorial shall become part of the proceedings of the Bloomington Faculty Council and that copies be sent to his wife Ursula, who resides at Meadowood Retirement Community.

Malcolm Hamrick Brown

Commemorated by the Bloomington Faculty Council: April 19, 1988

-----------------------------

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Willi Apel
Born on October 10, 1893 in Konitz (West Prussia) / Chojnice, Germany / today: Poland, died on March 14, 1988 in Bloomington (IN), USA, musicologist

biography
Willi Apel, actually Wilhelm Appelbaum, was born on October 10, 1893 as the son of the lawyer Max Appelbaum and his wife Ida Appelbaum, née Schoenlank, in Konitz (West Prussia). When he emigrated to the USA in 1936, he changed his family name to Apel, as did his younger brother, Hans Appelbaum, who was born in Konitz in 1895.

After attending school in his hometown, Apel first studied law from the winter semester of 1912, then mathematics at the universities of Bonn and Munich and continued his studies in Berlin after his military service (1914-1918). From 1921 to 1928 he taught mathematics, physics and music at the Free School Community of Wickersdorf (Thuringia), then until 1936 as a music teacher at various Berlin high schools. From around 1925 onwards he had initially acquired knowledge of music history by self-teaching, but after 1928 he studied musicology at the University of Berlin and took private piano lessons with Leonid Kreutzer , Edwin Fischer and Bruno Eisnerand Carl Adolf Martienssen. In 1936 he received his doctorate in Berlin under Johannes Wolf with a dissertation on "Accidentien and tonality in the musical monuments of the 15th and 16th centuries". As early as 1935 he had been excluded from the Reichsmusikkammer because of his Jewish origins; Immediately after completing his doctorate, he emigrated to the USA with his wife Ursula, née Siemering. His brother Hans had fled to the Netherlands and Great Britain in 1935 and came to the USA in 1937. The younger sister Lotte Appelbaum was deported to the Sobibor concentration camp in 1942 and murdered there.

Until 1950 Apel lived in the greater Boston area, but without a permanent job. 1936-1943 he had a teaching position at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, 1938-1942 also at Harvard University and at Radcliffe College, the extension of Harvard established for female students. He also gave courses at the Boston Center for Adult Education. A contract from Harvard University Press for a music lexicon was of crucial importance to him. The "Harvard Dictionary of Music" he created and published in 1944 was the first scientifically and historically conceived American music lexicon and immediately became a bestseller that would become the standard work for generations of music students. Two years earlier his book "Notation of Polyphonic Music, 900-1600" (Cambridge 1942) was published,which was also translated into German and is still used today for the musicological propaedeutic notation studies. Together with Archibald T. Davison, Apel published a musical history in examples in two volumes from 1949-1950 under the title "Historical Anthology of Music".

In the 1940s, Apel became one of the most famous and respected musicologists in the United States. However, he did not have a permanent position. This astonished Wilfred Bain, Dean of the School of Music at Indiana University, when he offered him a professorship in 1950. 1950-1963 Apel was Professor of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington and taught there as an emeritus until 1970. After his three-volume work "French Secular Music of the Late Fourteenth Century" (Cambridge 1950), Apel continued to publish tirelessly. His “Gregorian Chant” (Bloomington 1958) was followed by the “History of Organ and Piano Music up to 1700” (Kassel 1967) and “The Italian Violin Music in the 17th Century” (Wiesbaden 1983), which were first published in German.In 1963 he founded the scientific edition series "Corpus of Early Keyboard Music" (CEKM) and was editor of it for many years. In the middle of the 18th century, Apel set an upper time limit for his scientific work, which he never exceeded. In addition to his standard pedagogical works, the success of which is based on the early experiences of his teaching time, his important editions and source-related studies on the history of instrumental music up to around 1800 were of lasting merit. On Apel's 75th birthday in 1968, “Essays in Musicology: A Birthday Offering for Willi Apel”, edited byIn addition to his standard pedagogical works, the success of which is based on the early experiences of his teaching time, his important editions and source-related studies on the history of instrumental music up to around 1800 were of lasting merit. On Apel's 75th birthday in 1968, “Essays in Musicology: A Birthday Offering for Willi Apel”, edited byIn addition to his standard pedagogical works, the success of which is based on the early experiences of his teaching time, his important editions and source-related studies on the history of instrumental music up to around 1800 were of lasting merit. On Apel's 75th birthday in 1968, “Essays in Musicology: A Birthday Offering for Willi Apel”, edited byHans Tischler , his colleague from Indiana University who came from Vienna and was also expelled by the Nazis.

In 1964, Apel acquired Laudegg Castle in Ladis (Tyrol, Austria), and since then has spent several months a year in the alpine Upper Inn Valley, trying to restore the medieval building and devoting himself to his scientific projects there. However, he did not return to Germany. Willi Apel died on March 14, 1988 at the age of 94 at his home in Bloomington, IN. In his memory, his wife established the Willi Apel Early Music Endowment Fund to award annual scholarships to students at the Jacobs School of Music (Indiana University).

Main sources: BrownMH 1988 , BrownMH 1988a , Forbes E 1988 , DeanRJ / RouseRH / HughesA 1989 , SaffleM / ApelW 1999 , WhiteJR / CaldwellJ 2001 , DudekP 2009

Recommended citation
: Christoph Wolff: Willi Apel, in: Lexicon of persecuted musicians from the Nazi era, Claudia Maurer Zenck, Peter Petersen, Sophie Fetthauer (ed.), Hamburg: Universität Hamburg, 2017 ( https: //www.lexm.uni -hamburg.de/object/lexm_lexmperson_00001595 ).
personal data
Main name: Apel, Willi
Birth Name: Appelbaum, Willi
Other names: Apel, Willy
born: October 10, 1893 Konitz (West Prussia) / Chojnice, Germany / today: Poland
died: March 14, 1988 Bloomington (IN), USA
Mother: Ida Appelbaum, née Schoenlank (born 1869 Posen / Poznań Germany, today: Poland, died 1935 Berlin?)
Father: Max Appelbaum (born 1867 Berlin, died 1910 Berlin), Counselor
Siblings: Hans Appelbaum (Apel) (born Aug. 23, 1895 Konitz (West Prussia) / Chojnice, died Nov. 14, 1989 Vienna), national economist, fled to Great Britain via the Netherlands in 1935, exile in the USA in 1937, after his retirement in 1961 from the University of Bridgeport (CT) remigration to Germany - Charlotte (Lotte) Appelbaum (born Jan. 31, 1898 Konitz (West Prussia) / Chojnice, lost in the Sobibor concentration camp), June 13, 1942, deported from Berlin to the Sobibor concentration camp
Marriage / partnership: ∞ Oct. 3, 1928 Sonneberg Ursula Appelbaum (from 1936: Apel), née Siemering, (born Jan. 15, 1904 Berlin, died Jan. 19, 2005 Bloomington (IN)), 1936 exile in the USA
Children: -
Relative: Niece: Eva Ruth Meyer, née Appelbaum (Apel) (born February 12, 1922 Berlin, died May 11, 2005 Ann Arbor (MI)), Professor of Physiotherapy at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (MI), USA, 1935 fled to the Netherlands and Great Britain, 1937 exile in the USA
Mother tongue: German
Nationality: German, American since 1944
Tomb: Bloomington (IN)
Professions / activities
Overview: Musicologist
Apprenticeship / studies: Bonn, Munich: University (1912-1914 study of law, then mathematics), Berlin: University (1918-1921 study of mathematics), (1928-1936 study of musicology with Johannes Wolf, 1936 doctorate), from 1928 private study of piano with Leonid Kreutzer , Edwin Fischer, Bruno Eisner , Carl Adolf Martienssen
Employment / participation / foundation:
Universities
Cambridge (MA): Longy School of Music (1936-1943 lecturer), Harvard University (1938-1941 lecturer), Radcliffe College (1938-1941 lecturer), Boston (MA): Boston Center for Adult Education (1940-1949 lecturer) , Bloomington (IN): Indiana University (1950-1963 Professor of Music, teaching as Prof. Emeritus until 1970)
schools
Wickersdorf bei Saalfeld: Free school community Wickersdorf (1921-1928 math and music teacher), Berlin: various grammar schools (1928-1936 music teacher)
Memberships: Reichsmusikkammer (exclusion August 17, 1935), Medieval Academy of America, Fellow, 1955, American Musicological Society, honorary member 1971
Title / Awards:
Academic title
Dr. phil., University of Berlin (1936)
Awards
Dr. hc, Indiana University, 1972, Dr. hc, University of Padua, 1982
Persecution / exile
Reasons: "Racial" persecution
Tags: Emigration, occupational restrictions, Jews, Reich Chamber of Culture
Country of exile: United States
Stations:
Aug 17, 1935
Exclusion from the Reichsmusikkammer ( BAB ApelW , image no. 1378)
March 1936
Escape to the USA (New York (NY) from Hamburg on the Germany), arrival on March 27, 1936
Works
Fonts
A list of Willi Apel's writings can be found in RaynerCG 1968 .

(Selection)

Die Fuge. 5 Vorträge mit Musikbeispielen, Deutsche Welle, Berlin: Gemeinnütziger Verein zur Pflege deutscher Kunst, 1932.
Accidentien und Tonalität in den Musikdenkmälern des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts, Dissertation Universität Berlin, Berlin, 1936, 2. vermehrte Aufl. Leipzig, Straßburg, Zürich: Heitz & Cie, 1937, 3. Aufl. Baden-Baden: Körner, 1972.
Harvard Dictionary of Music, Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press, 1944; 2. erw. Aufl. 1969.
The Notation of Polyphonic Music, 900-1600, Cambridge (MA): Mediaeval Academy of America, 1942, rev. Ausg. 1961, deutsche Übersetzung: Die Notation der polyphonen Musik, 900-1600, Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1962.
Historical Anthology of Music, 2 Bde., gemeinsam mit Archibald Thompson Davison, Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press, 1949-1950.
French Secular Music of the Late Fourteenth Century, 3 Bde., Cambridge (MA): Mediaeval Academy of America, 1950.
Gregorian Chant, Bloomington (IN): Indiana University Press, 1958.
Geschichte der Orgel- und Klaviermusik bis 1700, Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1967.
Die italienische Violinmusik im 17. Jahrhundert, Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1983.
Noteneditionen
Musik aus früher Zeit für Klavier, Mainz: B. Schott’s Söhne, 1934.
Begründer und Herausgeber von: Corpus of Early Keyboard Music (CEKM).

Quellen
Archive
BAB ApelW
Bundesarchiv, Berlin, http://www.bundesarchiv.de/: enthält: Namensliste „nichtarischer“ Musiker mit Mitgliedsnummern in der RMK 1935 (Sign.: R 56 II/15), Reichskulturkammerakte von Willi Apel (Sign.: ehem. BDC, RK R 1, Bild-Nr. 1376-1378).
WaGCML ApelW
William and Gayle Cook Music Library, Indiana University, Bloomington (IN), https://www.libraries.iub.edu/index.php?pageId=90: enthält: Willi Apel Collections ( https://iucat.iu.edu/?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search_scope=catalog&q=%22Willi+Apel+Collection%22).
YIVO ApelW
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, New York, https://www.yivo.org: enthält: Dokumente mit Informationen zu Willi Apel im Bestand Oberländer Trust Fund of the Carl Schurz Foundation (Sign.: RG 447, MKM 15.152).
NS-Publikationen
BrücknerH/RockCM 1938
Judentum und Musik – mit einem ABC jüdischer und nichtarischer Musikbeflissener, Hans Brückner, Christa Maria Rock (Hg.), 3. Aufl., München: Brückner, 1938 (1. Aufl. 1935, 2. Aufl. 1936, antisemitische Publikation).
StengelT/GerigkH 1941
Lexikon der Juden in der Musik. Mit einem Titelverzeichnis jüdischer Werke. Zusammengestellt im Auftrag der Reichsleitung der NSDAP auf Grund behördlicher, parteiamtlich geprüfter Unterlagen, Theo Stengel, Herbert Gerigk (Bearb.) (= Veröffentlichungen des Instituts der NSDAP zur Erforschung der Judenfrage, Bd. 2), Berlin: Bernhard Hahnefeld, 1941 (1. Aufl. 1940, antisemitische Publikation).
Literatur
BrownMH 1988
Malcolm Hamrick Brown: Memorial Resolution Professor Emeritus Willi Apel (1893-1988). Bloomington Faculty Council Minutes, Indiana University ( http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/bfc/view?docId=B27-1988&chunk.id=d1e97&toc.id=&brand=bfc ).
BrownMH 1988a
Malcolm Hamrick Brown: Willi Apel (1893-1988), in: AMS Newsletter, Jg. 18, Nr. 2, August 1988, S. 7, 14.
DeanRJ/RouseRH/HughesA 1989
Ruth J. Dean, Richard. H. Rouse, Andrew Hughes: Memoirs of Fellows and Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America. Willi Apel, in: Speculum, Jg. 64, Nr. 3, 1989, S. 800-801.
DudekP 2009
Peter Dudek: „Versuchsacker für eine neue Jugend“. Die Freie Schulgemeinde Wickersdorf 1906-1945, Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt, 2009.
Forbes E 1988
Elliot Forbes: A History of Music at Harvard to 1972, Cambridge (MA): Department of Music, Harvard University, 1988.
RaynerCG 1968
Claude G. Rayner: Willi Apel. A Complete Bibliography, in: Essays in Musicology. A Birthday Offering for Willi Apel, Hans Tischler (Hg.), Bloomington: School of Music, Indiana University, 1968, S. 185-191.
Riemann 1959-1967
Riemann Musik-Lexikon, 3 Bde., Wilibald Gurlitt (Hg.), 12. völlig neubearb. Aufl., Mainz: Schott, 1959-1967.
Riemann 1972-1975
Riemann-Musik-Lexikon, Ergänzungsbände, Carl Dahlhaus (Hg.), 12. völlig neubearb. Aufl., Mainz u. a.: Schott, 1972-1975.
RöderW/StraussHA 1983
Biographisches Handbuch der deutschsprachigen Emigration nach 1933. International biographical dictionary of Central European emigrés 1933-1945, 4 Bde., Werner Röder, Herbert A. Strauss, Institut für Zeitgeschichte München (Hg.), München u. a.: Saur, 1983.
SaffleM/ApelW 1999
Michael Saffle, Willi Apel: Apel, Willi, in: Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik, Personenteil, Bd. 1, Ludwig Finscher (Hg.), 2. überarb. Aufl., Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1999, Sp. 806-808.
SchneiderA 1993
Albrecht Schneider: Musikwissenschaft in der Emigration. Zur Vertreibung von Gelehrten und zu den Auswirkungen auf das Fach, in: Musik im Exil. Folgen des Nazismus für die internationale Musikkultur, Hanns-Werner Heister, Claudia Maurer Zenck, Peter Petersen (Hg.), Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch, 1993, S. 187-211.
WeberH/DreesS 2005
Quellen zur Geschichte emigrierter Musiker 1933-1950/Sources Relating to the History of Emigré Musicians 1933-1950, Bd. 2 New York, Horst Weber, Stefan Drees (Hg.), München: Saur, 2005.
WhiteJR/CaldwellJ 2001
John Reeves White, John Caldwell: Apel, Willi, in: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Bd. 1, Stanley Sadie, John Tyrrell, George Grove (Hg.), 2. erw. und verb. Aufl., London, New York: Macmillan, Grove, 2001, S. 772-773.
Links
http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/dbinfo/einzeln.phtml?bib_id=bsb&colors=127&titel_id=3171 (Stand: 24. Jan. 2007)
World Biographical Information System
https://www.ancestry.de (Stand: 9. Juni 2017)
Ancestry, The Generations Network
https://www.geni.com/ (Stand: 21. Mai 2017)
Geni A My Heritage Company
IDs
GND - Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
http://d-nb.info/gnd/118645447
LCNAF - Library of Congress
https://lccn.loc.gov/n50041620
VIAF - Virtual International Authority File
http://viaf.org/viaf/108478869/
Permanente URL im LexM
https://www.lexm.uni-hamburg.de/object/lexm_lexmperson_00001595
Empfohlene Zitierweise
Christoph Wolff: Willi Apel, in: Lexikon verfolgter Musiker und Musikerinnen der NS-Zeit, Claudia Maurer Zenck, Peter Petersen, Sophie Fetthauer (Hg.), Hamburg: Universität Hamburg, 2017 ( https://www.lexm.uni-hamburg.de/object/lexm_lexmperson_00001595).

Christoph Wolff (2017, aktualisiert am 16. Aug. 2017)
https://www.lexm.uni-hamburg.de/object/lexm_lexmperson_00001595

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