Henry George Farmer and the First International Congress of Arab Music (Cairo 1932) Islamic History and Civilization Studies and Texts

Henry George Farmer and the First International Congress of Arab Music (Cairo 1932) Islamic History and Civilization Studies and Texts Editorial Board Hinrich Biesterfeldt Sebastian Günther Wadad Kadi VOLUME 115 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ihc Frontispiece Henry George Farmer (1882–1965) (Passport photo 1932) (FC 503, 82). Henry George Farmer and the First International Congress of Arab Music (Cairo 1932) By Israel J. Katz with the Collaboration of Sheila M. Craik and a Foreword by Amnon Shiloah LEIDEN | BOSTON Cover illustration: Iraqi musicians, 5 April 1932. This group was lauded as the best performance group at the Congress. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Katz, Israel J. Henry George Farmer and the First International Congress of Arab Music (Cairo 1932) / by Israel J. Katz with the collaboration of Sheila M. Craik and a foreword by Amnon Shiloah. pages cm. — (Islamic history and civilization studies and texts ; v. 115) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-26319-2 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-28414-2 (e-book) 1. Farmer, Henry George, 1882–1965. 2. Arabs—Music—History and criticism. 3. International Congress of Arab Music (1st : 1932 : Cairo, Egypt) I. Craik, Sheila M. II. Title. ML189.F3K37 2015 780.89’927—dc23 2014043634 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 0929-2403 isbn 978-90-04-26319-2 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-28414-2 (e-book) Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Dedicated to the memory of Lois Ibsen al-Faruqī (b. 1927), a dear friend and fervent humanist who succumbed to a tragic death on May 27, 1986, leaving a vast legacy of scholarly writings that explored the nature and intricacies of music throughout the Moslem World. ∵ N.B. During the final stage of publication, we received, with great sorrow, the news of Amnon Shiloah’s passing in Jerusalem on July 11, 2014. We are most grateful for his continued encouragement and constructive criticism, which inspired every phrase of this crucial undertaking. Both Farmer and the Cairo Congress were subjects very close to his heart. Amnon and I shared a very special friendship over the course of five decades, beginning in Jerusalem in September of 1959. May his memory be blessed. Contents Foreword ix Amnon Shiloah Preface xxi Sheila M. Craik Acknowledgements xxiii List of Figures xxv Abbreviations xxvii 1 The Genesis of the Farmer Project 1 2 Henry George Farmer: His Life and Works to His Fiftieth Birthday 17 2.1 Farmer’s Early Years (1882–1903) 17 2.2 1903–13 (including His Resignation from The Royal Artillery Band) 21 2.3 Beginnings in Glasgow (1914–18) 25 2.4 Glasgow University Years (1918–26) 39 2.5 Post-Doctoral Years (1926–32) 58 3 The First International Congress of Arab Music (Cairo, 1932) 84 3.1 Historical and Political Background 84 3.2 Egypt’s Musical Life, Especially Cairo’s from 1800 to 1932 92 3.3 The Cairo Congress: Its Genesis and Preparation 111 3.4 How Farmer Became Involved with the Congress 125 4 Farmer’s “Itinerary of Visit to Cairo” 140 4.1 Introduction 140 4.2 Travel Journal “Itinerary” 149 4.3 The Photos Taken by Kurt Schindler during the Course of the Congress 191 5 The Commission of History and Manuscripts 213 5.1 Introduction 213 5.2 Minutes of the Commission of History and Manuscripts 216 5.3 Report of the Commission on History and Manuscripts Submitted to the Plenary Session of the Congress of Arabian Music 1st April, 1932 239 viii contents 6 Afterthoughts and Follow-Up 251 Appendix 1 Farmer’s Publications on Music t0 1934 (Military, Arab, and Scottish) 269 2 Arabic and Persian Manuscripts Examined by Farmer (to 1932) 281 3 Fox Strangways—Farmer Exchanges 291 4 Participating Countries and Their Delegates 305 5 Regulations for the Arab Music Congress under [the] Patronage of H.M. the King 314 6 The Seven Commissions (Cairo, 1932) 323 7 Invited Musical Ensembles (Cairo, 1932) 328 8 Recueil des Travaux du Congrès de Musique Arabe (Contents) 333 9 A Short History of the Arabian Musical Scale 339 10 A Private Congratulatory Meeting [Held at the Congress in Honor of Farmer](Cairo, 1932) 352 11 Dr. Farmer’s Valedictory Address at the Closing of the Congress 356 12 Dr. Farmer’s Letters to His Family (from Cairo) 358 13 Correspondence Relating to the European Delegations at the Congress (1932) 363 14 Farmer’s Union Speech (Dublin, Nov. 17, 1929) (FC 74) 370 15 Farmer’s Lecture on the Music of the Hebrews (Glasgow, 1932) 378 Bibliography 383 General Index 405 Foreword In my earlier “Assessment of Farmer’s importance and influence in the field of Arab music” (xxi–vi) that was published in Henry George Farmer: A bibliography, Glasgow 1999, by Carl Cowl and Sheila M. Craik, I wrote that “the issue of sources was in a certain way the cause of my first acquaintance with Farmer, whom I consider my spiritual tutor” (p. xxvi). Indeed his suggestion to work on the extensive treatise Kitāb kamāl adab al-ghināʾ (The book of perfection of musical knowledge) by the eleventh-century theorist al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad ʿAlī al-Kātib stimulated my involvement in the research of Arab and Jewish music and the adoption of my global approach to the study of Eastern musical cultures. Therefore, I am pleased and honored to welcome the appearance of this new monograph, Henry George Farmer and The First International Congress of Arab Music (Cairo 1932), by my old friend and colleague Israel J. Katz, written with the collaboration of Sheila M. Craik. This fascinating study, based on Farmer’s unedited-typewritten documents and conceived with perspicacity, provides, as well, the contextual background of Farmer’s musical and linguistic interests that led to his rapid ascendance as an international specialist of Arab music and a recognized founding father of a discipline dealing, to a large extent, with its history and cultural foundations. It will also acquaint the readership with the leading Western music scholars who were invited by the Egyptian authori- ties to take part in the Cairo Congress on the eve of the deplorable advent of Nazism and the dramatic events that led to the Second World War. 1 The Two Jewish Genizah Fragments on Music From the impressive list of Farmer’s writings encompassing the cultural, historical, and musical dimensions of the ancient Oriental civilizations (Mesopotamian, Persian, and Hebrew), as well as the variegated musics and musical practices in the world of Islam under its various aspects, I was particu- larly fascinated by Farmer’s publications devoted to Jewish music. Therefore, I shall focus my attention on his lesser-known Hebraic studies, which he under- took at a time when scientific studies concerning this Oriental civilization were rather rare. As we shall see in his Cairo journal entry for the afternoon of March 21, 1932, a few days preceding the convening of the Congress, Farmer and his revered Arab colleague Fuʾād Mughabghab were escorted to the site of the old Ben x foreword Ezra Jewish Synagogue in Fusṭāṭ by a wealthy Jew, a Greek by nationality. This fellow, Farmer wrote, “[who] gave me a small crude oil lamp of terracotta of the 12th century . was delighted when I suggested that it might have been in the hands of Maimonides.” Farmer was, of course, most enthusiastic about his visit to the ancient synagogue, located near the Coptic Museum. Having also taken the initiative to visit the synagogue’s famous genizah (Heb. store room) strongly suggests his deep curiosity concerning the question of Jewish music and the role Jewish musicians played in the realm of Arab music. Interestingly, in February of 1933, about a year after the Congress, Farmer received a letter from Professor Richard J.H. Gottheil (1862–1936), Professor of Semitic Studies at Columbia University (New York), who sought his advice regarding two genizah fragments dealing with music that he was then examining. Both were Arabic fragments, transliterated in Hebrew script, which con- tained technical musical terms that needed clarification. In an article entitled “Two genizah fragments on music,”1 Farmer devoted its initial pages to a discussion on generalities concerning Jewish music and its eventual contribution to the realm of the Arab science of music. Following his discussion, Farmer wrote: “Now we come to the genizah fragments and you will all know the significance of that word, and the importance of their discovery . .” (p. 54).2 Upon examining each fragment, Farmer identified the first (the older) as “a portion of the Risāla fī ʿilm al-mūsīqī (Tract on music)”, which appeared in the Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ (10th cent.) (p. 55).3 He emphasized that the pas- sage preceding that mentioned in the genizah fragment deals with the tuning of the lute (ʿūd); this he described, following it with a description of the contents from Professor Gottheil’s letter.

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