Elected at the Madrid congress in 1992, over her long career, Dorothea Baumann worked closely with six presidents (Stanley Sadie, UK; László Somfai, HU; David Fallows, UK; Tilman Seebass, AT; Dinko Fabris, IT; and Daniel K. L. Chua, HK) and with six different groups of approximately twenty Directorium members. She served for five quinquennial congresses: London (1997), Leuven (2002), Zurich (2007), Rome (2012), and Tokyo (2017). In 2019, she was made an honorary member of the Society.
The grief at Dorothea’s passing is felt far and wide, and we invite you to contribute thoughts and recollections below (please contact us). Former Directorium member Antonio Baldassarre kindly agreed to write the following obituary. Antonio worked daily with Dorothea as her assistant beginning in 1997 and was at her side often in these last months. We are grateful that through the warmth of Antonio’s presence in her final days Dorothea could experience the steadfastness of our appreciation for her devotion to the Society.
Kate van Orden, IMS President
Obituary
“Die Erinnerung ist das einzige Paradies, aus welchem wir nicht getrieben werden können.”
(Jean Paul, Impromptü’s, welche ich künftig in Stammbücher schreiben werde, 1811)
Dorothea Baumann, former Secretary General of the International Musicological Society (IMS) from 1994 to 2019 and Privatdozentin of musicology at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, passed away on 29 August 2022. Born on 4 April 1946, she studied piano with Bertie Biedermann at the Musikakademie in Zurich (diploma 1968) and musicology, physics, and modern German literature at the University of Zurich. In 1977 she earned her PhD degree with the thesis “Die dreistimmige Lied-Satztechnik im Trecento” (published in 1979) that was accomplished under the supervision of Kurt von Fischer. From 1978 onward she was an associate researcher and eventually qualified as Privatdozentin in 2000 with the habilitation “Raum und Musik: Eine Untersuchung zur Bedeutung des Raumes für die musikalische Aufführungspraxis” (published in 2011). In addition to her position at the Department of Musicology and the Ethnomusicological Archive of the University of Zurich she repeatedly lectured at the University of Bern, the Department of Architecture of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and the Institute for Music Therapy of the Zurich University of the Arts. From 1977 to 1996 she was appointed lecturer for organology and acoustics of the further education program of the Swiss Radio and Television Broadcasting. From 1978 to 1995 she was in charge of the documentation of the program books of the Tonhalle-Gesellschaft Zürich and since 1976 acted as consultant for matters regarding room acoustics. Finally, she was invited as a guest lecturer at the Graduate School of the City University of New York in 1987 and at the University of Innsbruck in 1998, and she was regularly involved in concerts as a pianist and harpsichordist.
Dorothea Baumann was an executive and advisory member of numerous prestigious national and international scholarly and learned institutions and organizations: From 1985 to 2005 she was President of the Zurich Chapter of the Swiss Musicological Society; from 1993 to 2004 Vice President and from 1990 to 1992 as well as 2005 to 2012 President of the Swiss branch of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (IAML), from 1986 to 2008 Treasurer of the Allgemeine Musikgesellschaft Zurich (AMG), from 1996 to 2004 member of the Commission Mixte of RILM, from 2004 to 2010 member of the Board of Trustees of the Kurt Leimer Foundation, and finally, as mentioned earlier, Secretary General of the IMS for a quarter of a century (1994–2019). In addition, she was active as an advisory member of the Commission Mixte of RISM (since 1994), of the “Universe of Music” project (since 1997), and of the Staatliche Institut für Musikforschung (SIM) Berlin (since 2009). Lastly, she served on the Council of Association RIdIM from 2011 onward.
Dorothea Baumann’s scholarship embraces a broad variety of areas and topics, including the music of the Middle Ages and the Trecento; the organization of knowledge in databases; subjects of historical and systematical musicology and their relationship; acoustics, performance practice, as well as organology; music iconography; music theory; music psychology; music philosophy and interdisciplinary aspects of music; room acoustics and music perception. She also had a serious commitment to the nurturing of young and emerging scholars. The diversity and plurality (in terms of both subject matter and methodology) of her remarkable research and publication output needs to be understood as the result of her intense and in-depth interest in and examination of current discussions and trends in music scholarship—unbroken until her too early death. Yet, she has never retreated to the “battlefields of positions,” basically due to her deep conviction regarding the productive power of constructive discussions and compromises. In this respect Dorothea Baumann has always and unswervingly followed the core principle of Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785): “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.” It is against this background that Kurt von Fischer’s characterization of Dorothea Baumann as “the good soul of the Zurich Musicological Institute and of Swiss musicology” is to be understood.
The voice of Dorothea Baumann, whom Dinko Fabris, former president of the IMS, has once denoted as the “living memory of the IMS,” was silenced shortly before dawn on 29 August 2022, but she will be remembered as an outstanding example and model of decency, honesty, and integrity, which are the fundamental conditions of Kant’s above-mentioned categorical imperative, and as a steadfast advocate of an ensouled music-scholarly attitude that is not only aware of its social mission, but also lives it through music scholarship and musical practice.
She is survived by her brother, Heinrich, and her nieces and nephews.
Antonio Baldassarre, Former IMS Directorium Member
Memories, Thoughts, and Condolences
If would like to contribute thoughts and recollections, please send an email to: office@musicology.org.
Grayson Wagstaff
Dorothea, I do not remember where or when we met, but it may have been in Madrid decades ago while I was still in graduate school. I have always valued you as a dear kind spirit. You were always encouraging and generous to younger scholars. I remember many discussions and several lunches in Zurich and other cities, now cherished memories, and your vivid description of traveling into the mountains to your late mother’s house. You described your joy at opening the house and playing your piano. As you said, the music, air, and light could be magical. Your words were so vivid that I remember being transfixed by imagining this scene. I am sure that day we discussed many important scholarly issues, but your delight in this vignette remains with me. You will be missed by many. Rest in peace and know that you have helped many people and that musicology will always be strengthened by your hard work and dedication.
SEdeM Working Group “Music and Contexts in the Medieval and Renaissance Iberian World”
The SEdeM Working Group “Music and Contexts in the Medieval and Renaissance Iberian World” deeply regrets the loss of our colleague and teacher Dorothea Baumann. Her generosity and goodwill were demonstrated when she gave the opening address at our last congress in May of this year, even when she was sick with a bad flu. We wish to make public our gratitude for the effort she made for our working group and we send our heartfelt condolences to all her friends and family. The group will dedicate the volume resulting from the Morella meeting to her and will include the content of her participation as our last tribute (medyren.wixsite.com/medyren-sedem/iv-encuentro-morella-2022). She will always be present in our hearts and works.
Cristina Urchueguía
I first met Dorothea in 2005 at the Institute for Musicology in Zurich and saw the determination and tremendous energy she displayed in organizing the 2007 Quinquennial IMS Congress. Following her as Secretary General meant following in very big footsteps. In fact, it took two people to do her job. She took me by the hand with the same determination and introduced me to the business patiently and always with an open ear, for which I am very grateful to her. In my work, I come across inspiring traces of her commitment, her ideas, and the initiatives she implemented to always keep the spirit of IMS up-to-date and open. Here she lives on for me.
Tilman Seebass
Virtuous people are often underestimated. Dorothea possessed virtue in abundance! She was sincere and loyal—which is sometimes difficult to reconcile—, considerate, dedicated, reliable, and accommodating. Above all, she was very open about our professional understanding and it was her who fully supported the expansion of the geographic and content boundaries. If I had not known how steady she was at the helm, I would have hardly ventured onto the IMS ship and exposed myself to wind and weather.
Dorothea was not only a solid Trecento expert, but also a passionate spatial acoustician who knew all the concert halls in Europe. She loved chamber music and as a musician also performed it herself throughout her life. Aside from that, she cared for her life partner and her mother with faithful devotion for many years.
Many of her colleagues could give personal examples of her friendship and generosity, because in her twenty-five years of work for the IMS personal encounters were important for the unity of the Society. She has contributed to this constant collegial bond and has spared no personal expense in doing so.
In the garden of her Engadin home, Dorothea and I together planned our five-year IMS journey in 2007, and together we celebrated our return to the port five years later with an opera visit to Monteverdi’s Poppea, downstream the Inn in Innsbruck in 2012.
With Dorothea’s passing, an era of our Society has come to an end.
Jane Hardie
I have known Dorothea as a fellow member of the IMS for more than forty years, and have, like all her IMS colleagues admired both her extraordinary and deep scholarship as well as her absolute dedication to the welfare and running of the IMS over many many years. Indeed, one of her very prestigious French colleagues referred (very aptly) to her as “l’ȃme” of the IMS. I suspect it will be a very long time for the IMS to come to terms with her premature loss. Already, if I have a question, it is “oh, Dorothea will know the answer to that.” And then I remember and I stop and mourn.
However, over and above the professional relationship was a very personal one. Most of us don’t make a lot of close and dear friends in our lives, and for me Dorothea was just such a friend. Caring, professional, and above all totally ethical and honest in all her dealings with people. For me, and I suspect for many of her colleagues and friends, she has left a hole that cannot be filled.
May she Rest in Peace.
Elena Zinkevych
It was Dorothea Baumann who involved Ukrainian musicologists in the IMS. She took a great part in organizing the musicological symposium in Kiev (2008) with the participation of the IMS Directorium. And since then she has not left us with her attention and care, in every possible way helping and activating our work. The memory of Dorothea will forever remain in our hearts.
Jeanna Kniazeva
The IMS Study Group “History of the IMS” mourns the passing of dear Dorothea Baumann. Dorothea was the founder and chairwoman of our SG. She has worked tirelessly to support and develop the SG and has attended all of our meetings. We will all never forget her kind, welcoming demeanor and constant drive to foster and enrich our SG.
Manuel Pedro Ferreira
Dorothea, I will miss you. I cannot remember when we first met, but your kind presence came together with surprisingly novel scholarship—whether it concerned whole tone division in Marchetus of Padova, or the acoustical effect of wooden ceiling design in Granada’s Alhambra. You could be tough when defending your ideas, but you were always the best listener of your peers. And your self-effacing restraint concealed a rich, warm soul. Then, there was the IMS. Meaning: us. When you were taking care of the IMS, you were taking care of a family. Juveniles sometimes disagree with their parents, and generational shift normally produces some degree of tension; but you managed tension with wisdom and grace, allowing the IMS family to renew itself in harmonic resonance. It is only fair that your example of unselfish dedication to international scholarly dialogue keeps resounding in our memory.
Daniel K. L. Chua
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I took over the presidential helm of the IMS ship. As Secretary General, Dorothea had been keeping the vessel in good order for about a quarter of a century, and was thinking of stepping down. I would be the last President to work with her. After such a long stint as Secretary General, she was sure to keep things slow and steady, I thought. But I could not be more wrong! Somehow there was an unexpected synergy between us. I witnessed in Dorothea an energy for radical change in her last two years as Secretary General. Not everyone leaves an organization well after many years of service, but Dorothea exited with a graceful bang that modernized the way we functioned and thought as a Society. The statutes were overhauled, the election of the President became more democratic, the official language “barriers” were taken down in recognition of a more global and inclusive musicology. There were new prizes, new ideas, and a new outlook. It wasn’t that she pushed all these things: she facilitated them, enabling change to take place smoothly within the administrative structure of the IMS. I admired the way she made things happen without fuss and all in good measure.
Dorothea left the IMS well. It was not simply a matter of luck. Everything was perfectly timed and planned at the 2019 Extraordinary General Assembly in Lucerne which would be her last meeting as Secretary General. She was delighted at how everything worked out. It was a perfect ending. And, in recognition of all she has done for the IMS, we crowned her final moments as Secretary General with an honorary membership.
Dorothea—we miss you, and we missed you in the last General Assembly in Athens a couple of weeks ago. I imagine you thought of us, and held on until the Congress was over knowing that the changes have born good fruit and that we are in good hands. We are indebted. You gave much, suffered much, and took pride in the Society you lead and kept afloat. And I greatly enjoyed cajoling a smile from you (even when my jokes were not that funny) in all the serious business of the IMS. And that is how I shall remember you.
Dinko Fabris
Dorothea Baumann was not only the Secretary General of the IMS, but the real beating heart of the Society for more than twenty-five years. At the beginning of her term, the IMS had experienced a severe financial crisis, and it was Dorothea who saved the Society with great tenacity and a spirit of sacrifice. When I joined the Directorium for two terms, from 2002 onward, and then as its President from 2012 to 2017, I was able to discover little by little many surprising sides in the always modest and calm personality of what was actually a highly trained scholar in different territories—from the music of the Trecento to the acoustics of concert halls (the latter a rare specialization)—, with a great passion for libraries and archives (she had never missed any IAML conference) and a great sensitivity for social issues and for young people to help, as well as for colleagues working in difficult areas of the planet. When I had the idea of establishing a historical archive of the IMS, which absurdly did not yet exist in 2012, Dorothea enthusiastically supported it, undertook a series of researches in the Basel archives, and involved scholars from several countries in the compilation of documents. This allowed us to collect, originally at the Akademie der Stadt in Basel, a vast and surprising archive, which formed the basis for putting together the first History of the IMS, published in time for the Tokyo congress in 2017. Dorothea Baumann later also founded the IMS Study Group “History of the IMS,” which will continue to pass on her memory to future generations of musicologists.
Kate van Orden
My first conversation with Dorothea was a phone call to the IMS office from Berkeley, California in 2012. She was pulling together a travel fund to support members who needed assistance making it to the IMS congress in Rome, and for some reason my fax was not going through. Those were the days! (Cue grating fax tone, sound of thermal paper grinding out of the machine, and ample frustration). Dorothea was friendly and seemed pleased to connect with a distant member despite the late hour, and our brief exchange always stayed with me as emblematic of the personal touch that she brought to the IMS and the energy she expended behind the scenes to keep IMS whole.
Lukas Christensen
Dorothea was not just my “IMS mentor” and go-to person for everything related to Swiss society governance, statutes, etc., but also became a dear personal friend of mine over the last few years. Nobody knew the IMS like she did and I doubt that anyone ever will. Dorothea, you will be truly missed!
Egberto Bermúdez
The IMS Study Group “Early Music and the New World” laments the passing of Dorothea Baumann (1946–2022), longtime IMS Secretary General and chair of the IMS Study Group “History of the IMS.” Heartfelt condolences to her family.