Page - 219 - in Guido Adlers Erbe - Restitution und Erinnerung an der Universität Wien

© 2017, V&R unipress GmbH, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783847107217 – ISBN E-Lib: 9783737007214 Americansatthatmoment,whenAmericanmusicology,notleastbecause somanyyoungAmericanmusicalscholars,yourselfincluded,57wereafter WorldWar II spending some time inEurope. Itwouldbe interesting to understandwhat that legacy is and to bring that back, as the Fulbright Commissionprobablywouldhave said. TheMusicologist asParticipant inMusicalLife BN: One thing that’s not exactly an answer to your question, but that’s im- portant about Adler’s view ofmusicology, is that themusicologist is a participant inmusical life. Because if youarealways comparingarthis- torianswithmusic historians, art historians hardly ever paint ormake sculpture.There’salwaysanexception,butit’snotexpected.Inthecaseof musicology,andreallynowethnomusicologyintheUnitedStates, there’s somekindof ability toperform, or studyperformance, that’s taken for granted. In the 1950s,when theAmericanMusicological Societyunder- took to define musicology, there was a statement to the effect that a musicologist is, first of all, a musician. You wouldn’t find that in art history and probably not in literary scholarship, although I suppose everybodywrites. PVB: But theydon’tnecessarilywritepoemsornovels. BN: Thismighthavehappenedanyhow.Adlerhadstudiedpiano.The idea is that you’vegot tobeable toplay something.At least, it comes fromthat attitude,whetherAdlerestablished itpersonally.Hedoes talkabout that inhis autobiography, the importanceofperformance. PVB: Itwouldbesimplistictotrytomaketoomuchofthis,butitcomesbackto mythoughtsaboutschoolsofmusic.Totakemyselfasalatergeneration,I cameupthroughpianoandcontinuedeventostudypianoasascholar. It ispartofwhatIdotodayasaperformer.58Ineverwouldhavedonethisin aHumboldtian,Germanic-typedepartment. BN: Iguessnot,althoughwhenyoureadabouttheseEuropeanmusicologists, theywouldstudyinadepartment,buttheywouldbetakingpianolessons onthe side. PVB: ThearthistorydepartmentatmostuniversitieshasanundergraduateBA program,whichdoesn’t dependontheability todraw. 57 BrunoNettl spent twoyearsas avisitingFulbrightProfessor at theUniversityofKiel from 1956to1958.PhilipBohlmanwasavisitingFulbrightProfessorattheUniversityofViennain 1995–96. 58 Philip Bohlman is the artistic director of the New Budapest Orpheum Society, a Jewish cabaret ensemble thatperformsworldwide. Adler inAmerica–AConversation 219 Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND 4.0