Rodolphe d'Erlanger

Who was Rodolphe d'Erlanger?

Baron Rodolphe d'Erlanger was a French painter and musicologist specializing in Arabic music. He studied in Paris and London. He wrote the six-volume work, La Musique Arabe.

He helped to organize the 1932 Cairo Congress of Arab Music, the idea of which he had suggested to king Fuad I of Egypt. Although he was too ill to attend and died soon after, he sent an ensemble from Tunisia to perform in Cairo at the Congress. He is also known for his six-volume work about the history of Arabic music.

His palace at Sidi Bou Said, in northern Tunisia, which he named Ennejma Ezzahra, was built between 1909 and 1921. The structure now houses the Centre des musiques arabes et méditerranéennes. He helped to revive the musical genre known as ma'luf during the 1920s.