The Jewish German-American musicologist Fritz A. Kuttner and China: Dimensions of self-translation in migration
BeiPeng and DavidBartosch
Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai
We explore the topic of self-translation in migration through the biography of Fritz A. Kuttner, a German Jewish
economist who became a musicologist during the years he spent in his native country just before he managed to escape from the
Nazis. His interest in musicology intensified as an immigrant in Shanghai from 1939 to 1949, where he also studied pre-modern
Chinese musical culture. After his emigration and becoming a US citizen, Kuttner emerged as a pioneer in this new field. We trace
Kuttner’s path as a whole, but focus especially on his Shanghai years. Among other things, these are marked by his study of the
Chinese language, life in the multilingual Jewish refugee community, music as a meeting point between East and West, his growing
understanding of a connection between Chinese language, music and culture as a whole, and his efforts to translate his
understanding of the semiotics of ancient Chinese music into the language and theoretical perspective of Western musicology. In
addition to documenting his experiences and academic self-translation, we argue in favour of a broader concept of self-translation
as being relevant to an intercultural sense of self.
1989L’oeil interminable: Cinéma et peinture [The endless eye: Cinema and
painting]. Paris: Nathan.
Benjamin, Walter
2019Über Sprache überhaupt und über die Sprache des Menschen [On language in general and on human language]. Edited
by Fred Lönker. Ditzingen: Philipp
Reclam.
Bernard, Jonathan
W.
1989 “The Marpurg-Sorge
Controversy.” Music Theory
Spectrum 11 (2): 164–186.
2017 “Miriam
Magasiner.” In Lexikon verfolgter Musiker und
Musikerinnen der NS-Zeit [Lexicon of musicians
persecuted during the Nazi period], edited by Claudia
Maurer Zenck, Peter Petersen, and Sophie Fetthauer. Hamburg: Universität
Hamburg. https://www.lexm.uni-hamburg.de/object/lexm_lexmperson_00003370
Fetthauer, Sophie
2018 “Fritz
A. Kuttner.” In Lexikon verfolgter Musiker und
Musikerinnen der NS-Zeit [Lexicon of musicians
persecuted during the Nazi period], edited by Claudia
Maurer Zenck, Peter Petersen, and Sophie Fetthauer. Hamburg: Universität
Hamburg. https://www.lexm.uni-hamburg.de/object/lexm_lexmperson_00003563
Gat, Azar
2006War
in Human Civilization. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Goldstein, Jonathan
2015Jewish
Identities in East and South-East Asia: Singapore, Manila, Taipei, Harbin, Shanghai, Rangoon, and
Surabaya. Berlin: De
Gruyter.
Grosbois, Ch.
1942 “La Musique à Shanghai: Une exposition de musique ancienne [The
music in Shanghai: An exhibition of ancient music].” Le Journal de
Shanghai [The Shanghai
journal], December
13.
1997L’Adaptation: Du théâtre au cinema [Adaptation: From theatre to
film]. Paris: Colin.
Hellerstein, Kathryn, and Lihong Song
eds.2022China
and Ashkenazic Jewry: Transcultural
Encounters. München: De
Gruyter.
Jakobson, Roman
1959 “On
Linguistic Aspects of Translation.” In On
Translation, edited by Reuben
A. Brower, 232–239. Cambridge: Harvard
University Press.
Jäncke, Lutz
2012 “The
Relationship Between Music and Language.” Frontiers in
Psychology 3, article 123.
Jullien, François
2000Umweg
und Zugang: Strategien des Sinns in China und Griechenland. Orig. Le Détour
et l’accès: Stratégies du sens en Chine, en Grèce. Translated by Markus Sedlaczek. Edited
by Peter Engelmann. Vienna: Passagen-Verlag.
1932Die Selbstkosten der
Verkehrsbetriebe bei schwankendem Beschäftigungsgrad: Eine Betriebswissenschaftliche Studie [The prime costs of transport companies with fluctuating levels of employment: An
economic study]. PhD thesis. Handels-Hochschule
Berlin.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1950 “Kína geymir enn
hinn upprunalega skyldleika tónlistarinnar og tungunnar [China still retains
the original kinship of music and
language].” Musica 3 (3): 7–9.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
[author name misspelled as ‘Kutterer’ in this
journal] 1951 “Die verborgenen Beziehungen zwischen
Sprache und Musik: dargestellt am Beispiel Chinas [The hidden relationship
between language and music: Illustrated by the example of
China].” Musica 5 (1): 13–16.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1953a “Nochmals: Die
Steinzeit-Lithophone von Annam [Once again: The stone-age lithophones of
Annam].” Die
Musikforschung 6 (1): 1–8.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1953b “Der
stroboskopische Frequenzmesser: Ein wichtiges Präzisionswerkzeug für die Musikforschung [The stroboscopic frequency meter: An important precision tool for music research].” Die Musikforschung [Music
Research] 6 (3): 235–248.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1953c “The Musical Significance of
Archaic Chinese Jades of the PI Disk Type.” Artibus
Asiae 16 (1/2): 25–50.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1954 “Are High Frequencies
Necessary?” High
Fidelity 4 (5): 34–35.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1956a “The Case of the F-sharp Major
Eroica.” High
Fidelity 6 (6): 38–41.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1956b “Who Gave Brahms the Falling
Sickness?” High
Fidelity 6 (7): 29–31.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1956c “Toward the Perfect Pitch
Machine.” High
Fidelity 6 (8): 32–34, 85–87.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1956d “He Who Lathes
Best” High
Fidelity 6 (12): 62–64.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1957 “Music for Billionaires;
Adventures in Sound: Mirko Paneyko, Phonograph Maker Extraordinary.” High
Fidelity 7 (9): 55–57.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1959a “A ‘Pythagorean’ Tone-System in
China — Antedating the Early Greek Achievements by Several
Centuries” In Bericht über den siebten internationalen
musikwissenschaftlichen Kongreß Köln 1958 [Report
on the Seventh International Congress of Musicology, Cologne 1958], edited
by Gerald Abraham, Suzanne Clercx-Lejeune, Hellmut Federhofer, and Wilhelm Pfannkuch, 174–176. Kassel: Bärenreiter.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1959b “The Sightless Vision of Helmut
Walcha.” High
Fidelity 9 (7): 34–36.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1961 “The Archive
Production.” High
Fidelity 11 (2): 48–49.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1963a “A Critical View of Modern
Concert Halls.” HiFi/Stereo
Review 11 (1): 29–33.
1964a “Musical Archaeology: How
Ancient Music is Being Rescued from Oblivion.” HiFi/Stereo
Review 13 (6): 43–49.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1964b “The Music of China: A Short
Historical Synopsis Incorporating the Results of Recent Musicological
Investigations.” Ethnomusicology: Journal of the Society for
Ethnomusicology 8 (2): 121–127.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1965a “A Musicological Interpretation
of the Twelve Lüs in China’s Traditional Tone System.” Ethnomusicology: Journal of the Society
for
Ethnomusicology 9 (1): 22–38.
1965c “Report from Salzburg: Music
Festivals and Musicological Congresses.” HiFi/Stereo
Review 14 (1): 57–61.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1965d “Musicologist Reveals His
Affair with Susie.” HiFi/Stereo
Review 15 (3): 54–57.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1967 “Zur Entwicklung
des Musikbegriffes in Chinas Frühgeschichte [On the development of the
concept of music in China’s early history].” In Festschrift für Walter Wiora zum 30. Dezember 1966 [Commemorative publication in honour of Walter Wiora, 30 December 1966], edited
by Ludwig Finscher and Hellmut Mahling, 536–544. Kassel: Bärenreiter.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1968a “Der Katalog des
Bartók-Archivs in New York City [The catalogue of the Bartók Archive in New
York City].” Die Musikforschung [Music
research] 21 (1): 61–63.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1968b “Musique des
sacrifices confucéens [Confucian sacrificial
music].” Encyclopédie des musiques sacrées [Encyclopedia of sacred
music], vol. 1, edited under the direction
of Jacques Porte, 250–264. Paris: Éditions
Labergerie.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1969a “Das
Bartók-Archiv in New York City: Ein Nachtrag [The Bartók Archive in New York
City: An addendum].” Die Musikforschung [Music
research] 22 (1): 75–76.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1969b “The Development of the Concept
of Music in China’s Early History.” Asian Music: Journal of the Society for Asian
Music 1 (2): 12–21.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1969c “Reviewed Work(s): Song Dynasty
Musical Sources and Their Interpretation by Rulan Chao
Pian.” Ethnomusicology 13 (3): 553–557.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1973 “The Music of
China.” Stereo
Review 31 (4): 63–69.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1975a “Prince Chu Tsai-yü’s Life and
Work: A Re-evaluation of His Contribution to Equal Temperament Theory.” Ethnomusicology:
Journal of the Society for
Ethnomusicology 19 (2): 163–206.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1975b “The 749-Temperament of Huai
Nan Tzu (+ 123 B. C.).” Asian Music: Journal of the Society for Asian
Music 6 (1/2): 88–113.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1979 “Argument by Insult: A Reaction
to Schneider’s
Letter.” Ethnomusicology 23 (3): 503–504.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1980 “Letter to the Editor; Argument
by Insult: A Reaction to Schneider’s
Letter.” Ethnomusicology 24 (1): 146.
Kuttner, Fritz
A.
1989The Archaeology of Music in Ancient
China: 2000 Years of Experimentation 1400 B. C. — A.D. 750. New
York: Paragon House.
Kuttner, Fritz
A., and Fredric Lieberman
eds.1975Perspectives
on Asian Music: Essays in Honor of Laurence E. R. Picken. New
York: Society for Asian Music.
Kwee, Swan
Liat
1960 “The Marginal Man: His Role
in History and in Future Cooperation.” In Ethical Values in
International Decision-Making: The Conference of June 16–20, 1958, authored
by B. Landheer, G.
van
der Molen, B. H. M. Vlekke, John
A. Thivy, Kwee
S[w]an Liat, Harold Sprout, Jaquès Ellul, and H. Verey-Jonker, 60–75. The
Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
Li, Yuanning, Claire Tang, Junfeng Lu, Jinsong Wu, and Edward
F. Chang
2021 “Human
Cortical Encoding of Pitch in Tonal and Non-tonal Languages.” Nature
Communications 12, article 1161.
Liebrucks, Bruno
1972Erkenntnis und Dialektik: Zur Einführung in eine Philosophie von der Sprache her; Aufsätze aus den Jahren 1949
bis 1971 [Knowledge and dialectics: An introduction
to a philosophy from the perspective of language; Essays from the years 1949 to
1971]. The Hague: Marinus
Nijhoff.
Luhmann, Niklas
1998Die Gesellschaft der Gesellschaft, Band 1: Kapitel 1–3 [The society of society, vol. 1: Chapters
1–3]. Frankfurt am
Main: Suhrkamp.
Luhmann, Niklas
2002Das Erziehungssystem der Gesellschaft [The educational system of
society]. Suhrkamp: Frankfurt am
Main.
Luo, Mengyu
2022 “Power
and Identity Transition in Symphonic Music: Shanghai Symphony Orchestra from the 1920s to the Early
1950s.” Critical Arts: South-North Cultural and Media
Studies 36 (1/2): 126–142.
Malik-Moraleda, Saima, Dima Ayyash, Jeanne Gallée, Josef Affourtit, Malte Hoffmann, Zachary Mineroff, Olessia Jouravlev, and Evelina Fedorenko
2022 “An
Investigation Across 45 Languages and 12 Language Families Reveals a Universal Language
Network.” Nature
Neuroscience 25: 1014–1019.
2012Jewish
Wayfarers in Modern China: Tragedy and
Splendor. Lanham: Lexington.
Meyer, Maisie
J.
1994The Sephardi Jewish Community of
Shanghai 1845–1939 and the Question of Identity. PhD
dissertation. University of London.
Meyer, Maisie
J.
2018Shanghai’s Baghdadi Jews: A Collection
of Biographical Reflections. Hong
Kong: Blacksmith.
Nattiez, Jean-Jacques
1990Music
and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music. Orig. Musicologie générale et
sémiologue. Translated by Carolyn Abbate. Princeton: Princeton
University Press.
Needham, Joseph
1962Science
and Civilisation in China, Vol. 4: Physics and Physical Technology; Part I:
Physics. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
2008Music, Language, and the
Brain. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Patel, Aniruddh
D., and Joseph
R. Daniele
2003 “An
Empirical Comparison of Rhythm in Language and
Music.” Cognition 87 (1): B35–B45.
Peng, Bei
2019Musik als Harmonie von Himmel und Erde — Zhū Zǎiyù (1536–1611) und seine
Musiktheorie [Music as the harmony of heaven and
earth — Zhū Zǎiyù (1536–1611) and his music theory]. PhD
dissertation. Heidelberg University.
Peng, Bei
2023 “On
the Western Reception of Prince Zhu Zaiyu’s Music Theory from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth
Century.” International Communication of Chinese
Culture 10 (2–4): 133–149.
Robinson, Kenneth
G.
1948A Critical Study of Ju Dzai-yü’s
Account of the System of the Lü-Lü or Twelve Musical Tubes in Ancient China. PhD
dissertation. University of Oxford.
Schimmelpenningk, Antoinet, and Frank Kouwenhoven
1993 “The
Shanghai Conservatory of Music — History & Foreign Students’ Experiences.” Chime: Journal
of the European Foundation for Chinese Music
Research 6: 56–91.
Schmidt, Gerhart
1974 “Zur Phänomenologie der Lebensalter [On the phenomenology of
the stages of life].” In Sprache und Begriff: Festschrift
für Bruno Liebrucks [Language and ideology: A
commemorative publication for Bruno Liebrucks], edited by Heinz Röttges, Brigitte Scheer, and Josef Simon. Meisenheim
am Glan: Anton Hain.
2010Pinyin-Schreibung — Rechtschreibung der amtlichen chinesischen Latein-Umschrift: Regeln und
Beispiele [Pinyin writing — The rules of spelling
of the official Chinese romanisation system: Rules and
examples]. Berlin: Europäischer
Universitäts-Verlag.
Tallal, Paula, and Nadine Gaab
2006 “Dynamic
Auditory Processing, Musical Experience and Language Development.” Trends in
Neurosciences 29 (7): 382–390.
Tang, Yating
2007上海犹太社区的音乐生活 (1850–1950, 1998–2005) [The music life of the
Jewish community of Shanghai (1850–1950,
1998–2005)]. Shanghai: Shanghai Yinyue Xueyuan
Chubanshe.
Tyulenev, Sergey
2012Applying
Luhmann to Translation Studies: Translation in
Society. London: Routledge.
1901Die Sprachwissenschaft, ihre Aufgaben, Methoden und bisherigen Erkenntnisse [Linguistics, its tasks, methods, and findings to
date]. 2nd, enlarged and improved edition by Albrecht Graf von
der Schulenburg. Leipzig: Chr.
Herm. Tauchnitz.
1911 “Zweite Donnerstagssitzung [Second Thursday
session].” In Verhandlungen des ersten deutschen
Soziologentages vom 19.–22. Oktober in Frankfurt a. M.: Reden und Vorträge von Georg Simmel, Ferdinand Tönnies, Max Weber,
Werner Sombart, Alfred Ploetz, Ernst Troeltsch, Eberhard Gothein, Andreas Vogt, Hermann Kantorowicz und
Debatten [Proceedings of the First German Sociology
Conference from 19–22 October in Frankfurt a. M.: Speeches and lectures by Georg Simmel, Ferdinand Tönnies, Max Weber, Werner
Sombart, Alfred Ploetz, Ernst Troeltsch, Eberhard Gothein, Andreas Vogt, Hermann Kantorowicz and
Debates], 95–101. Tübingen: J.C.B.
Mohr (Paul Siebeck).
Willens, Liliane
2015Stateless
in Shanghai. La
Vergne: Earnshaw.
Wohlfart, Günter
1999 “Truth Lies in Translation — Philosophische Bemerkungen zu Wahrheit und Lüge von Übersetzungen am Beispiel einer
Passage aus dem Laozi [Truth lies in translation — Philosophical remarks on
truth and untruth in translations using the example of a passage from the
Laozi].” In Translation und
Interpretation [Translation and
interpretation], edited by Rolf Elberfeld, Johann Kreuzer, John Minford, and Günter Wohlfart, 233–247. Paderborn: Wilhelm
Fink.
Xia, Beming
2008a上海旧事之哈同夫妇 [Old Shanghai stories of Mr. and Ms.
Hardoon]. Shanghai: Shanghai Yuandong
Chubanshe.