Death of the lutenist Eugen M. Dombois

Eugen M. Dombois was born on Nov. 15, 1931 in Bethel near Bielefeld. His father, Georg Müller, was a well-known teacher. After training as a secondary school teacher (German, music), Dombois studied lute and guitar from 1955-1958 with Walter Gerwig in Cologne, a lutenist who was at the forefront of historical music practice. He then taught at the Nordwestdeutsche Musik-Akademie Detmold and at the same time began a successful international career as a concert artist. Unfortunately, an impairment of his hand forced him to give up public concerts prematurely. In 1962, Paul Sacher appointed him to the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where he continued his extremely fruitful teaching career until his retirement in 1996. His illustrious list of former students includes Toyohiko Satoh, Hopkinson Smith, Jürgen Hübscher, Paul O'Dette, Rolf Lislevand, Karl-Ernst Schröder (+), Robert Barto, Joachim Held, Peter Croton, Christina Pluhar and many others. He also found a family home in Basel and lived in the city's catchment area until the end.

Eugen M. Dombois had high expectations of his art, which he conveyed to his students with great intensity. He was particularly interested in liberating lute playing from the legacy of the guitar and restoring its specific historical quality. In this way, he succeeded in establishing his class at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis as an international center of lute playing. His critical mind and his polished use of the word made him a consistently stimulating and demanding discussion partner. A speculative essay (together with Véronique Daniels) on an enigmatic Italian dance treatise of the 15th century appeared in the Basel Yearbook for Historical Music Practice 1990 and shows this side of his personality in an impressive way.

Eugen M. Dombois will retain a place of honor in the ancestral gallery of early music and will remain inextricably linked to the revival of historically oriented lute playing. The Musik-Akademie Basel and the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis bid farewell with sadness and gratitude to this important musician and teacher, colleague and friend.