Erich Katz

Erich Katz (July 31, 1900 – July 30, 1973) was a German-born musicologist, composer, music critic, musician and professor. He fled the Nazis in 1939, arriving first in England, emigrating to the United States in 1943, where he became a citizen. He was a driving force behind the early music and recorder movements in the United States. Bernard Krainis, a co-founder of New York Pro Musica studied with Katz.

Katz was born into a prosperous Jewish family in Posen, then part of Prussia, now Poznań, Poland. His father was Albert Katz, a jeweler and watchmaker, the son of a baker. His mother was Grete Katz (née Schmerl).

In 1907, the family moved to Berlin, Germany. In 1918, Katz completed eight weeks of basic training just before the Armistice was signed, ending World War I.

Katz initially began studying engineering, but switched to music after one semester. He was educated at the Stern Conservatory and the Berlin Hochschule für Musik. He studied at the University of Berlin from 1918 to 1921 and then moved to Freiburg im Breisgau, where and studied with Wilibald Gurlitt at the University of Freiburg. He wrote his dissertation on 17th century music and received his doctorate in 1926.

Katz was married to Adelheid Soltau, who was not Jewish, in 1926. In 1928, he co-founded the Freiburger Kurse für Musiktheorie and became its co-director. During this time, Katz also worked as a choral conductor, organist and music critic. He also edited Das neue Chorbuch, published in Mainz in 1931. The Freiburg Kurse later became known as the Freiburg Music Seminary and Katz remained its director until 1933, when the Nazis seized power and began restricting the employment rights of Jews.

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