Jürgen Elsner

Jürgen Elsner (born 22 April 1932) is a German music ethnologist and author.

Born in Finsterwalde, Elsner studied music theory, musicology and Arabic philology at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" and the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

In 1964, he was awarded a doctorate with the dissertation Zum vokalsolistischen Vortrag der Eislerschen Kampfmusik.

[1] In 1970, he habilitated with the thesis Der Begriff des maqam in Ägypten.

From 1975 to 1993, he was professor of ethnomusicology at Humboldt University, and from 1979 to 1990 he was head of the musicology department.