Oskár Elschek

Prof. PhDr. Oskár Elschek, DrSc. is a Slovak musicologist, ethnomusicologist, organizer of a wide range of cultural events, publicist, and educator. He studied musicology and aesthetics at Comenius University in Bratislava and spent nearly his entire professional life at the Institute of Musicology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS).

Oskár Elschek’s scientific and research focus is defined by two main areas: ethnomusicology, to which he gravitated from the very beginning of his career, and the field of systematic musicology. He also paid special attention to musical organology, more specifically, ethno-organology.

Elschek made a significant contribution to the development of the ethnomusicological department of the Institute of Musicology at the SAS. He organized extensive field research, during which a large amount of audio material was collected under his leadership. He also pioneered the use of computers for recording analysis. Thanks to this progress, “the department gained a leading position among European ethnomusicological institutions, and Elschek’s name—and through him, Slovak musicology—began to be taken seriously.” (Hudobný život, 2001/6, Ľ. Chalupka)

In addition to his active research, Elschek also focused on editorial work, aiming to make folk music accessible to a broader audience. In collaboration with his wife, Alica, he published three synthetic monographs on Slovak folk songs. In 1959, he also prepared for publication the first volume of Béla Bartók’s collection of Slovak folk songs.

Elschek’s research into Slovak folk instrumental music resulted in two audio anthologies and two books. Die slowakischen Volksinstrumente (Slovak Folk Instruments, 1983) documents the Slovak tradition of instrument-making and playing. Slovenské ľudové píšťaly a ďalšie aerofóny (Slovak Folk Whistles and Other Aerophones, 1991) focuses on the most typical group of Slovak folk instruments — aerophones.

His concept of systematic musicology was summarized in the monograph Hudobná veda súčasnosti (Contemporary Musicology, 1984), which was established as a core university textbook and also published abroad (a German edition appeared in 1992). In 1996, his major synthetic work Dejiny slovenskej hudby (History of Slovak Music) was published.

Elschek has led numerous domestic and international editorial series, including: Musikethnologische Jahresbibliographie Europas, Musicologica Slovaca (et Europea) Seminarium ethnologicum, Abstracts in Ethnomusicology Musicologica actualis. Altogether, he has published 13 books, 7 audiovisual monographs, and over 200 scholarly studies in scientific collections and publications, more than half of which appeared internationally.

Thanks to his language skills, Oskár Elschek established strong contacts with leading institutions abroad, especially with the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM) under UNESCO, where he served as chair of the Study Group for Analysis and Systematics. He also collaborated with the International Musicological Society and various ethnomusicological institutions across Europe and the world. He regularly organized domestic ethnomusicological seminars with international participation and, in 1997, contributed to the realization of the World Congress of the ICTM in Nitra. He also played a role in organizing folklore festivals, radio recording competitions, and worked as a dramaturgical collaborator with SĽUK (Slovak Folk Art Collective).

Not only his scholarly expertise but also his moral integrity was confirmed during his time as editor-in-chief of the monthly journal Slovak Music. For statements made in his article Človek – hudba – spoločnosť (1971, no. 10) (Man – Music – Society), he was expelled from the Union of Slovak Composers and faced subsequent sanctions. Nevertheless, he continued to pursue his scientific work.

As a teacher, Elschek was active especially from the 1980s at various universities, both in Slovakia and abroad. He served as a visiting professor at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, at the University of Hamburg, and in 1988 was habilitated at the University of Vienna. After 1989, he headed the Department of Musicology at the Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava, and more recently worked at the Department of Ethnology at the University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava.

He has received numerous significant awards for his work.