Alica Elscheková

PhDr. Alica Elscheková, CSc., is one of the leading figures in Slovak ethnomusicology. From the beginning of her career at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, she has focused on regional research of folk vocal culture throughout Slovakia, which laid the foundation for her work in style analysis, evaluation, and classification of folk songs. Her primary focus has been on traditional forms of vocal music: “The focus on song as one component of traditional musical culture has acquired the status of a separate specialization within the emerging Slovak school of ethnomusicology” (Urbancová, 2016).

She is the author of numerous scholarly papers and studies offering systematic analysis and categorization of folk musical expressions, published in domestic and international periodicals and conference proceedings, including Slovenský národopis, Musicologica Slovaca SAV, Hudobný život, Hudobnovedné štúdie, Studia Musicologica (Budapest), and the Journal of the International Folk Music Council (London). Among her most significant contributions are the comprehensive monograph Introduction to the Study of Slovak Folk Music I–III (co-authored with Oskar Elschek, 1962, 1996), the study Basic Ethnomusicological Analysis (1963), and the anthology Slovak Folk Songs and Instrumental Music (1980). She also conducted research on polyphonic singing traditions in Slovakia, Europe, and non-European cultures. Additionally, she devoted special attention to Christmas music and the history of musicians’ guilds in the Liptov region. She identified a third category of musical style — alongside historical-evolutionary and regional styles — which is style tied to specific song types or genres (Style and Song Types, 1990).

Alica Elscheková is also a notable Slovak collector of folk songs from the Gemer region (1963–1969, regional-monographic research) and Bratislava, with many of her recordings preserved in the Central Archive of Folk Songs at the Institute of Musicology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava. In addition to her academic work, she was a singer in the Czechoslovak Radio Mixed Choir and the folklore ensemble Lúčnica. She has been active as a lecturer, regularly presenting her scientific research at international forums. She is a member of several scientific organizations, including the European Seminar of Musicology, the Internationale Organisation für Volkskunst, the Slovak Music Union, the Slovak Musicological Association, the Slovak Ethnographic Society at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, and UNESCO’s International Council for Traditional Music. She also participates in various study groups focused on folk music analysis and systematization, musical instruments, historical sources of traditional music, and multipart music.