EHRLICH, Cyril 1925-2004

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born September 13, 1925, in London, England; died May 29, 2004. Historian, educator, and author. Ehrlich employed the study of history in new ways, combining this discipline with economics and music to become a noted social historian of East African agriculture and then of the economic history of the piano, Italian opera, and other areas of music. An early devotee of music, he taught himself to play the piano as a child and enjoyed classical music. World War II preceded his college education, and he served in the Royal Air Force's Education Corps while stationed in India. After the war, he attended the London School of Economics, where he majored in economic history and earned a bachelor's degree in 1950. He then worked as a research assistant at the school for two years and, in 1952, taught at Makerere College in Uganda. While there, he studied African agriculture, writing his doctoral thesis on the cotton industry. He remained in Uganda as a lecturer until 1961, meanwhile completing his Ph.D. in 1958. Returning to England, he joined the faculty at Queen's University in Belfast. Here he turned his attention to the history—economic and otherwise—of music, beginning with the piano. His research eventually led to his first book, The Piano: A History (1976). Ehrlich spent his academic career at Queens, rising to the post of professor of social and economic history in 1974 and retiring as professor emeritus in 1986; he also served as dean of the economics faculty from 1978 to 1981. Meanwhile, he published several more books on music history, such as The Music Profession in Britain since the Eighteenth Century: A Social History (1985) and First Philharmonic: A History of the Royal Philharmonic Society (1995). He continued to be involved in education after his official retirement, and was a visiting professor at London University from 1995 to 1997 and at Goldsmiths College, New Cross, beginning in 1998.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Guardian (London, England), June 19, 2004, p. 27.

Independent (London, England), June 9, 2004, p. 35.

Times (London, England), June 10, 2004, p. 33.