Prof. Dr. RÜDIGER SCHUMACHER
1953-2007
ESEM President 2002-2005
ESEM Secretary General 1997-2002
Our Dear Colleague
Rüdiger Schumacher was born on 23 of June 1953 near Bonn. From 1971 to 1979 He studied musicology, German philology, malayology and theatrology at the university of Cologne where he obtained his doctorate in 1979 with the thesis “Die Suluk-Gesänge des Dalang im Schattenspiel Zentraljavas”.
Between 1980 and 1986 he worked with Josef Kuckertz at the Free University Berlin where he got habilitation in 1988 upon the work “Wirâma: Der gesungene Vortrag altjavanischer Versdichtung in Bali”. Further career led Him through lecturing at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover, University of Kiel and the FU Berlin to the University of Cologne where He became a professor of musicology.
In 1995 Rüdiger Schumacher was awarded the Jaap Kunst Prize for His research on Indonesian music.
The ESEM members remember Rüdiger as the devoted Secretary General (1997-2002) and President (2002-2005), and – first and foremost – a wonderful human being.
Information about of His death came as a great shock to all of us. We should be very grateful for all His work for ESEM, and especially for His successful efforts to put ESEM back on the right track, after severe organisational problems we had.
Rüdiger Schumacher passed away on 24 December 2007, leaving the ESEM community in deep mourning.