Walter Deutsch

Walter Deutsch (29 April 1923 – 13 January 2025) was an Austrian musicologist specialising in folk music research. He first worked as a composer and pianist, but became interested in folk music and performed field research, collecting hundreds of sound documents of songs, pieces and dances. He founded an institute for folk music research at the Wiener Musikakademie in 1965, later including ethnomusicology, and directed it until 1993. He was engaged in the International Council for Traditional Music. Deutsch became famous for running longtime series on ORF, Austrian radio and television, presenting folk musicians live from 1967. He compiled his scientific main opus, a collection of Austrian folk music in 23 volumes entitled Corpus Musicae Popularis Austriacae (COMPA), after he was emerited.

Life and career Born in Bozen on 29 April 1923,