Sachs was born in Berlin in 1881. Accomplished player of many instruments, he was appointed director of the Staatliche Instrumentensammlung and was in charge of a large collection of musical instruments. His work with Erich Moritz von Hornbostel remains the most widely used system of classification by ethnomusicologists and organologists. In 1933 he lost the position as a result of the Nazi Party, ending up eventually in New York.
I was riveted by the opening three words: "Mythology is wrong." So many of our "beliefs" about music are wrong, and susceptible to the patient compilation of anthropological data gathering, mathmatical calculation of tones, physical facture, and historical documentation, all of which Sachs indulges. His method is historical. He begins with the Origins -- "...the number and variety of instruments in the primitive world are amazing." [3] He distinguishes the "magical rather than musical aims" of the Primitive world. He takes us in time through the ages across the globe, noting the notation systems, the instrumentation, and the development of a past-time of pleasure and aesthetics. ( )