(b Sumedang, 7 Dec 1902; d Bandung, 9 April 1979). Indonesian musicologist. He received his initial training in Western music at the Holland Inlandsche School, Sumedang and continued his studies in Western music theory and acoustics at the Kweekschool, Bandung (1916–22). His initial attempts to understand the nature of Sundanese tuning systems were made on the guitar (1916–20). He created the Sundanese solfège system (‘da-mi-na-ti-la’) in 1923, which he used in his theoretical writings as well as in songbooks for children. In collaboration with the Dutch musicologist Jaap Kunst during the late 1920s and 30s, he began measuring gamelan tunings scientifically by using a monochord and A.J. Ellis's cents system. The collaboration with Kunst resulted in many publications including a jointly published article (1929) as well as Kunst's monumental De toonkunst van Java (1934), where Koesoemadinata is cited more than 30 times. His theoretical writings on Sundanese tuning systems and scales are the most sophisticated of the 20th century. His work over several decades culminated in a 17-tone model – the octave is comprised of 17 equal intervals of 70 10/17 cents – from which the notes of individual Sundanese scales could be derived. Koesoemadinata was also a composer (his pieces include Lemah Cai (‘Our native land’), Dewi Sartika, among others), playwright and director of music-dramas (Sarkam-Sarkim (‘The brothers Sarkam and Sarkim’) and Iblis Mindo Wahyu (‘Satan’s personification as divine revelation’), among others).
with J. Kunst: ‘Een en ander over pelog en slendro’, Tijdschrift voor Indische taal-l, and- en volkenkunde, lxix (1929), 320–52
Diadjar mamaos rakitan pelog, djilid I [Learning to sing in Pelog, volume 1] (Weltevreden, 1929)
Diadjar mamaos rakitan salendro, djilid I [Learning to sing in Salendro, volume 1] (Weltevreden, 1930)
Sastraning Kanajagan, djilid I [The art of music, volume 1] (Weltevreden, 1934)
Ringkesan Pangawikan Rinenggaswara (Ringkesan Elmuning Kanajagan) [An outline of music theory] (Jakarta, 1940/R)
‘Het muziekonderwijs voor de inheemsche kinderen’, Gedenkboek H.I.K. Bandoeng 1866–1941 (Batavia, 1941), 60–72
1 32 4. Sa-Ri-A-Rum (Jakarta, 1950)
Ilmu seni raras: ilmu musik Indonesia asli [The science of music: knowledge of traditional Indonesian music] (Jakarta, 1969)
ANDREW N. WEINTRAUB