JACOB-LOEWENSOHN, Alice

Alice Jacob was born on July 12, 1895, in Berlin. Her parents—her father a company clerk, her mother—a co-owner of the family factory for textile ritual objects—enabled Alice and her sister Käthe to receive an excellent musical education. At the renowned Stern Conservatory, Alice studied composition with Professor Wilhelm Klatte and piano with Professor Leo Kestenberg. The pedagogical piano recitals of Ferruccio Busoni also had a decisive influence on her.

From 1917, Alice Jacob worked as a music teacher, giving piano lessons, theory, and ear training. Until 1933, she significantly shaped the curriculum at the Jewish Youth School in Berlin. In the 1920s, she began to devote herself specifically to Jewish music. Gerson-Kiwi points out that the collection and analysis of Hasidic music became a major focus of her research.