Hanoch Avenary (1908-1994) studied musicology, literature and art history at the universities of Leipzig, Munich, Frankfurt and Königsberg (Kaliningrad), where he received his PhD in 1931. He took up a research fellowship in musicology at The Hebrew University, Jerusalem (1965-72); became a lecturer in 1966 and assistant professor in 1972 at the musicology department of Tel-Aviv University, eventually rising to the rank of Associate Professor. He was co-editor of Orbis Musicae, co-founder of Hebrew Quarterly for Music and was appointed president of the Israel Musicological Society in 1971. His fields of interest were sacred music, particularly Jewish and Near Eastern music. In 1994 he received the Israel Prize for his achievements in Jewish Music Research.