A Profile for Public Musicology
by Drew MasseyAs my co-editor Kern has noted, 2015 marks the fiftieth anniversary of a pivotal moment in musicology: the Kerman-Lowinsky debates about the purpose of musicology. Interested readers can...
View ArticleCriticizing your Friends
Bernard Jacobson writes about his new book Star Turns and Cameo AppearancesThere probably are, I cheerfully confess, musicians and writers who might think that a critic who never took a music course in...
View ArticleCurators in the Musical Museum: The Case of Haydn
Bryan ProkschThe idea that the canon of musical works is a sort of museum—an idea advanced by Lydia Goehr, Peter Burkholder, and others—makes a lot of sense. There are certain composers and works from...
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Growing the Database of Women Songwriters, 1890-1930
by Christopher ReynoldsTwo years ago I published an article in Notes (69 [2013]: 671-87): “Documenting the Zenith of Women Song Composers: A Database of Songs Published in the United States and the...
View ArticleOops
We managed to publish two pieces just now before their scheduled time, and before the editorial process was complete. We've pulled them down with the goal of restoring the expected schedule of things....
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Criticizing Your Friends
We asked the critic Bernard Jacobson to reflect on his book Star Turns and Cameo Appearances, to be released in December. There probably are, I cheerfully confess, musicians and writers who might think...
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That Debate, again
by Bonnie Gordon2015 is a big year for fiftieth anniversaries in music. In 1965 Bob Dylan went electric at the Newport Folk festival, members of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys all...
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Letter from Florence
Jessie Ann Owens writes:I am fortunate to be a visiting professor at Villa I Tatti this semester, and to rediscover the beauty of the place, nestled in the hills outside of Florence, the warmth of the...
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Curators in the Musical Museum: The Case of Haydn
by Bryan ProkschThe idea that the canon of musical works is a sort of museum—an idea advanced by Lydia Goehr, Peter Burkholder, and others—makes a lot of sense. Classical audiences are expected to be...
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Harold Arlen: Music From Way Up High
by Walter Rimler Harold Arlen was part of a community of songwriters who were friends and supporters of each other’s work. “We were always together in one bunch trying to help one another,” he told an...
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David G. Hughes (1926–2015)
A memorial for Professor Hughes takes place Sunday, 4 October 2015 at 4:00 PM EDT, in John Knowles Paine Concert Hall on the Harvard Campus.David Hughes, Harvard University Fanny Peabody Mason...
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The Voice Returns: New Season, Same Blind Spot?
by William ChengWilliam Cheng's essay first appeared in Pacific Standard, 25 September 2015. Season 9 of NBC’s The Voice kicked off this week with its signature blind auditions, during which...
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Dear Abbé
Professional musicologists offer answers and advice. Free.DEAR ABBÉ:Do you know who this nice lady is? BOB J. IN NYC, NOT BRUNSWICK DEAR...
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Dear Abbé
Professional musicologists offer answers and advice. Free.CHERS LECTEURS, CHÈRES LECTRICES:The photograph is of Patty Smith Hill (1868–1946), principal of the Louisville Experimental Kindergarten...
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Exotic Reflections
by Ralph LockeI have long been intrigued by the problem of how music relates to what is widely called “the exotic.” By “the exotic” I mean the various qualities that people in a given locale associate...
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Of Sound Minds and Tuning Forks: Charcot’s Acoustic Experiments at the...
Plate 20, Iconographie photographique de la Salpêtrière vol. 3 by Carmel RazOne intriguing image stands out among the many unusual photographs in Désiré-Magloire Bourneville and Paul Régnard’s...
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Music for Flag Lowering Ceremonies
By Drew MasseyIt seems that power struggles these days are frequently mediated by the language of sport. Obama chose not to “spike the football” following Abbottabad; the Gregory Brothers, while better...
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Gershwin and color: how blue is the Rhapsody?
By Olivia MattisThis Essay first appeared on the OUPBlog on September 28 2015.Everyone knows George Gershwin as a composer, songwriter, pianist and icon of American music. But few know of his...
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Mademoiselle and Igor
by Kimberly Francis1, place Lili BoulangerParisIn 2004, challenged by my thesis advisor, I travelled to Paris to conduct research on Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979) for the first time of many visits. While...
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Trailers, Tonality, and the Force of Nostalgia
By Frank LehmanFilm trailers are like hyperactive microcosms of the movies they herald. Their formal compression and immediacy makes these mini-films terrific laboratories in which to explore how...
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