Time Schedule:
George S Bozarth
MUHST 519
Seattle Campus
Study of modern procedures for preparing critical editions. Related areas of study may include analysis of musical style and historical and performance problems inherent in works being edited.
Class description
TITLE: Editing Young Amy, and Other Matters
By studying autograph manuscripts and first editions, this seminar will cut its editorial teeth on preparing critiques of editions of Brahms’s organ music and a Mozart piano sonata, and will survey the history of music editing with Scarlatti editions providing examples. These assignments will be done individually and discussed in class.
We will then constitute ourselves as an editorial team and prepare an edition of passages of the unpublished music dictionary that the young Amy Beach created as she was trying to teach herself the craft and art of music composition. In the process we will consider why Beach had to teach herself, and we will explore the writings and music she was studying and consider the early works she was composing. We will also begin to fashion an introductory essay to accompany our edition. Our goal will be to create a publishable edition of this newly discovered seminal document that will provide a window into the developing mind of this important 19th-century American composer.
Beautiful music and the excitement of discovery!
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Discussion of assignments and teamwork on a class project.
Recommended preparation
Good musicianship, an inquiring mind, and a good attention to detail.
Class assignments and grading
Assessing and preparing editions, thinking about music, and placing music within society contexts.
Excellence, of course!
