Submission by Janey
Musicological Oh Snap! du jour:
(Regarding the Scarlattis)
"Domenico's operas and cantatas are as devoid of character and interest as Alessandro's tiresome toccatas for the cembalo."
Edward Dent, Alessandro Scarlatti: His Life and Works
Showing posts with label musicology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label musicology. Show all posts
Friday, March 26, 2010
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Dispatches from 808
Submission by Janey
Musicological Oh Snap! du jour:
Regarding a cantata spuriously attributed to Handel
The bass line, which sketches out the most obvious harmonies, is composed almost entirely of repeated half notes, and the outer accompanying parts rely to an unbelievable degree on chains of sequences...All in all, it would seem most charitable not to seek further for the composer.
John Mayo, "Handel's Italian Cantatas" (PhD Diss, 1977)
Musicological Oh Snap! du jour:
Regarding a cantata spuriously attributed to Handel
The bass line, which sketches out the most obvious harmonies, is composed almost entirely of repeated half notes, and the outer accompanying parts rely to an unbelievable degree on chains of sequences...All in all, it would seem most charitable not to seek further for the composer.
John Mayo, "Handel's Italian Cantatas" (PhD Diss, 1977)
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Dispatches from 808
Submission by Janey
Musicological Oh Snap! du Jour:
Regarding Francesco Maria de' Medici
His marriage was grotesquely unfruitful and therefore absolutely appropriate to the catastrophic atmosphere in which it took place.
Musicological Oh Snap! du Jour:
Regarding Francesco Maria de' Medici
His marriage was grotesquely unfruitful and therefore absolutely appropriate to the catastrophic atmosphere in which it took place.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Dispatches from 808
Submission by Janey
Snooty Academic Item du Jour:
The plural of terminus ante quem is termini ante quos. That is all.
Snooty Academic Item du Jour:
The plural of terminus ante quem is termini ante quos. That is all.
The Thesis
Submission by Janey
Apologies for what might be a kind of boring post, if you're not quite as much of a music dork as I am. Bear with me, though, since my monumental task this fall is to write my master's thesis. I'm a baroque cellist, and I'm getting a combined degree in that and musicology. So I'm writing a thesis and doing a lecture recital on the same topic. It's been surprisingly difficult to find a topic that is both musicologically juicy and musically challenging, actually. In general, my academic interests have run both earlier and later than my performance interests (and abilities). I think Medieval and Renaissance vocal music and the way it intertwines with culture is really interesting. I think popular music is underserved by academics, and occupies a fascinating place in modern society. But, let's face it guys, a lot of aspects of Baroque music have been done to death. Hence my bewildered bemusement to find myself staring down a thesis on Handel, one of the most done to death composers I can think of. Sure the music is great, but what more can there possibly be to say, you might ask? Quite a bit, in fact! As a cellist, I was stunned to learn that no one has ever really gone through to find all the bits that Handel wrote for cello solo. They're there, we all know it. And I'm setting out to find them, among other things. Because I am who I am, I'm also motivated by a desire to stick it to the Keyboard Mafia. Continuo is NOT in fact synonymous with harpsichord! Damn the man! Ahem. Anyway, I'm hoping to draw some interesting conclusions about the relationship between Handel's solo cello writing and his continuo lines.
Apologies for what might be a kind of boring post, if you're not quite as much of a music dork as I am. Bear with me, though, since my monumental task this fall is to write my master's thesis. I'm a baroque cellist, and I'm getting a combined degree in that and musicology. So I'm writing a thesis and doing a lecture recital on the same topic. It's been surprisingly difficult to find a topic that is both musicologically juicy and musically challenging, actually. In general, my academic interests have run both earlier and later than my performance interests (and abilities). I think Medieval and Renaissance vocal music and the way it intertwines with culture is really interesting. I think popular music is underserved by academics, and occupies a fascinating place in modern society. But, let's face it guys, a lot of aspects of Baroque music have been done to death. Hence my bewildered bemusement to find myself staring down a thesis on Handel, one of the most done to death composers I can think of. Sure the music is great, but what more can there possibly be to say, you might ask? Quite a bit, in fact! As a cellist, I was stunned to learn that no one has ever really gone through to find all the bits that Handel wrote for cello solo. They're there, we all know it. And I'm setting out to find them, among other things. Because I am who I am, I'm also motivated by a desire to stick it to the Keyboard Mafia. Continuo is NOT in fact synonymous with harpsichord! Damn the man! Ahem. Anyway, I'm hoping to draw some interesting conclusions about the relationship between Handel's solo cello writing and his continuo lines.
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