Edited Volumes by Daniel Barolsky
Open Access Musicology , 2020
In the fall of 2015, a collection of faculty at liberal arts colleges began a conversation about ... more In the fall of 2015, a collection of faculty at liberal arts colleges began a conversation about the challenges we faced as instructors: Why were there so few course materials accessible to undergraduates and lay readers that reflected current scholarly debate? How can we convey the relevance of studying music history to current and future generations of students? And how might we represent and reflect the myriad, often conflicting perspectives, positions, and identities that make up both music’s history and the writers of history?
Here we offer one response to those questions. Open Access Musicology is a free collection of essays, written in an accessible style and with a focus on modes of inquiry rather than content coverage. Our authors draw from their experience as scholars but also as teachers. They have been asked to describe why they became musicologists in the first place and how their individual paths led to the topics they explore and the questions they pose. Like most scholarly literature, the essays have all been reviewed by experts in the field. Unlike all scholarly literature, the essays have also been reviewed by students at a variety of institutions for clarity and relevance.
These essays are intended for undergraduates, graduate students, and interested readers without any particular expertise. They can be incorporated into courses on a range of topics as standalone readings or used to supplement textbooks. The topics introduce and explore a variety of subjects, practices, and methods but, above all, seek to stimulate classroom discussion on music history’s relevance to performers, listeners, and citizens. Open Access Musicology will never pretend to present complete histories, cover all elements of a subject, or satisfy the agenda of every reader. Rather, each essay provides an opening to further contemplation and study. We invite readers to follow the thematic links between essays, pursue notes or other online resources provided by authors, or simply repurpose the essay’s questions into new and exciting forms of research and creativity.
Papers by Daniel Barolsky
Routledge eBooks, May 15, 2024
Lever Press (leverpress.org) is a publisher of pathbreaking scholarship. Supported by a consortiu... more Lever Press (leverpress.org) is a publisher of pathbreaking scholarship. Supported by a consortium of liberal arts institutions focused on, and renowned for, excellence in both research and teaching, our press is grounded on three essential commitments: to be a digitally native press, to be a peerreviewed, open access press that charges no fees to either authors or their institutions, and to be a press aligned with the ethos and mission of liberal arts colleges.
Open Access Musicology Volume 2, 2023
This essay explores the aesthetics of anti-semitism in performance through a close reading of Ric... more This essay explores the aesthetics of anti-semitism in performance through a close reading of Richard Wagner's "On Conducting"
Empirical Musicology Review, 2018
This commentary situates Neumann's research within the existing literature on musicological ontol... more This commentary situates Neumann's research within the existing literature on musicological ontologies of the musical work as well as scholarship on the analysis of performance and recordings. The response focuses on the interdisciplinary strength of the author's method while offering a few caveats about the analytical tools used. Although Neumann ventures into an under-explored territory (i.e. the analysis of operatic voices), I urge the author not to isolate this analysis from other elements of performance, including both visual content and listening experience
Music Theory Online, 2016
At the 2004 joint AMS/SMT national meeting in Seattle, twenty-some theorists and musicologists fr... more At the 2004 joint AMS/SMT national meeting in Seattle, twenty-some theorists and musicologists from around the world convened the inaugural meeting of the SMT's Performance and Analysis Interest Group (PAIG), founded by Daphne Leong "to promote research into relations between performance and analysis, to support and further interests in all topics at the intersection of music theory and performance, to facilitate dialogue between performers and theorists, and to open new avenues for such interaction." (1) The founding of PAIG marked a period of rising interest in the study of musical performance within SMT. The very same conference included a special session (also organized by Daphne Leong) entitled "Performance and Analysis: Views from Theory, Musicology, and Performance," the proceedings of which were subsequently published in Music Theory Online 11.2 (March 2005). (2) [2] The present collection originated under similar circumstances at a gathering commemorating the tenth anniversary of PAIG's founding at the 2014 joint SMT/AMS meeting. Entitled "Performance and Analysis Today: New Horizons," the meeting comprised six short position papers by theorists and musicologists-most of them highly accomplished performers-along with responses by John Rink and Janet Schmalfeldt and a lively discussion period with the nearly one hundred attendees. (3) In an effort to assess the current state of studies in performance and analysis, and in the spirit of suggesting new avenues for future research, the invited panelists were selected to represent a broad cross-section of perspectives and backgrounds. This collection's eclecticism is therefore by design and pushes against conventional disciplinary boundaries-indeed, even against conventional understandings of "musical analysis." [3] At the time of PAIG's founding, studies of analysis and performance already had a long tradition within Anglo-American music theory. (4) The history of this loosely defined sub-discipline is in some ways problematic, in that the seeds that proved to be foundational are varied and the resulting growth complicated (delightfully) by the intersections of multiple perspectives. In Schmalfeldt 1985 and Wallace Berry 1989-two influential studies that continue to stimulate discussion and debate-along with responses to both by Rink (1990), Jonathan Dunsby (1996), Joel Lester (1995 and 1998), and Nicholas Cook (2001), among many others, we see the framing of the primary issue: How do we make sense of the relationship between, and the priorities of, performers and analysts? [4] These simple questions resist straightforward answers, and the issues have only grown more nebulous over the ensuing decades, with shifting attitudes concerning the concept of the musical work and the performer's or theorist's obligations toward it. Nor has a consensus been reached about a unifying thing called "structure" and its relationship to a composer's or performer's creative enterprises. Further complexities arise as new, co-creative voices are introduced, such as the fickle and constantly changing perceptions of listeners (explored, in different ways, by both cognitive and ethnographic studies) and the independently interpretive voices of performers, which were said to be "strikingly absent"
Music Theory Online, 2007
This paper presents five recordings of the fourth movement of Chopin’s Piano Sonata in B-flat min... more This paper presents five recordings of the fourth movement of Chopin’s Piano Sonata in B-flat minor Op. 35. Rather than looking at the performer as an instrument of the analyst, the author demonstrates the way in which the performer’s interpretive choices are themselves analytical. Expanding on work by Joel Lester, the author challenges theorists to consider how performers can both provide answers to our questions but can also, by challenging conventional interpretations, introduce new modes of analytic inquiry.
Journal of Music History Pedagogy, Aug 20, 2011
Analyzing Performance, 2012
While Bach’s Prelude in C minor from the Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1 (BWV 847) is straightforwar... more While Bach’s Prelude in C minor from the Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1 (BWV 847) is straightforward in several respects, its duple hypermeter defies simple and consistent continuation. In what is often regarded as an idiosyncratic interpretation of the piece, Glenn Gould grapples with this complex hypermeter and offers a carefully considered and compelling analysis. Through a comparison with performances by Samuel Feinberg, Wanda Landowska, and with Carl Czerny's performance edition, we argue that Gould reveals new tensions and structures within Bach’s score.
Quodlibet. Revista de Especialización Musical
All too often, critics, historians, and music analysts draw upon the aesthetic and analytic langu... more All too often, critics, historians, and music analysts draw upon the aesthetic and analytic language of composition to describe and account for performed interpretations. This article explores the inequities and challenges that derive from this borrowing of language. Yet a study of Ernst Levy and his recorded performance of Brahms, however, reveals how compositional aesthetics can also be appropriated and repurposed to new creative ends.
Journal of Music History Pedagogy, 2012
The Editors invited a collection of musicologists from various institutions to engage in an e-mai... more The Editors invited a collection of musicologists from various institutions to engage in an e-mail discussion with Daniel Barolsky over the summer of 2012 on the topic of how music historians engage students with issues of performance in their classes. As Barolsky states in his opening essay, “The music in our existing histories is restricted to past compositions, as mere museum artifacts. Yet the identities of the wonderful performers who brought these pieces to life (and many of whom we can still see and hear today!) are relegated to the liner notes, their presence and interpretive contribution repressed and ignored.” Included in this exchange are Sara Gross Ceballos (Lawrence University), Rebecca Plack (San Francisco Conservatory), and Steven M. Whiting (University of Michigan).
Stravinsky in Context, 2020
This chapter examines Igor Stravinsky's recorded performance (with his son Soulima) of Mozart's F... more This chapter examines Igor Stravinsky's recorded performance (with his son Soulima) of Mozart's Fugue in C minor K. 426. The author argues that this performance gives us an opportunity, rarely taken by scholars interested in Stravinsky's performances, to separate Stravinsky the performer from Stravinsky the composer and explore, more generally, how we think about the aesthetics of interpretation.
Quodlibet, 2021
All too often, critics, historians, and music analysts draw upon the aesthetic and a... more All too often, critics, historians, and music analysts draw upon the aesthetic and analytic language of composition to describe and account for performed interpretations. This article explores the inequities and challenges that derive from this borrowing of language. Yet a study of Ernst Levy and his recorded performance of Brahms, however, reveals how compositional aesthetics can also be appropriated and repurposed to new creative ends.
Norton Guide to Teaching Music History, 2019
This chapter examines the ways that music histories have marginalized performers. In this chapter... more This chapter examines the ways that music histories have marginalized performers. In this chapter I point out some of the the structural reasons that lead to this imbalance and also suggest ways that teachers and scholars can begin to overcome the exclusion of performers, their voices, and their sounds.
The Cambridge Haydn Encyclopedia, 2019
This entry introduces scholars and teachers to the pitfalls and advantages to studying the record... more This entry introduces scholars and teachers to the pitfalls and advantages to studying the recordings of Haydn (or any composer for that matter). Moreover I argue that we also can't escape the impact recordings have already had on our modes of study and analysis and, thus, must engage with changing technologies whether we like them or not.
While Bach’s Prelude in C minor from the Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1 (BWV 847) is straightforwar... more While Bach’s Prelude in C minor from the Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1 (BWV 847) is straightforward in several respects, its duple hypermeter defies simple and consistent continuation. In what is often regarded as an idiosyncratic interpretation of the piece, Glenn Gould grapples with this complex hypermeter and offers a carefully considered and compelling analysis. Through a comparison with performances by Samuel Feinberg, Wanda Landowska, and with Carl Czerny's performance edition, we argue that Gould reveals new tensions and structures within Bach’s score.
Music Theory Online, Jun 1, 2013
The Editors invited a collection of musicologists from various institutions to engage in an e-mai... more The Editors invited a collection of musicologists from various institutions to engage in an e-mail discussion with Daniel Barolsky over the summer of 2012 on the topic of how music historians engage students with issues of performance in their classes. As Barolsky states in his opening essay, “The music in our existing histories is restricted to past compositions, as mere museum artifacts. Yet the identities of the wonderful performers who brought these pieces to life (and many of whom we can still see and hear today!) are relegated to the liner notes, their presence and interpretive contribution repressed and ignored.” Included in this exchange are Sara Gross Ceballos (Lawrence University), Rebecca Plack (San Francisco Conservatory), and Steven M. Whiting (University of Michigan).
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Edited Volumes by Daniel Barolsky
Here we offer one response to those questions. Open Access Musicology is a free collection of essays, written in an accessible style and with a focus on modes of inquiry rather than content coverage. Our authors draw from their experience as scholars but also as teachers. They have been asked to describe why they became musicologists in the first place and how their individual paths led to the topics they explore and the questions they pose. Like most scholarly literature, the essays have all been reviewed by experts in the field. Unlike all scholarly literature, the essays have also been reviewed by students at a variety of institutions for clarity and relevance.
These essays are intended for undergraduates, graduate students, and interested readers without any particular expertise. They can be incorporated into courses on a range of topics as standalone readings or used to supplement textbooks. The topics introduce and explore a variety of subjects, practices, and methods but, above all, seek to stimulate classroom discussion on music history’s relevance to performers, listeners, and citizens. Open Access Musicology will never pretend to present complete histories, cover all elements of a subject, or satisfy the agenda of every reader. Rather, each essay provides an opening to further contemplation and study. We invite readers to follow the thematic links between essays, pursue notes or other online resources provided by authors, or simply repurpose the essay’s questions into new and exciting forms of research and creativity.
Papers by Daniel Barolsky
Analysis and Performance Today: New Horizons
http://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.16.22.2/toc.22.2.html
Introduction to the Collection
by Daniel Barolsky (Beloit College) and Edward Klorman (Queens College and Graduate Center, CUNY; and The Juilliard School)
http://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.16.22.2/mto.16.22.2.barolsky_klorman.html
Art and Science, Beauty and Truth, Performance and Analysis?
Benjamin Binder (Duquesne University)
http://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.16.22.2/mto.16.22.2.binder.html
Analysis and Performance, or wissen, können, kennen
Daphne Leong (University of Colorado Boulder)
http://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.16.22.2/mto.16.22.2.leong.html
Ways of Knowing the Body, Bodily Ways of Knowing
Peter Martens (Texas Tech University)
http://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.16.22.2/mto.16.22.2.martens.html
The Score in the Performer’s Hands: Reading Traces of the Act of Performance as a Form of Analysis?
Fabio Morabito (King’s College London)
http://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.16.22.2/mto.16.22.2.morabito.html
Response
John Rink (University of Cambridge)
http://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.16.22.2/mto.16.22.2.rink.html
Response
Janet Schmalfeldt (Tufts University)
http://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.16.22.2/mto.16.22.2.schmalfeldt.html
Here we offer one response to those questions. Open Access Musicology is a free collection of essays, written in an accessible style and with a focus on modes of inquiry rather than content coverage. Our authors draw from their experience as scholars but also as teachers. They have been asked to describe why they became musicologists in the first place and how their individual paths led to the topics they explore and the questions they pose. Like most scholarly literature, the essays have all been reviewed by experts in the field. Unlike all scholarly literature, the essays have also been reviewed by students at a variety of institutions for clarity and relevance.
These essays are intended for undergraduates, graduate students, and interested readers without any particular expertise. They can be incorporated into courses on a range of topics as standalone readings or used to supplement textbooks. The topics introduce and explore a variety of subjects, practices, and methods but, above all, seek to stimulate classroom discussion on music history’s relevance to performers, listeners, and citizens. Open Access Musicology will never pretend to present complete histories, cover all elements of a subject, or satisfy the agenda of every reader. Rather, each essay provides an opening to further contemplation and study. We invite readers to follow the thematic links between essays, pursue notes or other online resources provided by authors, or simply repurpose the essay’s questions into new and exciting forms of research and creativity.
Analysis and Performance Today: New Horizons
http://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.16.22.2/toc.22.2.html
Introduction to the Collection
by Daniel Barolsky (Beloit College) and Edward Klorman (Queens College and Graduate Center, CUNY; and The Juilliard School)
http://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.16.22.2/mto.16.22.2.barolsky_klorman.html
Art and Science, Beauty and Truth, Performance and Analysis?
Benjamin Binder (Duquesne University)
http://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.16.22.2/mto.16.22.2.binder.html
Analysis and Performance, or wissen, können, kennen
Daphne Leong (University of Colorado Boulder)
http://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.16.22.2/mto.16.22.2.leong.html
Ways of Knowing the Body, Bodily Ways of Knowing
Peter Martens (Texas Tech University)
http://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.16.22.2/mto.16.22.2.martens.html
The Score in the Performer’s Hands: Reading Traces of the Act of Performance as a Form of Analysis?
Fabio Morabito (King’s College London)
http://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.16.22.2/mto.16.22.2.morabito.html
Response
John Rink (University of Cambridge)
http://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.16.22.2/mto.16.22.2.rink.html
Response
Janet Schmalfeldt (Tufts University)
http://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.16.22.2/mto.16.22.2.schmalfeldt.html