Music History

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This article is about the academic field of 'music history. For a chronological overview of music, see history of music.

The field of music history, or sometimes historical musicology, is the highly diverse subfield of the broader discipline of musicology that studies the composition, performance, reception, and criticism of music over time. Historical studies of music are for example concerned with a composer's life and works, the developments of styles and genres (such as baroque concertos), the social function of music for a particular group of people (such as music at the court), or the modes of performance at a particular place and time (such as the performance forces of Johann Sebastian Bach's choir in Leipzig).

In theory, "music history" could refer to the study of the history of any type or genre of music (e.g., the history of Indian music or the history of Rock music). In practice, these research topics are nearly always misleadingly categorized as part of ethnomusicology or cultural studies.

The methods of music history include source studies (esp. manuscript studies), paleography, philology (especially textual criticism), style criticism, historiography (the choice of historical method), musical analysis, and iconography. The application of musical analysis to further these goals is often a part of music history, though pure analysis or the development of new tools of music analysis is more likely to be seen in the field of music theory. (For a more detailed discussion of the methods see the section on "Research in Music History" below)

Some of the intellectual products of music historians include editions of musical works, biographies of composers and other musicians, studies of the relationship between words and music, and the reflections upon the place of music in society.

Music History as Taught Subject Although most performers of classical and traditional instruments receive some instruction in music history from teachers throughout their training, the majority of formal music history courses are offered at the college level. In Canada, some music students receive training prior to undergraduate studies because examinations in music history (as well as music theory) are required to complete Royal Conservatory certification at the Grade 9 level and higher. Particularly in the United States and Canada, university courses tend to be divided into two groups: one type to be taken by students with little or no music theory or ability to read music (often called music appreciation) and the other for more musically literate students (often those planning on making a career in music). Most medium and large institutions will offer both types of courses. The two types of courses will usually differ in length (one to two semesters vs. two to four), breadth (many music appreciation courses begin at the Baroque music or Classical music era eras and might omit music after World War II while courses for majors traditionally span the period from the Medieval music to recent times), and depth.

Both types of courses tend to emphasize a balance among the acquisition of musical repertory (often emphasized through listening examinations), study and analysis of these works, biographical and cultural details of music and musicians, and writing about music, perhaps through music criticism.

More specialized seminars in music history tend to use a similar approach on a narrower subject while introducing more of the tools of research in music history (see below). The range of possible topics is virtually limitless. Some examples might be "Music during World War I," "Medieval and Renaissance musical instrument music," "Music and Process," "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Don Giovanni." In the United States, these seminars are generally taken by advanced undergraduates and graduate students, though in European countries they often form the backbone of music history education.

Research in Music History The methods and tools of music history are nearly as numerous as its subjects and therefore make a strict categorization impossible. However, a few trends and approaches can be outlined here. Like in any other historical discipline, most research in music history can be roughly divided into two categories: the establishing of factual data and the interpretation of data. Most historical research does not fall into one category solely, but rather employs a combination of methods from both categories. It should also be noted that the act of establishing factual data can never be fully separate from the act of interpretation.

Source studies. A desire to examine sources of music closest to the composer or period which produced it has made manuscript, archival, and source study important in almost every field of musicology. In early music in particular, manuscript study may be the only way to study an unedited work. Such study may be complicated by the need to decipher mensural notation of music notation. Manuscript study can also allow a researcher to return to a version of a work prior to the interventions of later editing, perhaps as a basis for her own edition.

Archive work may be conducted to find connections to music or musicians in a collection of documents of broader interests (e.g., Vatican Secret Archives pay records, letters to a patroness of the arts) or to more systematically study a collection of documents related to a musician. Rarely but increasingly, such archival work can be done virtually.One example among many: the Arnold Schoenberg Center has placed many archival materials online: .

Performance practice draws on many of the tools of historical musicology to answer the specific question of how music was performed in various places at various times in the past. Although previously confined to early music, recent research in performance practice has embraced questions such as how the early history of recording affected the use of vibrato in classical music, or instruments in Klezmer.

Biographical studies of composers can give a better sense of the chronology of compositions, influences on style and works, and provide important background to the interpretation (by performers or listeners) of works. Thus biography can form one part of the larger study of the cultural significance, underlying program, or agenda of a work; a study which gained increasing importance in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Sociological studies focus on the function of music in society as well as its meaning for individuals and society as a whole. Researchers emphasizing the social importance of music (including classical music) are sometimes called New musicology.

History of Music Scholarship Before 1800 The first studies of musical history date back to the middle of the 18th century. Giovanni Battista Martini published a three volume history titled Storia della musica (History of Music) between 1757 and 1781. Martin Gerbert published a two volume history of sacred music titled De cantu de musica sacra in 1774. Gerbert followed this work with a three volume work Scriptores ecclesiastici de musica sacra containing significant writings on sacred music from the third century AD onwards in 1784.

1800-1950 Historical musicology began as a discipline in the nineteenth century focusing on the contributions of earlier composers. Samuel Wesley played a critical role in the revival of interest in Johann Sebastian Bach through performing, lecturing on and editing his works.Felix Mendelssohn similarly played a critical role in the revival of Bach but as the founder of the Felix Mendelssohn College of Music and Theatre. Historical musicological scholarship led to the publication of Gesellschaft editions of George Frideric Handel as well as Bach.

In the twentieth century, the work of Johannes Wolf and others developed studies in Medieval music and early Renaissance music. Wolf's writings on the history of musical notation are considered to be particularly notable by musicologists. Historical musicology has played a critical role in renewed interest in Baroque music as well as medieval and Renaissance music. In particular, the authentic performance movement owes much to historical musicological scholarship.

Towards the middle of the twentieth century, historical musicology was increasingly popular as a field of scholarship as musicology generally became more popular as a field of study. Similarly, there was an expansion of scholarly articles in musicological and music journals.

References

Online Book review of Samuel Wesley 1766-1837: a Sourcebook by Michael Kassler and Phillip Olleson
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians Centenary Edition 2001 Schirmer 2001 article on Martin Gerbert Reproduced on Biography Research Center Thomson Gale 2005
Merriam-Webster's Biographical Dictionary Merriam-Webster 1995 entry on Samuel Wesley Reproduced on Biography Research Center Thomson Gale 2005
John Cooper "Knowing Mendelssohn: a Challenge from the Primary Sources" Notes Music Library Association September 2004 v61 i1 p35(61)
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians Op. Cit. article on Johannes Wolf

Daniel Leech-Wilkinson The Modern Invention of Medieval Music: Scholarship, Ideology, Performance Cambridge University Press Cambridge 2003 ISBN 0-521-81870-2

See also This article is about the academic field of 'music history. For a chronological overview of music, see history of music.

The field of music history, or sometimes historical musicology, is the highly diverse subfield of the broader discipline of musicology that studies the composition, performance, reception, and criticism of music over time. Historical studies of music are for example concerned with a composer's life and works, the developments of styles and genres (such as baroque concertos), the social function of music for a particular group of people (such as music at the court), or the modes of performance at a particular place and time (such as the performance forces of Johann Sebastian Bach's choir in Leipzig).

In theory, "music history" could refer to the study of the history of any type or genre of music (e.g., the history of Indian music or the history of Rock music). In practice, these research topics are nearly always misleadingly categorized as part of ethnomusicology or cultural studies.

The methods of music history include source studies (esp. manuscript studies), paleography, philology (especially textual criticism), style criticism, historiography (the choice of historical method), musical analysis, and iconography. The application of musical analysis to further these goals is often a part of music history, though pure analysis or the development of new tools of music analysis is more likely to be seen in the field of music theory. (For a more detailed discussion of the methods see the section on "Research in Music History" below)

Some of the intellectual products of music historians include editions of musical works, biographies of composers and other musicians, studies of the relationship between words and music, and the reflections upon the place of music in society.

Music History as Taught Subject Although most performers of classical and traditional instruments receive some instruction in music history from teachers throughout their training, the majority of formal music history courses are offered at the college level. In Canada, some music students receive training prior to undergraduate studies because examinations in music history (as well as music theory) are required to complete Royal Conservatory certification at the Grade 9 level and higher. Particularly in the United States and Canada, university courses tend to be divided into two groups: one type to be taken by students with little or no music theory or ability to read music (often called music appreciation) and the other for more musically literate students (often those planning on making a career in music). Most medium and large institutions will offer both types of courses. The two types of courses will usually differ in length (one to two semesters vs. two to four), breadth (many music appreciation courses begin at the Baroque music or Classical music era eras and might omit music after World War II while courses for majors traditionally span the period from the Medieval music to recent times), and depth.

Both types of courses tend to emphasize a balance among the acquisition of musical repertory (often emphasized through listening examinations), study and analysis of these works, biographical and cultural details of music and musicians, and writing about music, perhaps through music criticism.

More specialized seminars in music history tend to use a similar approach on a narrower subject while introducing more of the tools of research in music history (see below). The range of possible topics is virtually limitless. Some examples might be "Music during World War I," "Medieval and Renaissance musical instrument music," "Music and Process," "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Don Giovanni." In the United States, these seminars are generally taken by advanced undergraduates and graduate students, though in European countries they often form the backbone of music history education.

Research in Music History The methods and tools of music history are nearly as numerous as its subjects and therefore make a strict categorization impossible. However, a few trends and approaches can be outlined here. Like in any other historical discipline, most research in music history can be roughly divided into two categories: the establishing of factual data and the interpretation of data. Most historical research does not fall into one category solely, but rather employs a combination of methods from both categories. It should also be noted that the act of establishing factual data can never be fully separate from the act of interpretation.

Source studies. A desire to examine sources of music closest to the composer or period which produced it has made manuscript, archival, and source study important in almost every field of musicology. In early music in particular, manuscript study may be the only way to study an unedited work. Such study may be complicated by the need to decipher mensural notation of music notation. Manuscript study can also allow a researcher to return to a version of a work prior to the interventions of later editing, perhaps as a basis for her own edition.

Archive work may be conducted to find connections to music or musicians in a collection of documents of broader interests (e.g., Vatican Secret Archives pay records, letters to a patroness of the arts) or to more systematically study a collection of documents related to a musician. Rarely but increasingly, such archival work can be done virtually.One example among many: the Arnold Schoenberg Center has placed many archival materials online: .

Performance practice draws on many of the tools of historical musicology to answer the specific question of how music was performed in various places at various times in the past. Although previously confined to early music, recent research in performance practice has embraced questions such as how the early history of recording affected the use of vibrato in classical music, or instruments in Klezmer.

Biographical studies of composers can give a better sense of the chronology of compositions, influences on style and works, and provide important background to the interpretation (by performers or listeners) of works. Thus biography can form one part of the larger study of the cultural significance, underlying program, or agenda of a work; a study which gained increasing importance in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Sociological studies focus on the function of music in society as well as its meaning for individuals and society as a whole. Researchers emphasizing the social importance of music (including classical music) are sometimes called New musicology.

History of Music Scholarship Before 1800 The first studies of musical history date back to the middle of the 18th century. Giovanni Battista Martini published a three volume history titled Storia della musica (History of Music) between 1757 and 1781. Martin Gerbert published a two volume history of sacred music titled De cantu de musica sacra in 1774. Gerbert followed this work with a three volume work Scriptores ecclesiastici de musica sacra containing significant writings on sacred music from the third century AD onwards in 1784.

1800-1950 Historical musicology began as a discipline in the nineteenth century focusing on the contributions of earlier composers. Samuel Wesley played a critical role in the revival of interest in Johann Sebastian Bach through performing, lecturing on and editing his works.Felix Mendelssohn similarly played a critical role in the revival of Bach but as the founder of the Felix Mendelssohn College of Music and Theatre. Historical musicological scholarship led to the publication of Gesellschaft editions of George Frideric Handel as well as Bach.

In the twentieth century, the work of Johannes Wolf and others developed studies in Medieval music and early Renaissance music. Wolf's writings on the history of musical notation are considered to be particularly notable by musicologists. Historical musicology has played a critical role in renewed interest in Baroque music as well as medieval and Renaissance music. In particular, the authentic performance movement owes much to historical musicological scholarship.

Towards the middle of the twentieth century, historical musicology was increasingly popular as a field of scholarship as musicology generally became more popular as a field of study. Similarly, there was an expansion of scholarly articles in musicological and music journals.

References

Online Book review of Samuel Wesley 1766-1837: a Sourcebook by Michael Kassler and Phillip Olleson
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians Centenary Edition 2001 Schirmer 2001 article on Martin Gerbert Reproduced on Biography Research Center Thomson Gale 2005
Merriam-Webster's Biographical Dictionary Merriam-Webster 1995 entry on Samuel Wesley Reproduced on Biography Research Center Thomson Gale 2005
John Cooper "Knowing Mendelssohn: a Challenge from the Primary Sources" Notes Music Library Association September 2004 v61 i1 p35(61)
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians Op. Cit. article on Johannes Wolf

Daniel Leech-Wilkinson The Modern Invention of Medieval Music: Scholarship, Ideology, Performance Cambridge University Press Cambridge 2003 ISBN 0-521-81870-2