Sonneck Society for American Music
Bulletin, Volume XXIV, no. 3 (Fall 1998)
Bulletin Board
Report from the Web Review Editor
The construction of an additional page on the Sonneck World Wide Web site that contains peer-reviewed
links to other Web sties is moving along smoothly. Since March, addresses to approximately forty-five
sites pertaining to American music have been sent out to about twenty reviewers and nearly half of the
reviews have been returned. More than seventy-five sites, almost all of which are devoted to popular
music (predominantly blues, rock, jazz, and country), still need to be reviewed. The process involves
filling out a worksheet that takes approximately fifteen minutes to half an hour per Web site. If you
would like to review any of these sites, please contact me by email at krege@udel.edu.
We are hoping to mount this page on our own Sonneck Web site sometime before the Fort Worth conference.
Many thanks to those who have already volunteered; they will be acknowledged at a later date.
--Karen Rege, editor
MUSA Conference Sessions
With the generous cooperation of the Sonneck Society, Music of the United States of America (MUSA) is
pleased to announce a series of working sessions to be held during the 1999 conference of the Society in
Fort Worth, Texas. To be held on Friday afternoon 12 March, these sessions will focus on the development of
critical editing projects for the MUSA series. Project personnel, including Marva Griffin Carter,
Mark Clague, Richard Crawford, Paul Corneilson, H. Wiley Hitchcock, Judith McCulloh, Ingrid Monson,
Carol Oja, Christopher Reynolds, and Wayne Shirley, will present talks and information sessions on
topics ranging from "The Critical Editing of American Music" to "The MUSA Proposal" and "Seeking
Permissions."
All Sonneck members interested in editing American music are encouraged to attend. Participation is free and
open to all conference attendees, although advance registration is required. Please send your name and
contact information to Mark Clague/MUSA Executive Editor/University of Michigan/Ann Arber, MI 48109-1270. You
may also send in your registration by emal to claguem@umich.edu. More
information about the conference sessions will be posted on the MUSA project web site at
http://www.umich.edu/~musausa.
Leta E. Miller's critical edition of music, Lou Harrison: Selected Keyboard and Chamber Works,
1937-1994, will be published as part of the Music of the United States of America (MUSA)
series this October. This edition, which appears as the eighth in the series, represents a precedent;
the first time MUSA has published the work of a living composer. Harrison collaborated with Miller on the edition
by resolving notational ambiguities and approving editorial changes. MUSA 8 includes seven works in
both score and parts: France 1917-Spain 1937 (two percussionists and string quartet); Tributes to
Charon (percussion trio); Praises for Michael the Archangel (organ solo); Vestiunt Silve (soprano,
flute/piccolo, two violas, and harp); Cinna (suite for Tack Piano); Varied Trio (violin,
piano, and percussion); and Grand Duo (violin and piano).
Music for a Nation
On 17 September 1998 "Music for a Nation -- American Sheet Music, 1870-1885" will be on-line at the
American Memory Web site (www.loc.gov) of the Library of congress. This
initial release will consist of approximately 22,000 items of sheet music from the 1870s and includes
music for piano and popular songs, as well as choral and instrumental music. The items came to the
Library as part of the requirement that copyright applications be accompanied by two copies of an item.
The first of the Library's digitized collections to consist entirely of sheet music, "Music for a Nation"
provides a close look at musical Americans in the post-Civil War Period. The vast array of copyright
deposits constitutes the nucleus of the Music Division's holdings and represents a comprehensive
view of the range of music being published in this country.
"Music for a Nation" features page images for each item of sheet music. The complete list of works
can be searched via title, composer, or subject, with audio performances of selected collection items to
be added at a future date. There is also a historical background essay on 1870s music by Sonneck member
Wayne Shirley.
The next installment of "Music for a Nation" will feature the remainder of this collection (the years
1880-85), and is slated for release in the fall of 1999. In the long term, further installments will be
added from the copyright deposits of the years 1820-1870. American Memory is a project of the National
Digital Library Program, which, in collaboration with other major repositories, is making available
on-line materials relating to American history by the year 2000, the bicentennial of the Library of
Congress. More than forty collections are now available in media ranging from photographs, manuscripts and
maps to motion pictures, sound recordings, and presidential papers. Other collections being made
available this month include "Built in America: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American
Engineering Record, 1933-Present," "Buckaroos in Paradise: Folklife on a Nevada Cattle Ranch, 1945-1982,"
"Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910" and "American Landscape
and Architectural Design: 1850-1920," a collection from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University,
made available through an Award from the Library of Congress/Ameritech National Digital Library Competition.
Proposal Request from A-R Editions
A-R Editions requests proposals for scholarly critical editions of music to be included in its Recent
Researches series. Each edition is usually devoted to works by a single composer or to a single genre
of composition and contains an introduction to the music and its historical context, a critical report, and
translations of vocal texts.
Already in publication are series covering research on the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance, the Renaissance,
the Baroque Era, the Classical Era, the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries, American usic, and the
Oral Traditions. We invite submissions for any of the Recent Researches series, and we would be especially
interested in proposals concerning early motets, Eighteenth-century French or Italian comic opera,
or Nineteenth-century chamber or concert music.
We accept proposals at any time but review them quarterly. The next deadline for submissions is 1 December
1998. Proposals are reviewed by the A-R editorial staff and the appropriate series editor, and we will
inform you as quickly as possible of our decision. If you have further questions, contact Paul
Corneilson, Managing Editor, editors@areditions, (608) 836-9000,
www.areditions.com.
George Washington Bicentennial
1999 is the 200th anniversary of the death of George Washington. In cooperation with Mount Vernon and the
City of Alexandria, David and Ginger Hildebrand and Kate Van Winkle Keller have teamed up to produce
a trio of useful publications to support "Washington" commemorative programming. David and Ginger are making a
recording of music that Washington knew and loved, including several pieces in his honor; Kate is
creating a music book to accomapny the recording and, with Charles Cyril Henrickson, a collection of 18th-century
social dances that form a biography of Washington.
"George Washington, Music for the First President" will include vocal and instrumental music played on period
instruments and be available on CD or cassette format. The music, much of which was composed in America, includes
ballads, arias, and sentimental songs that Washington enjoyed, fiddle tunes, marches, minuets,
country dances, cotillions, reels, jigs, and a fancy dance as well a music for "Pompey Ran Away
Negroe Jig," the steps for "Durang's Hornpipe," and Washington's description of an Iroquois
dance. Many illustrations and detailed instructions for the minuet as well as period steps and styling are
included. Publication is expected in late fall. To order see members.aol.com/davenging/dgstudio.htm or
http://members.aol.com/dance18thc or write to the
Hildebrands at 276 Oak Court, Severna Park, MD 21146.
American Music Week
The Sonneck Society and the National Federation of Music Clubs will work together to encourage
the performance and study of American music during the month of November. The Boards of both
groups have approved the idea, and Sonneck's Jocelyn Mackey and the Federation's Sarah Helen Moore
will be clearing houses for suggestions and details. Since both groups have been promoting American
music at different times of the year, it seemed logical to combine efforts.
Phil Zito Archive Created
The scores, recordings (including original takes going back to at least the 1940s) and other
personal items belonging to the late Phil Zito have been deposited in the Hogan Jazz Archives of
Tulane University. A famous New Orleans jazz drummer and band leader, Zito died in New Orleans
on 2 August 1998, at age 84.
Director for ISAM Sought
The Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music invites applications from musicologists specializing in
American music for a fulltime, tenure-track faculty appointment. The responsibilities are about equally
divided between teaching and directing the Institute for Studies in American Music (ISAM). Teaching
encompasses a survey of American music for undergraduate majors and special-topics graduate seminars
at Brooklyn College and at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. The Institute for Studies
in American Music is a research and information center established in 1971 to support and propagate research
in all aspects of American music. The Institute publishes monographs, bibliographies, discographies,
and a Newsletter; sponsors research, colloquia, and concerts; and maintains a library of books, periodicals,
scores, recordings, and microfilms.
Qualifications: Doctorate, minimum two years fulltime college teaching experience, and a record of scholarly
publications are required. Specializations in 20th-century music preferred. Administrative experience
highly desireable. Please send curriculum vitae, three (3) letters of recommendations, and writing sample(s)
or research paper(s) to Dr. Joan V. Rome, Director of Personnel Services and Labor Relations, Brooklyn
College, 2900 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11210-2889.
1998 Sonneck Society Dissertation Prize Acceptance Remarks
I moved recently. As I was Carrying the last load of books and coat hangers out to my car, I saw a large
brown sedan driving slowing up the parking lot. Its window lowered and a man leaned out. "Are you
Jennifer DeLapp?" he said. "I'm with the FBI. May I ask you a few questions?"
He was doing a background check on a friend who had recently gotten a government job. As we talked in my
living room, he inquired if she held any allegiance to foreign countries or subscribed to ideologies that
opposed the government of the United States. He asked if I know of any personal incidents that might be
cause for blackmail, and he asked about the nature of our relationship. I decided it would be
imprudent to mention that for several years I'd been researching a left-leaning composer with an FBI
file an inch and a half thick, and my findings did not foster confidence in the Bureau's methods nor in their
factual accuracy. I didn't tell him how, as I read through Copland's correspondence at the Library of Congress,
a live human being seemed to emerge from the pages and I felt that I almost know this man who had done
so much for American music and who was rewarded in the fifties with accusations fo disloyalty and subversion
The following excerpt from Copland's private May 1953 hearing with Senator Joseph McCarthy and his committee
demonstrates McCarthy's lack of familiarity with Copland's achievements and Copland's remarkable
self-restraint. McCarthy comments here on Copland's 1947 work for the State Department.
McCarthy: I may say that I can understand a man who has got to depend upon the government for
part of his income to have accepted a job with the government, perhaps knowing he had joined these
front organizations, but it seems you have none of these qualifications have been rather active
in a number of these fronts.
Copland: I think, Senator McCarthy, in fairness to me and my activity in relation to the Department of
State, it was not primarily a financial relationship. I think that I was chosen because I had a unique
position in American symphonic and serious music and I had a reputation as a lecturer on that subject.
I at any rate, was under the impression that I was chosen for that purpose. The payment was not the
primary consideration. I was trying to help spread in other countries what we American composers
were doing.
Copland wrote that the creative artist needed to be surrounded by a supportive, yea-saying community in order
to thrive. He did not have such a community in the Fifties. I, however, have been fortunate to have a
great deal of support. My advisor Richard Crawford had faith in the project even when mine flagtged.
Glenn Watkins, Andrew Mead and the American intellectual historian Richard Candida Smith lent expertise as committee members.
Vivian Perlis's published scholarship, oral history projects, and personal generosity have been invaluable. Wayne
Shirley supplied many fruitful leads.
Many others among you provided suggestions and critiques at key points: Copland scholars Howard Pollack, Jessica
Burt, Neil Lerner, Marta Robertson, also Carol Oja, Charles Hamm, Stuart Feder, Richard Taruskin, James
Kendrick of the Copland Fund, Sylvia Goldstein and the staff at Boosey & Hawkes, the staff of the Library of Congress
and the New York Public Library and many University of Michigan faculty, students, and alumni, including Tamar Barzel, Amy
Beal, Tara Browner, Mark Clague, Mark Katz, Jeff Magee, Gayle Mutchison, Guy Ramsey, and many others
I wish I had time to name. Thanks go to Bowling Green State University for making my trip here possible. I'd also
like to thank the Christian communities to which I belong for supporting my belief that our faith
should include a concern for common justice and that human creativity must be nutured, not suppressed, I am
truly honored that he Society considers my work useful to other scholars in understanding an important
composer in an important time in our history. Thank you.
--Jennifer DeLapp
Updated 12/29/98