Sonneck Society for American Music
Bulletin, Volume XXIII, no. 1 (Spring 1997)
News of the Society
New Members Elected to the Board
Catherine Parsons Smith, Chair of the Nominating Committee, has announced the results of
recent elections to fill positions on the Board of Trustees.
John Graziano was re-elected Vice President for a two year term. Professor at The City College and
Graduate Center, City University of New York, John received his Ph.D. degree from Yale University.
His publications include American Chamber Music, v. 8 of Three Centuries of American Music
(1991); "Cinderella, or the Fairy Queen and the Little Glass Slipper," v. 3 of Nineteenth
Century American Musical Theater (1990); articles in Musical Quarterly (1970), Current
Musicology (1972), Musical Theatre in America (1984), New Grove Dictionary of American
Music, New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Black Music in the Harlem Renaissance (1990), A Celebration
of American Music in Honor of H. Wiley Hitchcock (1990), Notes (1991), Mozart Jahrbuch
1991, and Essays in Honor of William Kearns (forthcoming).
John has served the Sonneck Society as Member-at-Large, 1977-1981; Chair, Membership Committee,
1981-82; Chair, Bylaw Committee, 1978-1981; Chair Nominating Committee, 1981-1983; Chair Program
Committee, Boulder (1986); Editor American Music 1986-89; Chair, Irving Lowens Award Committe,
1990; and as a member of ad hoc committees.
Jean Geil was elected a member of the Board of Trustees for a three-year term. Jean is Special
Collections Coordinator, University of Illinois at Urbana Library. She holds the degrees of BA,
Swarthmore College; MS and MM, University of Illinois. Her interests include bibliography and
librarianship, American sheet music, and music in Hawaii. Jean is co-author (with Krummel, Dyen, and
Root) of Resources in American Music History (University of Illinois Press, 1981). Jean
is also active as soprano in new music performances at the University of Illinois.
A Sonneck member since 1975 and presently Interest Groups Coordinator, Jean has served the Society as
US-RILM Representative, 1993-96; Membership Committee Chair, 1988-92, member currenly; member Nominating
Committee 1981-84; member 1992 Lowens Article Award Committee; chair Lowens Book Award committee,
1985; co-chair Interest Group on Research Resources 1994-96; and secretary of the Sonneck Society
1975-1983.
Katherine K. Preston was elected Secretary of the Society for a two-year term. Katherine is Associate
Professor of Music, The College of William and Mary. She holds the degrees BA (The Evergreen State
College, Olympia, Washington), MM (University of Maryland, College Park), and Ph.D. (Graduate Center,
City University of New York). Her interests include musical theater (especially of the nineteenth
century), including opera performance history, Broadway musicals, and film music studies; and women and
music, especially in the nineteeth century. Publications include articles in The New Grove
Dictionary of American Music, New Grove Dictionary of Opera, and American National Biography;
and books Music for Hire: Professional Musicians in Washington, D.C., 1877-1900 (Pendragon, 1992);
Opera on the Road: Traveling Opera Troupes in the United States, 1825-1860 (University of
Illinois Press, 1993); and editor, Irish-American Theatre (vol. 10 of Nineteenth-Century
American Musical Theatre) (Garland, 1993).
Katherine has been a Sonneck member since 1980, serving the Society as Chair, Irving Lowens Article
Award Committee (for 1995 articles); Sonneck Society Liaison to the Steering Committe of Conference
2000; Member-at-Large of the Board of Trustees, 1991-93; Chair, Conference Management Committee, 1991-92;
Member, Conference Handbook Committee, 1991-92; National Conferences Committee, 1982-1990; committee
chair, 1987-1990; Member, Irving Lowens Award Committee (books), 1989; Capital Area Representative
on the Membership Committee, 1985-1989; and Program Committee member, 1984 conference.
William A. Everett was elected Treasurer for a two year term. Bill is presently Associate-Professor
of Music at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. His interests include American operetta, Sigmund
Romberg, and interactions between Croatian and American music. Bill is currently serving as
treasurer of the Society and was Society publicist, 1995-96.
Bill holds the degrees of B.M. (music theory), Texas Tech University; M.M. (music history, instrumental
conducting), Southern Methodist University, and Ph.D., University of Kansas. He has published
articles in American Music, Sonneck Society for American Music Bulletin, Opera Quarterly,
Journal of the American Viola Society, and others, and has presented papers at conferences in
the United States, Canada, Germany, Croatia, and the Netherlands. Bill presented a series of
lectures on American music and American musical theater at the University of Zagreb (Croatia) in May
1996. A Sonneck member since 1988, Bill has served as Publicist/chair, Public Relations Committee,
1991-1996, co-chair, Musical Theater Interest Group, 1995-present, and Treasurer, 1996-present.
Update: Society's Dissertation Prize
David Hildebrand, Committee Chair
We're glad to report that we've read a healthy number of strong submissions for the first Sonneck Society
for American Music Dissertation Prize competition. The five finalists were selected, and the winner
chosen in time for announcement in Seattle in March at the Society's annual conference. The next cycle,
that is for dissertations completed and defended between July 1, 1996, and June 30, 1997, is announced.
The deadline for submission is September 15. Many thanks to committee members Geoffrey Block and
Catherine P. Smith!
Larry Worster to Assume Bulletin Editorship
Larry Worster will become editor of the Sonneck Society for American Music Bulletin beginning
with Volume XXIII, number 2, Summer 1997. Larry was awarded the B.S. degree from St. Lawrence University;
and the B.A., M.M., and Ph.D. degrees all from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He currently
is an assistant professor of music at Metropolitan State College of Denver, where he is also co-chair
of the Technology Task Force. He has taught at the University of Colorado, Regis College, and Denver
University. He performed for ten years in the Irish folk ensemble Colcannon and is currently serving on
the board of directors of the Colorado Music Festival. Larry is vice president of the Rocky Mountain
Chapter of the College Music Society and co-chair of the American Music in American Schools Interest Group
of the Sonneck Society for American Music. He is the author Cecil Effinger: A Colorado Composer
(Scarecrow Press, 1997). He has published articles in the American Music Research Journal and the
Sonneck Society for American Music Bulletin, and presented papers at conferences of the American
Musicological Society, Sonneck Society, and College Music Society.
All Bulletin news and correspondence should be sent to him at Larry Worster, 255 S. 40th Street,
Boulder, CO 80303; phone 303/499-2119; worster@mscd.edu.
Updated 4/1/98