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An Amy Beach Bibliography

Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (Mrs. H.H.A. Beach) is considered to be the first great woman composer of America. She wrote 80 numbered compositions, both large and small, and over 150 songs. She achieved success independently of her gender and became an outspoken advocate for excellence in composing and performing. Her works were rarely performed for many years, but a resurgence of interest in her music began at the end of the twentieth century. This is evident in the number of scholarly dissertations written on Amy Beach in recent years, as well as recent recordings and important articles in music journals.

This bibliography consists of annotated citations of books, journal articles, doctoral dissertations, anthologies, discographies and other reference sources, both online and in print. All entries except one have been verified with the actual printed material, or, in the case of some dissertations, by viewing an online full text PDF file. An extensive list of Amy Beach’s works is located in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd edition. It will be noted that there are a number of articles in pedagogy based journals, such as The Etude, Musical Quarterly and American Music Teacher. This perhaps because Amy Beach, being a woman, may have been stereotyped as a composer of piano teaching pieces. Also a number of citations are focused on gender issues. The encouraging thing is the quantity of scholarly research that has surfaced recently, which examines Amy Beach and her compositions in a more unbiased fashion. We are indebted to Adrienne Fried Block, Judith Tick and other musicologists for their fresh perspectives on the music of Amy Beach, especially her larger works. There is much work yet to be done. Compositions for which there is insufficient or non-existent research include the Mass in E flat, op. 5; Festival Jubilate, op. 17; Canticle of the Sun, op. 123: the opera Cabildo, and other works. Perhaps research on these compositions is being undertaken at this moment. My hope is that this bibliography will be an aid to continued scholarship on the life and works of Amy Beach. – Esther Megargel

Click here to view the bibliography

New eBook records

In partnership with Internet Archive, the Harold B. Lee Library Music & Dance Department has recently scanned 75 titles pre-dating 1923 in its reference collection.  Some titles are entirely new to the Internet Archive collections while others supplement scanning gaps in multi-volume works.  This scanning effort consists primarily of dictionaries and music histories.  We have updated the corresponding records in our online bibliography with Internet Archive URLs to reflect this development. These records can be found in our database by searching by “eBook” publication type.  A complete list of titles can be found after the cut. …

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A Bibliography on the ars subtilior

During the 14th century, a new style of polyphony developed in France. This new style, called ars nova, was characterized by a new system of rhythmic notation allowing the use of duple and triple division of note values, as well as complex syncopation. Around 1370, several composers in Avignon and southern France moved away from the style of the ars nova motet to develop a highly refined and intricate style distinguished by extremely complex rhythmic notation. The new trend soon spread into northern Italy, northern Spain, and as far as Cyprus. In his Tractatus cantus mensurabilis, Philippus de Caserta, one of the composers of the ars nova period, described that later style as an artem magis subtiliter, or a “more subtle art.” Musicologist Ursula Günther was the first, in 1950, to use the term ars subtilior to refer that complex musical style, which is the term widely used by musicologists today.

Musicologists predating Ursula Günther used different terms to refer to the ars subtilior. Musicologist Willi Apel, for instance, talks about “mannered notation,” or “manneristic style.” Other authors just mention the extreme complexity of the “late ars nova,” with no specific reference to either “manneristic style” or ars subtilior. Once I had identified all sources directly related to the terms ars subtilior or “manneristic style,” I directed my research toward the main primary sources for the ars subtilior: the Chantilly and Modena manuscripts, as well as the Torino manuscript. I also searched sources on Philippus da Caserta, Johannes Ciconia, Matteo da Perugia, Solage, and other composers directly associated with the ars subtilior.

Most of the sources I found are grounded in historical research (they focus primarily on manuscripts and other primary sources). Other sources adopted a more analytical approach, with emphasis on the tonal language and formal organization of ars subtilior works.

– Clémence Destribois – (Click HERE to view the bibliography)

New Additions from the Routledge Music Bibliographies Series

We’ve recently added to our reference collection several new offerings from Routledge’s Music Bibliographies Series, which provides students and scholars with excellent starting points for research.

Cover to Charles Francois Gounod: A Research and Information Guide

Flynn, Timothy S. Charles François Gounod: A Research and Information Guide. Routledge Music Bibliographies, ed. Jennifer C. Post. New York: Routledge, 2009.

This slim first edition nicely chronicles many of the important primary and secondary documents relating to the life of Charles Gounod as well as his historical context. Consequently, this tool will be useful to not only those interested in this particular composer, but also those hoping to research nineteenth-century French opera in general.

Cover of Frederick Delius: A Research and Information Guide

Huismann, Mary Christison. Frederick Delius: A Research and Information Guide. 2nd ed. Routledge Music Bibliographies, ed. Jennifer C. Post. New York: Routledge, 2009.

The author has not explicitly noted any significant differences between this edition and the last (published in 2005); however, a cursory examination reveals 707 additional bibliographic entries and 80 additional entries in the discography.

Cover of Paul Hindemith: A Research and Information Guide

Luttman, Stephen. Paul Hindemith: A Research and Information Guide. 2nd ed. Routledge Music Bibliographies, ed. Jennifer C. Post. New York: Routledge, 2009.

Examining the two editions will reveal growth of 64 entries; however, the author mentions over 140 entries have been deleted while 204 are newly added. Inclusion criteria has been revised between the two editions, the most notable addition being items relating to the use of Hindemith’s works in elementary or secondary music curriculum. Such items have been included only when they bring with them musicological insight or obscure source material.

Cover of Vincenzo Bellini: A Research and Information Guide

Willier, Stephen A. Vincenzo Bellini: A Research and Information Guide. 2nd ed. Routledge Music Bibliographies, ed. Jennifer C. Post. New York: Routledge, 2009.

The year 2001 saw two important conferences promoting and adding to Bellini scholarship, making a new edition (with 180 additional entries!) necessary. According to the author, the first edition of this work was intended to record Bellini scholarship and set straight myths and errors that had crept into the literature. This second edition ought to provide the same function as well as represent a study in reception history.

Cover of Alban Berg: A Research and Information Guide

Simms, Bryan R. Alban Berg: A Research and Information Guide. 2nd ed. Routledge Music Bibliographies, ed. Jennifer C. Post. New York: Routledge, 2009.

Between this edition and the last, the author reports a 30% increase in the number of sources cited. Specifically, he notes adding video recordings and indicating availability of online resources. In terms of expansion, Chapters 1 and 2 (which concern Berg’s own music and writing) have been significantly revised, and the rest of the work now includes better coverage of articles written in Eastern European languages.

Cover of Franz Liszt: A Research and Information Guide

Saffle, Michael. Franz Liszt: A Research and Information Guide. 3rd ed. Routledge Music Bibliographies, ed. Jennifer C. Post. New York: Routledge, 2009.

Several changes have been made to this work with respect to its previous incarnations, most notably this: all possible references to Hungarian-language Liszt studies have been eliminated because they have been translated to English or a more familiar Western European language, and because those individuals actually able to comprehend such Hungarian studies will already be familiar with them.

Lindsay Weaver
Research Assistant

New Feature Added to Our Online Bibliography

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We now provide links to public domain eBooks scanned in the Internet Archive, the BnF’s Gallica and Google Books. Currently about 85 titles are available. To view the entire list select The Online Bibliography tab above, then go to Simple Search and select “eBook” from the Publication Type drop down menu. We regret that many multi-volume editions are not yet complete in these online repositories. We will monitor them and update our links as additional volumes become available.

Please let us know if you are aware of reference works we have over looked.  We are constantly updating the database. We now cite more than 630 websites including 179 free eJournals. The total database now includes more than 6,000 additional print resources.

We have address the problem of websites becoming inactive by the addition of new Publication Type categories for Website (Defunct) and Website (Archived).

Comparing Periodical Indexes

In my music bibliography course at Brigham Young University we regularly review the major periodical indexes. I start by handing out a matrix that lists five major music periodical indexes across the top and along the left side lists about a dozen key points of comparison. For the midterm examination I regularly include the following essay question:

In an essay: compare and contrast the following music periodical indexes: RILM Abstracts, RIPM, IIMP, The Music Index, and the Bibliographie des Musikschrifttums. Describe the relative strengths and weaknesses for each in the following categories:

years of coverage
number of journals indexed
number of citations
retrospective indexing
access to full text online
quality and/or presence of abstracts
coverage of foreign language sources
coverage of non-periodical publication types
coverage of scholarly vs. non-scholarly publications
quality of online search interface
coverage of reviews
distinctive or unique contributions or strengths

Be specific and cite current statistics when appropriate. Be sure to take into consideration both print and online versions of each index where applicable.

This semester one of my students wrote an essay I think is worth sharing. Here is her unedited essay, writing without access to her personal notes. Good work Jamie!

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New Items in Reference Collection

Since July 2008, we have added over two hundred new reference items (both print and online) to the Online Bibliography from sources such as the Brigham Young and Cornell University library catalogs. Additions coming from the BYU catalogue have been primarily music collection catalogs and record label discographies. Here are two recently-added items worth mentioning: …

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Susan M. Filler’s Gustav and Alma Mahler: A Research and Information Guide (Routledge, 2008)

The second edition of Susan M. Filler’s Gustav and Alma Mahler: A Research and Information Guide (published by Routledge, 2008) intends to provide a representation of the current state of Mahler literature, which ranges from standard musicological publications by accepted scholars to novelty, nonprofessional explorations of Mahler’s symphonies via poetry. With her selection, Filler specifically hopes to interest literature specialists and also to show the wide range of literature available to all Mahler researchers regardless of nationality.

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