For more Business resources, see the following guide:
If you search
symphonies NOT (Haydn OR Beethoven OR Mozart OR Brahms)
You will get results for all items with the word "symphonies" with the exclusion of any that also contain any of the the words in parentheses, which would be "Haydn," "Beethoven," "Mozart," or "Brahms."
Putting words together in quotation marks searches the phrase rather than the individual words. So, you will only get results when the words occur together and in the order that you included in the quotation marks.
If you searched Nixon in China, you would get results that contain the words "Nixon" and the word "China" but in any order and not necessarily together. The word "in" would usually be automatically ignored by the catalog/database.
But if you searched "Nixon in China" in quotation marks, you would only get results that contained all three of those words and in that exact order.
Searches for any word with the same letters before the asterisk, regardless of the letters that follow.
For instance, if you search
You would be searching for all of the following words (note: this list is not exhaustive):
Primary Source questions
"Plagiarism refers generally to the unconsented appropriation of another’s work, usually without attribution. Copyright infringement is a subset of plagiarism and entails the unconsented appropriation of another’s copyrighted work, with or without attribution. Thus, one can plagiarize a public domain work without legal liability—only societal disapproval. Plagiarism of a protected work, however, will expose the plagiarizer to a potential lawsuit by the rights holder."1
1. Margit Livingston and Joseph Urbinato, “Copyright Infringement of Music: Determining Whether What Sounds Alike Is Alike,” Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law 15, no. 2 (Winter 2013): 229.
Facsimile editions are photographic reproductions of primary sources, which usually means manuscripts. Often the manuscript is in the hand of the composer (called an autograph manuscript), but sometimes in the hand of a copyist or someone who worked with the composer.
An urtext edition is meant to represent the ideas of the composer and be free of intervention by editors. "Urtext" literally means "original text" but this term can be misleading and the term "original" is problematic. Urtext editions should contain information on the primary sources used to create the edition and should also indicate any decisions made by the editor(s).
NOTE ON IDENTIFYING SOURCES: If an utrext score is published by Henle, you will find usually find the information about the primary sources consulted by looking in the text at the back of the score under Comments, “About the edition.”
If you have a score published by Bärenreiter, you will most likely need to skim the Introduction or Preface at the front of the score in order to find information on the sources used in the edition.
Critical editions a.k.a. scholarly editions.
Editions compiled by scholars who seek to present an "authentic" musical text--one that represents the creator's intentions as closely as possible. To do so, scholars examine all available primary and secondary source materials for the work (autograph, first edition, important copyist manuscripts, original correspondence that may reveal composer's thoughts) and develop a stemma, or family tree of sources, from which they may recreate its compositional and editorial history.
Jane Gottlieb, Music Library and Research Skills (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017) 210.
Performance editions are created for use in performance and may contain interpretations made by editors. Performance editions vary widely in terms of quality and adherence to composers' original intentions vs. the editors ideas. Keep the following in mind:
Good-quality performing editions will be those that clearly distinguish editor's markings from those of the composer, and provide at least some brief commentary on the editorial process.
Gottlieb, Music Library and Research Skills, 212.
Many times, performance editions will have no indication of what has been changed by the editor. Many times fingerings, articulations, dynamics, and even pitches may differ from what was originally intended by the composer.
MUS 302
For this assignment you need to find what critics and scholars have written about your composer/genre across several centuries. How can you find these old sources?
Some Tips:
What will be your strategy?
Sample Bibliography
[NOTE: My annotated bibliography is ordered by the research process that I followed. You bibliography should be ordered by date of the source: contemporaneous with the composer, 19th century, early 20th century, and a recent source]
Topic:Historiography research on the solo keyboard works of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.
Example 1: Finding an old source quoted in a modern book.
For this entry, I started with a book about C.P.E. Bach's music that was written in 2014. I read selective parts of the book until I found a comment on the reception of a keyboard work, citing a book from the 19th-century.
Schulenberg, David. The Music of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Eastman Studies in Music, v. 114. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2014.
Chapter ten on "The Later Keyboard Music" of C.P.E. Bach contains a brief reception history on page 234 of the F-Minor Sonata. Schulenberg relays a comment by Johann Nicolaus Forkel from his 1802 book Ueber Johann Sebastian Bachs Leben, Kunst, und Kunstwerke in which he describes the work as "a coherent cycle, equivalent to a poetic ode," which Schulenberg supposes is based on "the subtle relationship between the movements."
Example 2: Using a collection of source readings
I found this source by looking at a book of source readings and turning to the index. The index had an entry for “Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel—sonatas of” and I read all of the pages listed to look for something relating to perception of C.P.E. Bach by his contemporaries.
Koch, Heinrich C. “On the Connection of Melodic Sections into Periods of Greater Length, or the Arrangements of Larger Compositions,” translated by Nancy Kovaleff Baker, in Source Readings in Music History , edited by Margaret Murata and Oliver Strunk, 807-819. New York: Norton, 1998.
Pages 812-813 reprint the section of Koch’s 1793 essay entitled “On the Sonata,” in which Koch describes the elements of a successful composition in this genre. In Koch’s view, solo or two-voice sonatas require highly developed melodies and in order to write a good sonata, a composer must also be a virtuosi on the instrument for which the sonata is written. Writing just seven years after C.P.E. Bach’s death, he states: “Among the Germans, C.P.E. Bach has distinguished himself particularly in this type of composition through his clavier sonatas. Only his highly developed, personal style of playing, combined with the most profound knowledge of composition, could bring about what he has achieved in this line.” From this essay it is apparent that C.P.E. Bach’s piano sonatas were seen as a shining example of the genre in his own time. Koch’s writing implies also that C.P.E. Bach was regarded as a virtuoso on the piano.
Example 3: Finding an artilce in a database
I found this source by searching Music Index using the following search: “bach,carl philipp emanuel OR c.p.e. bach AND critic*.” Using the asterisk (*) allowed me to simultaneously search for the words “critic,” “critics,” and “criticism.”
NOTE: This source does not specifically mention the solo keyboard works, but it gives a historigraphical context for C.P.E. Bach. More importantly, it led to me another source by following up on a citation!
Schulenberg, David. “Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: a Tercentenary Assessment.” Early Music 42, no. 3 (2014): 335-345. doi:10.1093/em/cau059.
In this article, written for the 300th anniversary of C.P.E. Bach’s birth, Schulenberg discusses the legacy of the composer’s music and how the perception of his music has changed over time. He notes that Bach was well-regarded by his contemporaries but his music was almost completely forgotten from around 1800 until after World War II, even though he was remembered as an important figure in the development of the Classical and proto-Romantic style. In the twentieth century, musicologists like Charles Rosen, and Philip Barford seemed to find C.P.E. Bach’s works insubstantial.
Example 4: Following up on a source cited in a modern book/article/bibliography
I saw a reference to Burney’s enthusiastic writings on C.P.E. Bach in the article above by Schulenberg. I then looked in the bibliography for the title and source of the original. I ended up finding a resource in the library (by searching "burney" and "bach") that not only discussed Burney’s writings on Bach but also reproduced some of the original text. I had actually looked at this book, C.P.E. Bach Studies, before but I hadn't picked up on the significance of this chapter until reading the Schulenberg article.
Hogwood, Christopher. “’Our Old Great Favorite’ Burney, Bach, and the Bachists” in C.P.E. Bach Studies, edited by Annette Richards, 221-264. New York : Cambridge University Press, 2006.
In this chapter, Hogwood describes the reception of C.P.E. Bach’s music by two of his English contemporaries: Charles Burney and Thomas Twinning, both of whom were musicians and scholars who frequently corresponded. Using the unpublished correspondence between these Englishmen, Hogwood describes the way the “average” and amateur listener appreciated C.P.E. Bach’s music during his lifetime. Their correspondence shows that there was an eager audience for publication of Bach’s works, and an excitement over his music, which they described as Carlophilipemanualbachomania. Both men were particularly fond of Bach’s keyboard works, as seen in a letter from November 1771, in which Burney writes: "Mr C.P.E. Bach, who stands so high in my opinion, that I should not scruple to pronounce him the greatest writer for the Harpsichord now alive, or that has ever existed as far as I am able to judge, by a comparison of his works with those of others, & by my own Feelings when I hear them performed." Hogwood continues in this letter to describe why C.P.E. Bach’s style in his keyboard works was more appealing to “the Ears of a Man of Taste” than J.S. Bach’s complicated fugues. Twining was no less enthusiastic about C.P.E. Bach’s piano music, as evidenced in comments such as “Pray, did you ever see or hear any thing more charming than the Rondeau in the 2d. of those new Clavier-sonaten of Bach’s?” Burney also defends Bach’s works from other critics’ accusations that his works are “whimsical & Fantastical,” which shows that there was contention in their reception.
Example 5: Finding a concert review in a database
I found this article by searching the New York Times Historical (1851-2008) database using the following search: “Bach AND (C.P.E. OR carl philipp emanuel).”
“Gabrilowitsch's Recital: Some Pieces on His Program Unusual In Piano Recitals.” New York Times, November 28, 1916: 11.
The title of this brief write-up of a piano recital by Ossip Gabrilowitsch in 1916 suggests that the inclusion of C.P.E. Bach’s “Rondo Expressivo” was unusual for a piano recital of the period. While it is unclear to which exact work the author was referring, Bach’s rondos were among his most popular keyboard pieces during the composer’s lifetime. The review is favorable and of the rondo the author writes that is possessed “a sort of secret tenderness.”
Bonus tip! It can be tough to find a source from the 19th century. See if your composer is represented in a thematic catalog or an old reference book.
Famous Composers and Their Works (1891)
3rd FL Music Library Reference M1 .F16 1891
Which can also be found online through Archive.org:
Vol. 1 up to p. 242 (Lasso through Gluck) Vol. 2 pp. 245-496 (Haydn through Strauss) Vol. 3 pp. 497-732 (Raff through Gounod) Vol. 4 pp.733-976 (Music in France through Music in America)
Advice on Getting started:
The kind of information you’re looking for will inform which sources you might use
Some library resources to help you browse and discover topics:
Program Notes review:
If you include a translation, show the source
Use any citation style
[1] Richard Taruskin, The Oxford History of Western Music, vol. 4 (Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 175.
[2] Ibid.