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Newsletter of the Musicological Society of Australia

No. 61 September 2004

Newsletter
No. 61 September 2004 ISSN 0155-0543

National Committee 2003–2004

President: Steven Knopoff (SA)
Secretary: Dorottya Fabian (Syd)
Treasurer: Elizabeth Mackinlay (Qld)

Past President: Nicholas Routley (Syd)
Ex Officio ICTM: Stephen Wild (ACT)
IMS liaison: Margaret Kartomi (Vic)

Membership Secretary

Committee Members

Joel Crotty (Vic)
Robert Curry (WA)
Craig De Wilde (Vic)
Victoria Rogers (WA)
Jennie Shaw (Syd)
Graham Strahle (SA)
Jula Szuster (SA)

Editor, Musicology Australia

Jennie Shaw
Musicology Unit
C41 Performance Studies,
Sydney Conservatorium of Music
The University of Sydney NSW 2006
E-mail: editor@msa.org.au

Website Coordinator

Editor, Newsletter
John A. Phillips
1209 Lower North East Road
Highbury SA 5089
Tel./Fax: (08) 8395 5332
E-mail: newsletter@msa.org.au

Thanks to all contributors and to KwikKopy Unley, SA, for their assistance in the production of this issue.

— CHAPTER REPORTS —

ACT
The first half of this year was spent by many preparing papers for SIMS 2004. The ACT Chapter was well represented at this symposium, with postgraduate students, researchers, university staff and industry members all contributing.

Currently the MSA ACT is preparing for the 2004 Graduate Music Symposium, which is a joint initiative with the Australian National University. All students undertaking graduate degrees in music are invited to attend. The symposium will be held at the ANU between 24-25 September. For more information about the symposium please go to
http://www.anu.edu.au/music/research/symposium.php.
Kirsty Gillespie

Hunter
July/August has seen a resurgence of activity in the Hunter Chapter. Two of our Hunter members presented papers at SIMS, and these were previewed in a special seminar at Newcastle on 9 July. Marie-Louise Catsalis, on a flying visit home from North Carolina, gave her paper "Alessandro Scarlatti's Clori, Dorino e Amore: A Serenata For Filippo V?", while Samantha Cobcroft spoke on "The setting of the passagio and the use of silence in the portrayal of Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte."

A special MSA event was held on August 20, when members heard an excellent presentation by Geoffrey Burgess (graduate of Sydney and Cornell Universities) entitled "Technologies of the Recording Studio: The Case of the Oboe in the first half of the 20th century". Geoffrey's work as baroque oboist and co-author, with Bruce Haynes. of The Oboe (Yale UP, 2004) is well-known in oboe circles, and it was good to catch up with this new work in progress. Taking a passage from Thomas Mann’s Zauberberg (1924) that vividly depicts the novelty of the recording medium, and numerous recordings of oboe in solo and orchestral contexts culled from archives around the world, Geoffrey brought to life the recording experience in the early years of the 20th century.

A rapt audience of Newcastle oboists and MSA members heard collectors' pieces from the early oboe discography, including the first solo oboe recording made in 1908 by Ceasar Addimando, principal oboist of New York Symphony Orchestra. Lively discussion followed on the questions posed in the paper: What was this experience like for Addimando, his accompanying musicians and the recording technicians? What does the recording tell us about this oboist, his technique and interpretation? And above all, what is the validity of such documents for current research in performing practice and the definition of national styles? We look forward to the publication of some of the recordings mentioned in a sonic anthology to accompany The Oboe, and thank Geoffrey for this fascinating report on his most recent research.

The following week, August 27, a visit from two Queensland MSA members, Barnaby Ralph and David Irving, gave the opportunity for a morning of performance and an afternoon of seminars. We workshopped the cantata Le Sommeil d’Ulisse by Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, with MCA candidate Kathryn Sullivan, who is researching French baroque vocal style. As a postlude to SIMS, we heard, with a few variations: “Deriving Figures: Rhetoric and Affect in English Baroque Music" (Barnaby Ralph) and David Irving's "Dr. Burney, a Sandwich, and the South Sea Islanders". We thank both for this stimulating visit, and wish David the best for his forthcoming Ph.D. studies in Cambridge.

Two major opera presentations in 2004 have been keeping MSA Hunter members busy. Ian Cook was Musical Director of Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro – in the Outback", director Ghillian Sullivan, which enjoyed a highly successful season in July–August at the Lake Macquarie Performing Arts Centre. Using a chamber ensemble, Ian took the opportunity to implement ideas from his research on Mozart's tempo indications.

Forthcoming in October is Katrina Pring's new opera 'The Impossible Body', to a libretto by Michael Ewans, adapted from Lynette Wallworth's 1991 performance art text God, the Doctor and the Impossible Body.
Rosalind Halton
Queensland

The MSAQ has enjoyed a vibrant and diverse range of activities this year, which have been characterised by stimulating dialogue and debate. In May MSAQ members attended a highly engaging presentation by one of Australia’s most distinguished scholars, Professor Philip Hayward from the Department of Contemporary Music Studies at Macquarie University. Professor Hayward’s lecture, titled: “Facilitating Heritage: Agendas for active research in local music cultures,” detailed some of the research ventures he has undertaken in communities in Pacific locations such as Lord Howe, Norfolk and Pitcairn islands, and the Whitsundays.
In August MSAQ’s student members took to the podium for our annual Student Symposium, titled: “Music Down Under: A celebration of emerging Australian music research.” Students presented papers on topics as diverse as Australian ’cello music, nineteenth and twentieth-century French requiems, music technology and meaning, compositions of the post-World War II avant garde, the cultural ramifications of the British occupation of Manila, and contemporary music performances of Indigenous Australian women. The Gordon Spearritt Prize for Best Student Presentation was awarded to both Kate Barney and David Irving.

The MSAQ committee is also busy planning ahead for 2005 and beyond! In April 2005, MSAQ will be involved in an Australian Music Initiative run by the Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre. This project will explore the relationship between Western classical and Indigenous music as it enters a new phase in its 200-year history with the recent completion of Peter Sculthorpe’s Requiem (2004). MSAQ members will be heavily involved in a series of lectures and panel discussions, which will address this exciting theme of cultural exchange.

MSAQ committee also encourages all MSA members to consider attending the International Symposium Cultural Diversity in Music Education (CDIME) 2005, which will be hosted at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, in November. Themes include: Dabbling or Deepening, Method and Organisation, Context, Concepts and Intangibles, Honouring and Appropriation. The deadline for abstracts is 1 October 2004. For further information a PDF flier is available for download from: http://www.griffith.edu.au/centre/qcrc/resources/CDIME2005_call.pdf.
With these and other upcoming events in the pipeline, including the 2007 MSA/NZMS conference, MSAQ is looking forward to building on the momentum of the society’s recent events and taking music research in Australia into fresh spaces.

South Australia
For the first eight months of 2004 the SA Chapter continued to present regular seminars in association with the Elder School of Music.

On 20 April 2004, John Phillips delivered a paper on music composed for science fiction movies. Entitled “The Music of Dystopia. Terror, Transcendence & the Other in the Science Fiction Film Score”, the paper examined music from films from the 1950s onwards and demonstrated important links with art music of the past.

Jula Szuster presented a paper on music in colonial Adelaide on 18 May 2004. Entitled “The Cultural Engineers of 1834”, the paper described the planning of the colony’s cultural life in London, two years prior to settlement and examined the impact this had upon the musical life of the colony, until the death of Carl Linger in 1862.

On 22 June 2004, Mark Carroll delivered a paper on musical expressionism in which he argued for a re-examination of the English-language preoccupation with the cathartic, stream-of-consciousness interpretation of musical expressionism.
The chapter held its Annual General Meeting on 24 August 2004 with the re-election of Jula Szuster (President), John Phillips (Secretary), Helen Rusak (Treasurer), Kimi Coaldrake and Christopher Wainwright (Committee Members). Doreen Bridges also delivered a talk entitled “E. Harold Davies (Elder Professor of Music) 1919–1947: a Conservative/ Progressive at the Helm”, based upon her recent investigation of sources held by E. Harold Davies’ surviving daughter.

The SA Chapter will continue to present a program of regular seminars in 2004, as well as hosting the MSA Study Weekend on music criticism on 20–21 November 2004.

Sydney
At our April meeting we voted in favour of incorporation and thanked Anne Power, the outgoing Convenor of the Chapter for her hard work during the last few years in organizing Post-Graduate mini conferences and other events. Allan Marett was elected to be the new Convenor. Kathleen Nelson continues in her role of Treasurer and Public Officer and Dorottya Fabian as Chapter Secretary.

The most exciting and pressing task is, of course, the planning of the 2005 National Conference. In the able hands of Jennie Shaw and her team from the Sydney Conservatorium, it will surely be a smoothly run and stimulating event.

We have also had the pleasure of Nicholas Cook's visit following SIMS2004 in July. Although it was sponsored by the School of Music and Music Education of UNSW and the Music Research Centre of Sydney University, it enabled several chapter members to meet and hear a stimulating lecture on a recent BBC film about Beethoven's Eroica.

Another exciting day was August 21 when the Music Research Showcase was presented in the Old Darlington School. Academics from Sydney University Music Department and the Conservatorium demonstrated the breadth and quality of musicological activity that is going on in the two (or is it really one?) of the leading institutions in Sydney. It was a memorable day with great food (thanks to Amanda Harris and the sponsorship of the Music Research Centre, Sydney University) and collegiality, stimulating papers and discussions. We are hoping to continue this series of events with another (long overdue) postgraduate day in the near future.

Victoria
2003 was a successful year for the Victorian Chapter. Three editions of the newsletter were produced to keep members informed of activities.

An evening devoted to trial presentations for those giving papers at European Conferences was held on 18 June. Several members also attended the Choral Music in Melbourne symposium held on 21 June.

The annual Chapter Conference was held at the Early Music Studio, Faculty of Music, University of Melbourne on 14 November. Four sessions were held and twelve papers on a wide variety of topics were presented. Details are as follows. “The Music of Stephen Moreno OSB: Towards a Chronology” (Paul Curtis); “Platonic Idealism, Anglo-Catholicism and Music in Early 20th-century Melbourne: A.E.H. Nickson’s Christ in Art” (Kieran Crichton); “Imperial Opportunism: A. E. Floyd and the Role of Nationalism in the Revival of Early Music in Australia, 1915–1938” (Ian Burk); “Unwelcome Voices: A Dialogic Approach to Tippett’s A Child of Our Time” (Anne Marshman); “Marjorie Lawrence: Opera Singer” (Betty O’Brien); “Henry Tate and his Quest for a Distinctive Australian Music through Native Birdcalls” (Christine Mercer); “In Conversation with Composer and Historian Kikuko Masumoto: On Her Life and Work” (Kristian Ireland); “Keeping Kimura’s Company: Interaction of People, Place and Performance” (Marika Leininger-Ogawa); “Right Place, Right Period, Right Principles, Right People: The English Recorder Revival in the 1930s” (Alexandra Williams); “The Lute and the Polyphonist” (John Griffiths); “The National Carillon” (Rosemary Richards); and “Opera and Political Reform in the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966–76)” (Cindy Louey). Following the delivery of the papers, the Chapter Musicology Prize was awarded to Paul Curtis. The adjudicator was Peter Campbell.

Several members travelled to New Zealand to give papers at the national Conference in Wellington during the last week in November.

In 2004 the main focus of the Chapter’s activities will be the SIMS Conference in July. The Chapter is hoping to organise trial presentations for those giving papers at the conference sometime in early July.

— CONFERENCE REPORTS —

SIMS2004
The world’s musicological spotlight fell on Melbourne for the Symposium of the International Musicological Society in July. Over 450 music scholars and musicians from around the world converged on Melbourne between 11 and 16 July for the 2004 Symposium of the International Musicological Society (SIMS), jointly sponsored by Monash University and the Victorian College of the Arts.
Day One's proceedings took place at Monash University's Clayton campus in the Robert Blackwood Hall, with the other five days at the Victorian College of the Arts, Southbank. The Symposium, held every five years in different world cities, was last in Australia in 1988, in Melbourne. The symposium brought together historical and systematic musicologists, ethnomusicologists, musicians and composers, performer-researchers and interdisciplinary scholars to interact with each other.

Besides the main presenting body – the International Musicological Society (IMS) – SIMS2004 was co-presented by three other bodies: the Musicological Society of Australia (MSA), the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM), and the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM). The Symposium was the first event at which delegates from the membership of all these organisations rubbed shoulders. It was an opportunity for these delegates to develop new cross-disciplinary understandings in their approaches and research area choices, with the hope that continued synergies will be found among the delegates in these areas.

The three main themes at SIMS2004 were (i) Music Commemoration, including ritual, ceremony, and centenaries [of such important figures as Antonin Dvorak, Witold Lutoslawski, the critic Eduard Hanslick, composer Cyril Scott and Australian composer John Antill]; (ii) Music Commodification, including copyright, indigenous law, music as a global trade commodity and world music; and (iii) Music Communication, including analysis, narrative theory, border crossings, diasporas and crossover music. Between them, the 328 papers explored some fascinating theoretical issues, including music and evolution, analysing performance, liminal bodies in performance, narrative theory, various theorists, and Australian modernism.

Among the highlights were "the IMS lecture" presented by Hermann Danuser of Berlin's Humboldt University, "the MSA lecture" by Bruno Nettl of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, "the ICTM lecture" by Marcia Langton of the University of Melbourne, and "the IASPM lecture" by Tan Sooi Beng of the Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang.

Among the notable events at SIMS was the launch of the SBS-Monash World of Music Orchestra, with a new composition by Rob Burke played at the Opening Ceremony, launched by the Federal Minister for the Arts Rod Kemp, and sponsored by SBS Radio and the Monash School of Music - Conservatorium. As 2004 is Larry Sitsky's 70th birthday year, the Thursday night saw the "Sitsky at Seventy" reception, complete with the world premiere of a newly-composed work dedicated to Professor Sitsky by seven prominent Australian composers, and sponsored by the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Professor Sitsky also presented the Occasional Address at the Opening Ceremony in the Robert Blackwood Hall, where his composition, _Romantica_ for violin, 'cello and piano, was performed, followed by a Rare Books Exhibition presented in Monash's Sir Louis Matheson Library.

Throughout SIMS there was be a strong Australian music component, with a day of papers on aspects of the music-cultures of Indigenous Australia. Other Australian music sessions included papers on the music of John Antill, Don Banks and various other Australian music figures; the historical, the historical, social and political aspects of music and musicians in Australia, and music in 19th century Melbourne.

Papers on German, French, Czech, Hungarian, American and other western composers included those on Dvorak, Liszt, Schoenberg, Brahms, Krenek, and Cage. A number of well-known international and Australian scholars presented papers on aspects of 18th, 19th, and 20th century European studies, Baroque, Medieval and Renaissance studies, early gesture and dance, Spanish Iberia, opera and melodrama, American music studies, Russian music, Jewish music, music in East Europe, and in the Middle East. Other sessions helped to throw new light on Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Indian, Lao, and Thai music cultures. Contemporary music sessions dealt with new music, modernism and the avant garde, sound art, and the contributions of various individuals. Also, there was a day of papers concerned with music technology research, infrastructure and libraries, and others on education and teaching. Popular music papers tackled such burning issues as copyright, the 20th century music industry, world music, popular music and radio, film and music, rock and pop, progressive rock, and appropriation and nationalism.

SIMS2004 was an outstanding success. The Management Committee, chaired by the Convenor Margaret Kartomi, wishes to express a heartfelt thank you to all those individuals who participated in the event and hope that everyone gained a lasting benefit in their own music research endeavours.

During 11–16 July a large contingent of our members assembled in Melbourne for the Symposium of the International Musicological Society, which was co-sponsored by the International Council for Traditional Music, the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, and the MSA. The Symposium also served as the MSA's 27th National Conference.

The Symposium had been a long time in preparation, with countless hours of work undertaken by Margaret Kartomi and a very large network of volunteers and other dedicated workers. Virtually all of the assessments of the Symposium offered to me by Australian and international delegates alike were positive, and there were good reasons for this. The dozens of panels and hundreds of papers presented by both professional and student delegates were by and large of high quality. Another key factor in the success of the Symposium was the extent to which both disciplinary specialisation and cross-disciplinary interests were catered for. On the one hand there were ample panels of musicological research on specific genres or style periods, ethnomusicological studies within specific regions, and analytical studies of specific composers. On the other hand, there was a definite buzz arising from the extent to which individual panels, papers, and presenters were able to appeal to a wide variety of cross-disciplinary interests. The three main themes of the symposium—commemoration, commodification and communication—helped ensure that this would be the case by cutting across traditional subdisciplinary focuses.

The interest in attending papers from a range of sub-disciplines was reflected in comments from a number of delegates to the effect that they were frustrated by the extensive panel coverage given to one of their own research specialties (i.e., they felt compelled to attend these sessions to the exclusion of other intriguing options). I myself felt this way during the Aboriginal Music and Intellectual Property sessions that extended through all of the Wednesday. The flipside to this 'problem', of course, is that many specialised areas of research were well-represented and well-catered for. In my experience, there was ample time to hear papers that addressed topics outside of my nominal areas of interest, and I found many of these to be the most stimulating.

Location-wise, the Victorian College of the Arts proved to be an excellent venue for the Symposium. Most of the presentation rooms were adequate or better, and Federation Hall provided an acoustical and ergonomic delight as site for the keynote addresses, various other paper panels and concerts. The cafeteria, catered lunch room and Federation Hall foyer provided continuously used areas for socialising. The many nearby eateries, State Gallery and other attractions within walking distance helped round out delegates' experience at the Symposium.

Despite the best efforts of everyone involved, the Symposium was not without its flaws. These included a last-minute non-materialisation of the Indigenous Welcome/Performance, some equipment troubles (mostly on the first day of paper sessions), and some late-announced, last-minute cancellations of individual presenters. Most of these problems were beyond the control of the Symposium organisers, but more importantly, proved to be only minor glitches in what was a well-managed event.

SIMS2004 provided a congenial venue for a large international gathering of music scholars, including a number of very prominent figures; and provided opportunities for establishing and reaffirming international links between professional societies and individual scholars alike. By these and other measures, the Symposium was a major success. The MSA was fortunate to have the opportunity to collaborate with three international organisations whose core interests span a wide range of music research interests. At the same time we can take pride in the knowledge that MSA's members played essential roles in all aspects of the Symposium's planning and operation; that is, a good number of the key players of our sister organisations are also members of the MSA.

SIMS2004 followed on the successes of the 1988 SIMS, also held in Melbourne, and the 1995 ICTM World Conference in Canberra. Without taking anything for granted, as we look to the future we would do well to set our sights on the continued key participation of the MSA and its members in the periodic staging of large international conferences in Australia.

SIMS2004 – a very personal perspective
… and then we breezed into the first Monday session at SIMS, suitcases in tow and cheap, grainy airport coffee gurgling in our unsettled stomachs. A panel on instruments and identity or somesuch was underway, and we arrived just in time to hear the end of a paper on commodification that seemed to have been lifted whole from a (much better) 1990 book which addressed the same subject. Was this an omen for the rest of the week?

Thankfully, it turned out to be anything but the case, as, in my experience at least, SIMS 2004 was a stimulating, well-planned and fun conference. Volunteers were helpful, the venue central and the obligatory tea and biscuits suitably horrifying enough to send us all scurrying to the nearby excellent cafes and restaurants of Melbourne. The very next paper, on steel drum bands, was exactly the sort of thing that is the perfect side-effect of these sorts of events – clearly explained, interesting, innovative and something about which, until then, I knew virtually nothing. Like Socrates, I soon had a slightly better understanding of the scope of my ignorance, and this perspective broadened considerably as the week progressed.

As the conference was divided into streams, it was impossible to get to everything. We all complained about this, of course, but I suspect that many of us were secretly relieved. Having to go to each paper would mean a constant stream of information that could hardly be processed, and the polite social lie “I wish I could have made it to your panel, but…well, you know…this damn schedule has so many conflicts…” would no longer hold water. This would mean no wandering off to long, guilty lunches, no languorous strolling around the National Gallery next door, no clandestine afternoon group viewings of Spiderman 2 and no shopping on Little Collins Street.

This being said, there was enough that was fascinating to keep people coming back. In all seriousness, a group of us thought that we might try to find an afternoon to get away and head down to the coast, but could not agree on when this might be, as we all had too many things we wanted to hear. An early highlight for me was Ada Lai’s very intelligent paper on Doming Lam and the modernization of traditional elements in contemporary Chinese music. The rest of the afternoon went by in a blur, as I had my own paper to give, but, once this was over, the rest of the week was more or less pressure-free.

On the Monday evening, I was fortunate enough to have been invited to the reception for Japanese delegates, and met many fascinating people, including Masakata Kanazawa, the head of the Japanese Musicological Society. Given his exalted position, he was surprisingly down to earth and friendly, and remained so each time I saw him throughout the following days. Alison Tokita did a wonderful job in getting together so many people for this event, and we were all treated to performances of traditional music on both koto and shamisen by visiting performers, including a few bawdy songs that were entirely appropriate to the mood of the later part of the evening!

The papers continued to be worthwhile throughout the week. On Tuesday, Christina Fuhrmann offered a fascinating perspective on the ‘Englishing’ of Le nozze di Figaro in the nineteenth century, Alan Maddox explained the oratorical metaphor in recitative and David Irving somehow managed to combine Burney with the South Sea Islands and the Earl of Sandwich. If there is an award for grace under fire to be awarded, however, it has to go to Terence Lancashire. He gave a paper called ‘Where is the ‘J’ in J-pop?’, which would seem to be an innocuous enough topic, but the next session member was unable to turn up, leaving the poor man had to field some forty minutes of questions. In a normal, ten-minute session of questions, it is difficult for the audience discussion to go into too much depth, and the paper-giver is more or less insulated by the knowledge that they can, like a well-trained politician, answer complex queries with facile replies should the need arise. Terence Lancashire had no such luxury, and had to deal with lengthy enquiries from such varied perspectives as cultural theory, popular music narratives, videographic discourse, linguistics and performance practice. He managed this Herculean feat with aplomb and apparent cheerfulness, and I, for one, salute him.

Wednesday was similarly diverting, with some wonderful papers given, such as a frighteningly erudite discussion of early seventeenth-century Italian canons by Denis Collins, a cheerful look at Charpentier’s modern inversion of his relative importance to that naughty old Versailles crowd by Peter Roennfeldt and an interesting examination of Vanitas metaphoric language and its relationship to the music of Couperin by Ayako Otomo. I was also very interested in what Alison Tokita had to say about insider-outsider views from her perspective as a non-native researcher into Japanese music, and fascinated by the comments on her ideas by an audience comprised not only of ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’, but also a myriad of individuals inbetween.

Without a doubt, my favourite session of the conference was held on Thursday morning. This was centred on the work of Johannes de Grocheio, with particular reference to his use of Aristotelian ideas. My Aristotle is not what it should be, but even I was able to follow much of this fascinating discussion. Constant Mews, Leigh McKinnon, Catherine Jeffreys, Carol Williams and John Crossley were all intelligent, witty and well-informed, and John was even kind enough to act as the ‘voice of Grocheio’ in the last paper of the session. All in all, this was a highly satisfying morning, and my only regret is that I ran off to another panel afterwards instead of staying to chat for an hour or two. The rest of the day was also valuable, however, and I, like many others, was particularly interested by John Griffiths’ look at the economics of printing tablature books in sixteenth-century Spain, a paper which was followed immediately by Bronwyn Ellis questioning the origins of Spem in alium with her customary insight and Daniel Katz astonishing everyone with a look at the music of Salamone Rossi from a rabbinical perspective. Another highlight of the day was Grantley McDonald’s look at Corvinus, which so moved David Fallows that he stated his intention to go and find out everything he could about the area upon his return to England.

Friday morning began with an omoshiroi look at humour in Japanese music by Stephen Nelson, Yamada Chieko, Philip Flavin and Alison Tokita and this went straight into another excellent set of papers, the highlight of which for me was Fumiko Fukunaka’s exploration of intertextuality and interculturation in post-war Japanese music. The last session of the day before the final address was, however, terrifying for me. This is because I had to act as the chair, and, until you have done this for the first time, you can never appreciate just how precarious the position is. Not only do you have to stay awake and look interested for the whole time but, if nobody else asks any questions, it is up to you to come up with something intelligent-sounding to say in order to stimulate discussion. Fortunately for me, both David Black and Roy Johnston gave papers that were fascinating enough for me not to have to fake my attentiveness, and that raised enough questions to engender discussion afterwards. David deconstructed our early views of Bach elegantly and Roy offered an urbane and insightful look at Bunting’s 1813 Belfast performance of the Messiah. Through it all, I got to sit up the front like a well-dressed rabbit caught in the headlights of oncoming intellectualism, contributing nothing but feeling inexplicably responsible. Horrifying stuff, but I must confess to a sneaking hope that someone will ask me to do it again in the future.
The final address brought together the heads of different organizations in a strange mixture of praise for the industry and a plea for its future. Mutual admiration was tempered with uncertainty, but, surely, this is the constant fate of what Nicholas Cook would call ‘the Academy’. Musicology exists, it often seems to me, in the cracks between the aesthetic and the practical, and lives a precarious half-life as a discipline, envious of its sleeker, better-fed cousins in the latter-day trivium and quadrivium. Mixed metaphors, perhaps, but these, too, are appropriate for an area of study that is still struggling for identity. A call for unity in order to strengthen the justifications for such an area to exist within the academic world is a good idea, but one has to wonder what will happen to musicology should things become easier – will complacency lead to atrophied progress? As a Bear of Little Brain, however, I am hardly the person to answer such manifestly rhetorical questions, and can only comment that the whole thing, like a Wodehousean picnic, seems to be ‘a jolly decent wheeze, what?’

— FORTHCOMING CONFERENCES —

Wagner’s Ring: A Symposium
13–14 November 2004
University of Melbourne
The Richard Wagner Society and the Faculty of Music, University of Melbourne, are presenting a weekend symposium as a prelude to the performance of Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen in Adelaide this November. Keynote speaker is Prof. John Deathridge (Kings College, London), and other international speakers include Prof. Otto Bauer (Munich), Prof. Hans Vaget (Smith College, USA), and Prof. Heath Lees (University of Auckland), as well as Australian Wagner scholars Dr Michael Ewans (University of Newcastle), Dr Sally Kester (University of W.A.) and Dr John Phillips (University of Adelaide). There will also be a unique illustrated concert involving performance of Wagner’s developing sketches from Siegfried.

The Chairman of the Organising Committee is Prof. Warren Bebbington (University of Melbourne). Over 140 registrations have so far been received. For registration brochure and program please email musicdean@unimelb.edu.au or call 03.8344.7889.

MSA Study Weekend 2004
“ Music and Criticism”
Saturday 20 – Sunday 21 November 2004
Elder School of Music, University of Adelaide

The theme for the Musicological Society of Australia’s Study Weekend 2004 in Adelaide will be music criticism in its varied forms.
Although it coincides with Cycle I of the State Opera of South Australia’s premiere Australian production of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, it will not be a weekend where Wagner permeates everything.
Issues that will be discussed during the weekend will include the role of Criticism as Applied Musicology and the Critical Reception of Wagner’s Ring in Australia. To help start these discussions, academics including Professor John Deathridge (King’s College, University of London), Roger Covell (Sydney Morning Herald), Joel Crotty (Monash University), Malcolm Gillies (Australian National University), Nicholas Routley (University of Sydney), Johanna Selleck (University of Melbourne) and others to be announced will share thoughts, ideas and wisdom.

Apart from the enjoyable sessions of informal, collegial and non-didactic discussion, a Public Forum titled “Wagner, The Ring & Criticism” will occur on the Saturday afternoon. It will delve into critical and dramaturgical aspects of The Ring. Panelists for this forum with backgrounds in music criticism, research and commentary will include John Deathridge (King’s College, University of London), Peter Bassett (State Opera of South Australia), Roger Covell (Sydney Morning Herald) and Nicholas Routley (University of Sydney). The presence of world-leading Wagner scholar Professor John Deathridge, who will be speaking at the Ring Symposium in Melbourne the previous week, will lend special interest to this event. In the 1980s, with support from the Thyssen Foundation, Professor Deathridge carried out research in Europe and the United States on archival sources relating to Wagner’s works, culminating in the appearance of the first critical source catalogue of Wagner’s musical works (WWV), which he published in 1986 with Martin Geck and Egon Voss.

Tickets for individual opera performances from The Ring are yet to go on sale and may not be sold, if ticket sales continue at their current levels. However, a limited number of seats are still available for the full cycle, which can be purchased from BASS.
Information about the Study Weekend is regularly being updated on the MSA’s website at http://www.msa.org.au/StudyWeekend.html. On that site you can find the registration form, maps and further information. If the website can’t answer your questions, then please don’t hesitate to contact Graham Strahle (Convener) 0407 319 545, gstrahle@chariot.net.au or Chris Wainwright 0438 829 728, cmwain@bigpond.net.au.
The Musicological Society of Australia acknowledges the support of its partners, the Elder School of Music, University of Adelaide and the State Opera of South Australia.

“Music and Criticism” – Draft Program
As of 12 September 2004

8.30 am Registrations
9.15 am Welcome by Elder Professor of Music Professor Charles Bodman Rae
Indigenous Welcome by Kaurna Elder Uncle Lewis O’Brien
Opening Address by Associate Professor Kimi Coaldrake
10.00 Session I
11.15 Morning Tea
11.45 Session II
1.00 pm Lunch
2.30 Public Forum – followed by drinks

9.30 am Annual General Meeting of the MSA
11.00 Morning Tea
11.30 Session III
1.00 pm Lunch
2.30 Session IV
3.45 Afternoon Tea and close
Chris Wainwright

The 28th National Conference of the MSA, co-hosted by the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, The University of Sydney and the Sydney Chapter of the Musicological Society of Australia, will be held from Wednesday, 28 September to Saturday, 1 October 2005 at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. The conference, featuring paper presentations, round table sessions, panels, lecture recitals and concerts, will be based around the theme of ‘Music and Social Justice’.

Nor you ye poor of lettered scorn complain,
To you the smoothest song is smooth in vain;
O’ercome by labour, and bowed down by time,
Feel you the barren flattery of a rhyme?
Can poets soothe you, when you pine for bread
By winding myrtles round your ruined shed?
Can their light tales your weighty griefs o’erpower,
Or glad with airy mirth the toilsome hour?
— from Rural Life by George Crabbe (1754–1832)

These lines of George Crabbe pose, as well as any, the questions which this conference seeks to explore and also illustrate the dangers that can arise when artistic language, either intentionally or unintentionally, gilds, deflects or neutralises the social concern it wishes to express. This conference seeks to explore ways in which music has interacted with issues of social justice and to bring to the forefront ethical issues for those working in the aesthetic realm.

Submissions for papers, round table sessions, panels and lecture recitals in all areas of music research and practice, including historical and popular musicology, ethnomusicology, music education, music technology, performance, composition, music psychology and music perception are welcome. Themed papers may, for instance, address areas such as music and protest, the music of oppressed peoples, music and terrorism, music and cultural hegemony, music and colonialism, music and imperialism, music and war, racism, gender, sexuality and music, music and empowerment, music and imprisonment or detention, music and social change, music and the law, concepts of copyright, intellectual property and indigenous rights, performers’ and composers’ moral rights and issues of music recording, free trade and globalisation. Abstracts for papers and sessions on topics outside the conference theme are also welcome.

Paper and Session Proposals
• Proposers of individual papers must submit an abstract of 250 words. Individual papers must be no longer than 20 minutes. The proposal must specify the paper title, author’s name and location/institutional affiliation, email or other contact address, and all required equipment (such as piano, overhead projector, CD/DVD player etc.) Please note that Internet access will not be available for presentations. Any presenters planning PowerPoint or other computer presentations must specify this in their proposal submissions and will be expected to bring overhead transparencies as back up.
• The program committee welcomes group submissions on a common theme. These may be given either as a round table or panel session (maximum 90 minutes) or as 3 to 4 papers grouped around a common topic. Proposals for group submissions must provide the name and contact details of the organiser and a list of committed participants. Separate abstracts must be included for each contribution.
• Participants interested in presenting lecture recitals (maximum 40 minutes) must submit a 250-word abstract, recital program and lecture outline. All equipment necessary for the recital must be specified in the proposal. The Program Committee reserves the right to request additional information from lecture recital proposers in order to determine whether the lecture recital will be appropriate for the conference.
• Proposals may be submitted by email, regular mail or by fax by 15 March 2005. Notification of acceptance will be made by 30 April 2005. Proposers who require earlier notification for funding purposes should contact the conference convenors.
• Authors of accepted papers and those intending to participate in accepted sessions must be members of the MSA at the time of the Conference. Membership information can be found on the MSA website at www.msa.org.au
Inquiries should be directed to the Conference Convenors Jennie Shaw and Peter McCallum at conference@msa.org.au. Further details will be available on the MSA website, the MSA E-News Bulletin and in the next issue of this Newsletter.

Conference address for submissions
Email: conference@msa.org.au
Fax: +612 9351 1287
Address: MSA Conference, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, The University of Sydney C41, Sydney 2006, Australia.
Jennie Shaw

Musicology Australia Update and Call for Submissions
Volume 27 of Musicology Australia is in production and will feature research articles by David Lockett on the autograph sources of Margaret Sutherland’s Chiaroscuro 1, Janice Stockigt on works listed in the music catalogue of the Dresden Catholic court church (1765), John Napier on the role of the harmonium and harmonium players in North Indian music, Linda Kouvaras and David Bennett on the play of postmodern and modern aesthetics in the critical reception of Matthew Hindson’s compositions, and Nicholas Routley and Rowena Braddock on ‘productive disjunction’ in Louis Andriessen’s and Peter Greenaway’s Writing to Vermeer. In addition to an invited article by Anthony Seeger on new technologies and new collaborations, first presented as the Alfred Hook lecture in September 2003 at the launch of Paradisec at the University of Sydney, the volume will include book reviews by Jennifer Nevile, Maria O’Hale, Denis Collins, Roger Covell and several other contributors. My thanks go to the contributors and referees and to many others who have generously offered advice and suggestions. I would especially like to single out Assistant Editor Paul Watt and Editorial Advisory Committee members Allan Marett, Sandra McColl, Michael Noone, Alison Tokita, Richard Toop and Stephen Wild, as well as Linda Barwick, Stephen Blum, Mark Carroll, Diane Collins, Deborah Crisp, Joel Crotty, Robert Curry, Craig De Wilde, Peter Dunbar-Hall, Dorottya Fabian, Charles Fairchild, Greer Garden, Malcolm Gillies, Jillian Graham, Roger Hillman, Steven Knopoff, Judy Lochhead, Alan Maddox, Kathleen Nelson, Bruno Nettl, John Phillips, Barbara Reul, Suzanne Robinson, Jill Stubington and David Symons.

Several submissions for volume 28 (2005) are currently being peer reviewed, but there is still room for articles in that volume. We welcome scholarly articles on all aspects of music research. I would encourage contributors to consult volume 26 (2003) for acceptable submission and referencing formats and to contact me directly if you have any questions. Please also remember that copyright permissions must be obtained and email or letter copies of permissions sent to me before publication of any copyright material in the journal is possible.

Many book reviews promised to Musicology Australia are still outstanding: the last day for submission of 2000-word reviews for possible inclusion in volume 27 is 31 October 2004. If you cannot make that deadline please contact me so that we can arrange a revised submission date. Alternatively, please consider returning your review text to me so that another reviewer can be found.
Submissions and items for review should be sent to me at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, The University of Sydney C41, NSW 2006 Australia, or to the Society’s PO Box address.
Jennie Shaw
Editor, Musicology Australia

Release of Music Research: New Directions for a New Century
Music Research: new directions for a new century, a publication arising out of the national MSA conference held in 2002 in Newcastle, NSW, will be released by Cambridge Scholars Press, London, on October 1.

Out of some fifty-four revised submissions from conference paper-givers, a total of thirty-three were chosen, covering all themes of the conference. The submissions were anonymously refereed by an extensive panel of over sixty reviewers headed by Musicology Australia editor Jennie Shaw—for whose magnificent work in fielding the literally hundreds of reviews required by this project the editors would like to express their heartfelt thanks. All three keynote speakers also contributed print versions of their papers, giving a total of 36 chapters, divided into sections corresponding to the themes of the original conference. An introduction by the editors, author biographies, chapter abstracts, an index, and dozens of musical examples, figures and tables round off a very substantial volume.

The editors would like to warmly thank all those who made submissions and patiently filed their contributions into print-ready form, the MSA and participating universities for their support, Jennie and the reviewer panel for their work in refereeing this book, as well Cambridge Scholars Press for their courageous offer of publishing what we believe will be a signal event for Australian musicology and a clear indication of the broad range of interests, approaches, knowledges and expertise that characterise musicological discourse in this country.

Music Research: new directions for a new century
Edited by Michael Ewans, Rosalind Halton, and John A. Phillips
Cambridge Scholars Press London 2004. ISBN 1-904303-35-8; xxx + 452 pages
Contributors: Roland Bannister, Katelyn Barney, Brydie-Leigh Bartleet, Marie-Louise Catsalis, Eddy Chong, Denis Collins, Cathy Cox, Suzanne G. Cusick, Patricia Duke, Prudence Dunstone, Anne-Marie Forbes, Peter Freeman, Jason Geary, Rolf Gehlhaar, Rosalind Halton, Roy Howat, Timothy Humphrey, David Irving, Daniela Kaleva, Steven Knopoff, Linda Kouvaras, Julia Lu, Elizabeth Mackinlay, Alan Maddox, Ruth Lee Martin, Frank Murphy, John Napier, Jacqueline Ogeil, John A. Phillips, Deborah Priest, Andrew Robbie, Nicholas Routley, Ikuno Sako, Johanna Selleck, Jennifer Shaw, Patricia Shaw, Jason Stoessel

—John Phillips, for the editors Michael Ewans, Rosalind Halton and John Phillips

— OBITUARY —

Much loved MSA member Victoria Hardwick died Saturday 29 May 2004. The following is an extract from the laudatio given at her funeral.

Victoria joined the staff in German Studies in 1983, soon after she came back from Germany, where she had taught English, music and French for 8 years. In 1996 she completed her Ph.D., “The legacy of hope: critical songs of the German Democratic Republic”, which combined her interests in music and German culture and history.

Her skill in teaching was recognised by her colleagues at the university when she was nominated for a Teaching Award. Last November she was invited by the Victorian German Teachers Association and the Goethe Institute to be the keynote speaker at their annual conference. Victoria was a truly outstanding, enthusiastic and passionate teacher, but she was also a very caring one. Students always felt that they could approach her with their problems and that she would understand. She was honest and open with them and the fact that she was prepared to be upfront about herself encouraged them to do the same. As a colleague she showed the same qualities.

For me, one of the abiding memories I will have of her is the way she wasn’t afraid to live her conviction that work cannot be separated from life and that the best teaching comes from acknowledging and connecting with the whole person, their feelings and not just their intellect. All of us who knew her, knew that she loved us and accepted each one of us as an individual with something valuable to offer. This is perhaps the best thing you can do for anyone. Thanks Victoria.
Margaret King

— MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES —

A Guide to Good Practice in Collaborative Working Methods and New Media Tools Creation

Arts and Humanities Data Service/Performing Arts have recently published a new Guide to Good Practice. The Guide offers new perspectives on the role of new technologies in creative and collaborative practice in performance and is one of a series of titles commissioned and edited by AHDS Performing Arts at the University of Glasgow. The guide is available to read at http://ahds.ac.uk/new-media-tools/. A print version will be available later in the year from Oxbow Books.
Alastair Dunning
Co-Chair, DRH2004 Programme Committee
Arts and Humanities Data Service, King's College London
(courtesy of Amanda Harris, Sydney)

Chris Wainwright, as Registrar of Postgraduate Music Dissertations, maintains the Society’s database, which is no longer published in Musicology Australia and is currently being transferred to the Society’s website.

We need your assistance in helping to keep our records up to date; they provide a valuable source of information to other scholars. Please send the following forms to: Chris Wainwright, MSA Registrar of Postgraduate Music Dissertations, fax (08) 8297 2040, e-mail cmwain@bigpond.net.au, or post to Chris Wainwright, MSA, GPO Box 2404, Canberra ACT 2601.

Also, if your thesis is currently listed as ‘in progress’ but you have subsequently been awarded your degree, please notify us. If you are aware of theses currently in progress but not listed in Musicology Australia, please give a copy of the form to the relevant person. This is especially important for theses being completed in non-music departments such as anthropology, sociology, history, or cultural studies.
Chris Wainwright

Notification of Dissertation-in-Progress
Please complete and post to:
Dissertation Registrar, MSA, GPO Box 2404 Canberra ACT 2601 Australia;
or fax to: Chris Wainwright, MSA Registrar of Graduate Theses in Music,
on (08) 8297 2040, between the hours of 8.00 am and 10.00pm (CST).

Surname:
Given Names:
Name of Degree:
Awarding Institution:
Year Study Commenced:
Title of Thesis: (if a final title has not been decided upon, a working title is satisfactory)

Major Subject Category (see below): Minor Category (if applicable):
Please provide up to three (3) single keywords that describe the subject of your thesis:

A Australasia
A1 Indigenous music
A2 Australasian ‘art’ music
A3 Music of other ethnic traditions
A4 Popular music (folk, jazz, rock, etc.)

B Western Historical Traditions
B1 Ancient and Medieval
B2 Renaissance
B3 Baroque
B4 Classical
B5 Romantic (Nineteenth Century)
B6 Twentieth Century

C Non-Australasian Traditional Music

F Other (not elsewhere classified)
For example: Analysis, Theory,
Criticism, Philosophy, Aesthetics,
Sociology, Literature, Law,
Organology, Editing, Publishing,
Dance, Technology, Bibliography, etc.

Newsletter No. 61 September 2004 ISSN 0155-0543