AMS Newsletter August 2013
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AMS NEWSLETTER THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY CONSTITUENT MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOCIETIES VOLUME XLIII, NUMBER 2 August 2013 ISSN 0402-012X Pittsburgh: From Steel to LEED AMS Pittsburgh 2013 7–10 November www.ams-net.org/pittsburgh In the twenty-two years since the AMS last met in Pittsburgh in 1992, the city has worked to transform itself from a Rust Belt survivor to a city focused on banking, technology, and the environment. The transition is not yet complete, nor is the fossil fuel economy finished. Evidence of the city’s industrial past remains in the coal-fired power plants that dot the region, in the historical mansions in Shadyside, and in the arts, where foundations and family money established and continue to support institutions and museums. Many of these institutions are looking toward the future. Emblematic for this transition is the Reid/VisitPittsburgh David Credit: Pittsburgh Opera (celebrating its seventy- The three rivers of Pittsburgh fifth season), which recently purchased and es, rehearsal spaces, and costume shops. The or biking. The Port Authority operates an renovated a factory built in 1869 for its offic- restoration took a path that is becoming the extensive bus network as well as two light standard in the “new” Pittsburgh: architects rail lines (known as “the T”). Until 7 p.m., preserved historic features but completely buses are free within the “Golden Triangle” In This Issue… revamped its environmental footprint, re- (from the Point to 11th Street/Ross Street). sulting in a highly efficient building that re- From Gateway Station, one block east of the President’s Message ...............2 ceived the silver level of LEED (Leadership hotel, one can ride the T gratis under the Al- What I Do in Musicology ..........4 in Energy and Environmental Design) certi- legheny to the North Side to visit PNC Park, President’s Endowed Plenary Lecture . 5 fication. Visitors can see hundreds of LEED Heinz Field, the Andy Warhol Museum, the Executive Director’s Message ........5 buildings in Pittsburgh, including the David Car negie Science Center, the Manchester Awards, Prizes, Honors ............6 L. Lawrence Convention Center and three Craftsmen’s Guild (jazz), and the Rivers Ca- AMS Public Lectures..............9 new wings of the Phipps Conservatory in the sino. Going the opposite direction, one can AMS / Newberry Library Oakland neighborhood. Along with its ex- ride free for three stations but must pay $2.50 Short-Term Fellowship ..........9 otic plants and spectacular glass sculptures by to cross the Monongahela to Station Square, ACLS Annual Meeting 2013 .......10 Dale Chihuly, the Phipps has become a leader a renovated train station with shopping and News from the AMS Board .......10 in green building. Oakland has many other restaurant options, as well as the dock for the Pittsburgh Performances .......... 11 attractions, including the Carnegie Museums Gateway Clipper river cruises. On Saturday, Pittsburgh Program Selection ......12 of Art and Natural History, the Carnegie Li- the Captain’s Dinner Dance Cruise boards Chapter News, News Briefs .......12 brary, and the Stephen Foster Memorial. at 5:30 p.m. and returns at 9 ($55, www.gate- 13 Pittsburgh Preliminary Program .... With its rivers, hills, and tunnels, Pitts- wayclipper.com). Also at Station Square is the 22 Committee News ............... burgh’s geography can be fascinating to Monongahela Incline, a funicular operating 2014 24 AMS Milwaukee ........... navigate. Directly in front of the Wyndham since 1870; a fantastic view of the city awaits Study Group News ..............26 Grand, our conference venue, is Point State at the top of Mt. Washington (formerly “Coal CFPs, Conferences ..............29 Park with the Fort Pitt Museum. From the Hill”). There are several bus options to get to Legacy Gifts ...................30 park, the Three Rivers Heritage Trail Sys- Oakland; see the trip planner at www.portau- Grants, Fellowships ..............30 tem runs along both sides of all three rivers thority.org. Obituaries ....................31 with fantastic views to enjoy while walking continued on page President’s Message: Three New AMS Initiatives (Public and Private) Good news this summer comes in threes. concert-goers. After considering various 3. New endowed plenary lecture at the To detail them one by one: possibilities we agreed at our March 2013 Annual Meeting. As I reported in my mes- 1. New AMS Member Directory. Well, meeting to launch an official AMS blog, sage in last February’s AMS Newsletter, I this initiative is not quite “new,” having which we dubbed Musicology Now. To get discovered in my New Orleans dinner with been announced in these pages in 2011 by this project underway we agreed that we the other music society presidents that we then-president Anne Walters Robertson. needed someone of uncommon initiative, have been the only society that does not As you have already been notified by Bob entrepreneurial creativity, and scholarly have a regular plenary lecture at the An- Judd, rather than simply providing our distinction; someone who had demonstrat- nual Meeting. The AMS sponsors lectures contact information, the new AMS Mem- ed both an ability to communicate with a at the Library of Congress and at the Rock ber Directory makes it possible to upload general public and web literacy; someone and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, but all kinds of information, including photos, with both the energy and also the time to we have done nothing of the kind for our- curricula vitae, and links to personal web undertake a project such as this. selves since the early 1990s, when there was sites, databases, and blogs. One of its most I am delighted to report that D. Kern a tradition of an annual presidential address important features is the ability it provides Holoman has accepted the Board’s invita- that took place at the business meeting. In us to list research interests. This tool will tion to become the inaugural curator of the years before the proliferation of awards, help us to be better aware of the range of Musicology Now. Kern has all of the de- it had been possible for the president to our collective interests and to track the sired attributes and then some. Among hold forth for a lengthy scholarly address. shifts of those interests from year to year. his entrepreneurial efforts, he co-founded The Board’s enthusiasm for this idea blos- It will also be enormously useful for the 19th-Century Music, he was a guiding force somed quickly into what will be called the Committee on Committees in seeking to in the creation of AMS-L in the mid- AMS President’s Endowed Plenary Lecture, balance the scholarly representation on the 1990s, his two latest books (a biography of an event made possible by the philanthrop- Society’s committees. Please make use of ic altruism of Elaine Sisman and her hus- it (and please let us know how we might band Martin Fridson. Their inspired choice improve it). Directory + Blog + for the first recipient of this honor is Rich- 2. New AMS blog. In the February 2012 ard Crawford (in future years the selection AMS Newsletter, Anne Walters Robertson Endowed Plenary Lecture of the plenary lecturer will be made by the also announced a quest to improve the way Board). The lecture will take place at the we as a society “do” public musicology. The end of the first afternoon of papers, Thurs- Charles Munch, and The Orchestra: A Very discussion of what that might mean occu- day from 5:30 to 6:30, and will exit directly Short Introduction) reach a wide audience, pied the Board at a retreat in New Orleans into the Thursday evening reception. The he has been a tireless mentor of graduate in March 2012. It also reverberated through intent is to provide an occasion that brings and undergraduate students … and af- numerous postings to AMS-L in June 2011, together as many members of the Society ter forty years of teaching, he is retiring. in a healthy debate about our relevance and as possible for a moment that is at once in- visibility to the world at large. Prodded by Asked to provide two or three sentences tellectually stimulating and socially festive. an email from Bill Meredith lamenting to describe the new blog, he sums it up For those who are unable to be there in per- our relative invisibility, many—includ- in these words: “Musicology Now is a blog son, we intend to film the lecture and make ing me—identified the variety of ways in from the American Musicological Society, it available on our web site. which individual members have success- written by its members for the general The new directory, the blog, and the en- fully made an impact outside of academia public. It seeks to promote the results of dowed plenary lecture are each in their own and professional journals. Not to rehash recent research and discovery in the field of way steps toward a Society that is better able those emails, which are archived and there- music history, foster colloquy, and generate to comprehend the breadth and diversity of fore still available, but Bill’s basic point is enthusiasm for the subject matter. Using its members and their varied interests. In correct: we can do better. An exploration links, images, and sound, it references con- the earliest decades, when the membership of some best practices will take place at this versations within and around the academy was numbered in the hundreds, this was ac- fall’s Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, with and in the principal institutions of music complished by the Journal. The AMS News- an evening session sponsored by the Com- making around the world.” He reports letter emerged in 1971 to convey different mittee on Communications and the Com- that the prototype is up and running and sorts of information to a field and a Society mittee on Career-Related Issues entitled may be reviewed by communicating with then in rapid expansion.