Tempo and Tactus in the German Baroque: Treatises, Scores, and the Performance of Organ Music. Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2021.
Guides modern performers and scholars through the intricacies of German Baroque metric theory, via analyses of treatises and organ music by J.S. Bach and other leading composers, such as Buxtehude, Bruhns, and Weckman.
Conference Report: “Professionals and Amateurs: The Spirit of Kenner und Liebhaber in Keyboard Composition, Performance and Instrument Building.” University of Michigan, 9–12 May 2018. Eighteenth-Century Music (16/1, 2019). 97–99.
"The Organs of the Salzburg Cathedral." Organ Canada (November, 2014).
"Musical Rhetoric in Sweelinck's Sacred Keyboard Variation" (Abridged Version). American Organist (February and March, 2014). Feb: 51–59 and March: 48–55.
Abstract: see TVNM 2011 article below.
Abstract: see TVNM 2011 article below.
"Musical Rhetoric Lost in Translation: National, Religious and Linguistic Networks and the Determination of Title in Sweelinck's Organ Variations on Psalm 36." In Networks of Music and Culture in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Ashgate, 2013. 92–112.
Abstract: The title of Sweelinck's set of variations on Psalm 36 was not given in the original manuscript: this work has only been assigned its current title (i.e., Psalm 36) today based on a consensus in the academic community. The melody on which this set of variations is based had, at the time that Sweelinck wrote the work, been set to many different texts in many different languages. I, therefore, comb through the various texts and eliminate all but one: the original French versification of Psalm 36 by Clément Marot in the Genevan Psalter, because only this text fits the musical-rhetorical figures used by Sweelinck.
Abstract: The title of Sweelinck's set of variations on Psalm 36 was not given in the original manuscript: this work has only been assigned its current title (i.e., Psalm 36) today based on a consensus in the academic community. The melody on which this set of variations is based had, at the time that Sweelinck wrote the work, been set to many different texts in many different languages. I, therefore, comb through the various texts and eliminate all but one: the original French versification of Psalm 36 by Clément Marot in the Genevan Psalter, because only this text fits the musical-rhetorical figures used by Sweelinck.
"Liturgical Music: An Ecumenical and Historical Perspective." Musica Sacra vol 139/4 (2012): 29-43.
Abstract: In somewhat of a departure from my normal field of inquiry, I ask the question why there are so many differences in the philosophy of liturgical music in the Christian Church and what is the foundation of a musical culture within the church. Based not only on research but also on my own experience as liturgical organist, I approach the topic from a historical perspective, to better understand how we have arrived today at the thought processes that drive current trends in the philosophy of liturgical music. To do this, I discuss (among other aspects) the differences between ancient and modern modes of thought and how this creates misunderstandings today; and the changing role of rhetoric and self-expression.
Abstract: In somewhat of a departure from my normal field of inquiry, I ask the question why there are so many differences in the philosophy of liturgical music in the Christian Church and what is the foundation of a musical culture within the church. Based not only on research but also on my own experience as liturgical organist, I approach the topic from a historical perspective, to better understand how we have arrived today at the thought processes that drive current trends in the philosophy of liturgical music. To do this, I discuss (among other aspects) the differences between ancient and modern modes of thought and how this creates misunderstandings today; and the changing role of rhetoric and self-expression.
"Muziekretoriek in Sweelincks klaviervariaties over geestelijke liederen (I)." Translated by Jan Smelik. Het Orgel (2012/5): 14-23.
Abstract: see TVNM 2011 article below.
Abstract: see TVNM 2011 article below.
"Muziekretoriek in Sweelincks klaviervariaties over geestelijke liederen (II)." Translated by Jan Smelik. Het Orgel (2012/6): 30-37.
Abstract: see TVNM 2011 article below.
Abstract: see TVNM 2011 article below.
"Musical Rhetoric in Sweelinck's Sacred Keyboard Variations." Tijdschrift van de Koninklijke Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschedenis, LXI (2011). 25-56.
Abstract: There seems to be a consensus in the academic and performance communities today that Sweelinck never used the text associated with the title of his keyboard compositions to initiate compositional ideas. I, however, show that Sweelinck did indeed consider textual meaning as a foundation for at least some of his sacred organ variations, often using consistent discrete musical-rhetorical figures to represent specific ideas described by the text. Finding these instances of music-text relationships is possible by adding an improvised homophonic variation (not provided in the score) to the beginning of each set of variations (save for the few exceptions). The majority of the works based on Lutheran melodies have close music-text relationships, while the majority of the works based on Calvinist melodies do not.
Abstract: There seems to be a consensus in the academic and performance communities today that Sweelinck never used the text associated with the title of his keyboard compositions to initiate compositional ideas. I, however, show that Sweelinck did indeed consider textual meaning as a foundation for at least some of his sacred organ variations, often using consistent discrete musical-rhetorical figures to represent specific ideas described by the text. Finding these instances of music-text relationships is possible by adding an improvised homophonic variation (not provided in the score) to the beginning of each set of variations (save for the few exceptions). The majority of the works based on Lutheran melodies have close music-text relationships, while the majority of the works based on Calvinist melodies do not.
