Early Music America Spring 2014 - (Page 3)

Early Music America Board of Directors President Christopher Bone readerforum Actuary Vice Presidents Thomas Forrest Kelly Harvard University Angela Mariani Harmonia, Altramar, Texas Tech University Debra Nagy Case Western Reserve University Secretary Charlotte Newman Arts Administrator Assistant Secretary Kathleen Spencer Franklin & Marshall College (ret.) Treasurer Marie-Hélène Bernard Handel and Haydn Society Lewis Baratz Harpsichordist Robert Cole Cal Performances (ret.) JoLynn Edwards University of Washington, Bothell Raymond Erickson Keyboardist; Music Historian Susan Gidwitz Valerie Horst Amherst Early Music Etsuko Jennings Morgan Stanley Robert A. Johnson Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney P .C. David Klausner University of Toronto Hank Knox McGill University; Harpsichordist Alexandra MacCracken Ensemble Gaudior Sarah Mead Brandeis University Robert Mealy Juilliard School of Music Charles Metz Optometrist; Harpsichordist Rachel Barton Pine Violinist Benjamin Roe WGBH Daniel Shoskes M.D., Cleveland Clinic Melissa Smey Miller Theatre, Columbia University Nell Snaidas Soprano Murray Forbes Somerville Music City Baroque Orchestra Jeffrey Thomas American Bach Soloists Ruben Valenzuela Bach Collegium San Diego Birgitt van Wijk Heritage Helicopter Services; Ars Lyrica Houston Staff Executive Director Ann Felter Membership Director Dina Scarpino Advertising Manager Patrick Nugent Oberlin Memories Dean Nuernberger (see In Memoriam, page 13) was one of those teachers you never forget, not only because of his passionate dedication to early music and to his students, but also because he could lead his students to understand, viscerally, how every repertoire, every text set to music, was part of a complex web essential to understanding our own humanity. Although officially on the music theory faculty at Oberlin Conservatory (from 1968 until his retirement in 1989), Dean's passion was pre-Baroque music and its performance. The Collegium Musicum at Oberlin, which he founded and directed for over 20 years, rapidly became a beloved local institution, its concerts always packed. Flourishing outside of the Conservatory, it was an inclusive musical and intellectual haven for students from the College as well as the "Con." We former students of Dean's Collegium remain a fiercely loyal group even today; the news of his death has brought a deep sense of shared loss. For those of us who began serious music study in the late 1960s, the options for learning about the performance of early music were minimal to non-existent. Conservatories in those days generally offered various approaches to interpreting the canon of The Great Composers; involvement with any music from before Bach or Handel was considered to be little more than a nod to those repertoires one professor of mine dismissed as "pre-music." For singers, this usually meant beginning the voice recital with a dutiful and cautious warm-up from G. Schirmer's ubiquitous 24 Italian Songs and Arias before getting down to the real business of singing. The words "early music" usually provoked exasperated eye-rolling from our professors. Looking back, it seems astonishing how quickly and profoundly this situation changed for Baroque music; already, in those days, there were interesting reports arriving (usually sent by aerogram) from friends in Basel, Brussels, or Amsterdam. In 1972, the first Baroque Performance Institute was held at Oberlin, and the rest is history. But pre-Baroque music, to this day, has not fared quite as well; still, it was the Collegium Musicum under Dean's leadership that kept the flame alive at Oberlin for more than 20 years, training generations of young musicians in the performance and understanding of Medieval and Renaissance music. There was always such a sense of liberation in walking out of the conservatory and crossing the square to attend a Collegium rehearsal in a nearby chapel and finding Dean in a state of near-possession as he swept us along with an energy that seemed only to increase through the rehearsal, with a sense of musical delight that taught us more than a thousand textbooks. Yes, delight, and yet also a true intellectual discipline, put to work with a creative energy I've rarely experienced since those days. Many who sang in the Collegium have vivid memories of Dean's immense gift for creating concert programs that transcended historical musical genres. witnessing to the deep and probing mind of a true humanist. All of these programs can now be consulted online: http://collegium.codexwilkes.com. I have spent a lifetime working to make well-crafted programs of Medieval music, and each effort has been inspired in some way, or so I hope, by Dean's example. Along with many of my colleagues, I learned from him how each element of a program must be contextual, essential, and balanced, so that the whole may function as an organic Speak Up! Early Music America magazine welcomes your commentary. Please include your name, city of residence, e-mail address, and phone number with all correspondence. Send to: Reader Forum, Early Music America, 472 Point Road, Marion, MA 02738; fax: 508-748-1928; or editor@earlymusic.org. Early Music America magazine reserves the right to edit letters for clarity, style, and length. Early Music America Spring 2014 3 http://collegium.codexwilkes.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Early Music America Spring 2014

Editor's Note
Reader Forum
Sound Bytes
Musings: My No Early Music Dream
Profile: Choral Conductor Amelia LeClair
Recording Reviews
Donors ex machina
Three Small Nails
Early Music Is a Capital Idea
Composing Electronic Music for Baroque Instruments
2014 Guide: Workshops & Festivals
Book Reviews
Ad Index
In Conclusion: 4,568 Pages Ago

Early Music America Spring 2014