Review of Matthew Bribitzer-Stull, Anthology for Analysis and Performance (Oxford University Press, 2014)

Abstract

[1] Anthologies of musical scores for use in theory classes (as distinct from music history classes) have at least a fifty-year publishing history. One of the earliest, Charles Burkhart's Anthology for Musical Analysis, appeared first in 1964, and was arranged chronologically. It included works from the late seventeenth century (Purcell) to the middle of the twentieth century (Babbitt), and was soon integrated firmly into the undergraduate curricula of many schools. After a decade or more of use, instructors began to worry that music students would know a prescribed canon of musical compositions: heavy on piano repertoire with sonata form best modeled by the piano sonatas of Beethoven (particularly the first movement of op. 53, Waldstein) and with the nineteenth-century character piece best represented by Brahms's Intermezzo in A major, op. 118, no. 2.[2] Subsequent anthologies, and later editions of the Burkhart anthology, broadened the scope of repertoire to include music by women, examples from jazz and the popular music repertoire, and an expanded chronology: as far back as plainchant and as current as 2000 and beyond. Anthologies also grouped works by form and/or contrapuntal procedure, and arranged excerpts by harmonic content. Selected anthologies and editions published in the last ten years are listed at the end of this review.[3] One of the newest anthologies is Matthew Bribitzer-Stull's Anthology for Analysis and Performance (hereafter AAP), for use in the theory classroom. The author's purposes are made clear in a Preface for the Instructor: the compositions included broaden the types of medium and genre by including a wide range of instrumental music and deemphasizing piano, string quartets, and lieder. Bribitzer-Stull believes that the vast majority of his selections can be performed live in class, requiring only the performing forces and technical abilities present among students in freshman and sophomore theory courses (xiv). Such live musical experiences can facilitate reciprocal analytical and performance insights.Example 1. Distribution of selections by dates of composition[4] Bribitzer-Stull has assembled a huge number of examples, which are presented basically in chronological order. Example 1 shows the distribution of selections by date of composition, indicating the numbered selections from the chronological list of pieces by composer, the total number of pieces (and in parentheses the number of movements or separate sections) in each time grouping, and the page numbers. There are 136 numbered selections, over half of them written since 1830. At 910 pages (877 pages of music plus appendices), AAP is certainly one of the largest anthologies available (and at over five pounds, one of the heaviest!).[5] Each composition is preceded by brief commentary, including short references to analytical procedures and connections to performance. The Preface for the Instructor (xv) suggests several ways to relate performance and analysis, and the Appendix applies these ideas to a 50-minute lesson plan for Robert Schumann's Widmung, including a performance at the beginning and end of the class interwoven with textual, formal, motivic, harmonic, and tonal analysis. Additional sections at the end of AAP include a glossary of foreign terms, a bibliography (Works Cited) of books and articles about analysis and performance (unfortunately not mentioned in the Contents, and buried on pages 884-885 under a heading of Credits, which are not included), an index of pieces by instrumentation, and a very long index of compositional materials and techniques. This last index requires double referencing: the item (term, chord type, form, etc.) is referenced by number in the chronological list of pieces by composer and by measure number, requiring the reader to refer back to the Contents for page numbers.[6] The anthology includes works by composers not normally studied in music theory classes. …