Sappho’s oeuvre exists in tantalizing fragments providing fodder for generations of interpreters to reimagine her life and poetry in myriad ways. The paper looks at three Parisian fantasies of Sappho: Charles Gounod’s first opera Sapho (1851 and 1884), Charles Cuvillier’s operetta Sapphô (1912), and the Sapphic music and dramatic activities held i…[Read more]

Book review of Reviewed Works: Stravinsky’s “Pulcinella”: A Facsimile of the Sources and Sketches by Maureen A. Carr; The Wendy Hilton Dance & Music Series 12 by Millicent Hodson

An essay on Ruth Crawford Seeger’s string quartet, using the technique of integral serialism: http://www.theavidlistener.com/2014/12/the-innovations-of-ruth-crawford-seeger.html

An essay on The Decemberists’ The Tain: http://www.theavidlistener.com/2015/11/american-folk-rock-cattle-raid-the-decemberistss-the-tain.html

An essay on Anthony Burgess’s Napoleon Symphony: http://www.theavidlistener.com/2015/11/art-mimics-art-anthony-burgesss-napoleon-symphony-a-novel-in-four-movements.html

An essay on Delia Derbyshire and women in electronic music: http://www.theavidlistener.com/2014/12/women-cant-do-that-delia-derbyshire-and-electronic-music.html?cid=6a00d83534ac5b69e201bb07c160e9970d#comment-6a00d83534ac5b69e201bb07c160e9970d

An essay on autobiography in pop songs by women: http://www.theavidlistener.com/2014/12/singing-about-yourself-autobiography-in-pop-music.html

An essay on music in Margaret Atwood’s Maddaddam Trilogy: http://www.theavidlistener.com/2015/10/survival-through-song.html

An essay on gender and music in the Star Wars films: http://www.theavidlistener.com/2015/01/hearing-gender-in-george-lucass-galaxy.html

Essay on music inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. http://www.theavidlistener.com/2015/10/heavy-metal-elves.html

All of the edited songs extracted from The Art Songs of Louise Talma, CMS Sourcebooks in American Music series, Routledge, 2017.

Research on global Shakespeare has focused on the ways in which the plays have been adapted for indigenous languages and customs. Less attention has been paid to the ways in which non-British directors have treated the Elizabethan drama. Yet there are a number of works that create direct musical dialogues between Elizabethan drama, history, and…[Read more]