Why dedicate music? What did dedications mean to their readers and writers, especially after 1785, when more works were offered to fellow composers as well as to patrons? Borrowing from book history and sociological theory, Dedicating Music, 1785-1850 is a large-scale study of patterns of dedications. Emily H. Green argues that the kinds of offerings printed in the late eighteenth through mid-nineteenth centuries reflect a changing financial and aesthetic landscape in which patronage was waning and independent artistry surging. Dedications labeled written music as a gift while presenting composers with an opportunity for self-promotion. They also contributed to a new kind of branding of music by communicating composers' friendships and artistic allegiances.. Dedicating Music considers dedications issued in print between 1785 and 1850 in sets of overlapping corpuses: offerings to peers (as in Mozart's string quartets dedicated to Haydn); to patrons (as in Ignaz Pleyel's string quartets for Count Erd dy); to friends (as in Ferdinand Ries's offerings for Beethoven); and dedications issued by publishers (as in Beethoven's song "In questa tomba oscura," included in publisher Tranquillo Mollo's collection offered to Prince Lobkowitz). The result is a synchronic study that highlights the importance of printed packaging, rather than notes on the page, to the complex relationship between composers, publishers, and consumers of music. EMILY H. GREEN is Assistant Professor of Music at George Mason University. The University of Rochester Press gratefully acknowledges generous support from the Claire and Barry Brook Endowment of the American Musicological Society and the AMS 75 PAYS Endowment of the American Musicological Society, both funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The dedication of a piece of music is a feature generally overlooked, but it can reveal a great deal about the work, the composer, the society and the music world in which the composer lived. This book explores the musical, biographical and sociological aspects of the practice of dedicating new compositions in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and makes a significant contribution towards a better understanding of the impact these tributes had on Beethoven’s life and work, and their function within the context of the musical, cultural and economic environments in which they appeared. As the first of its kind, this study demonstrates that, as a result of their different functions, published dedications and handwritten inscriptions are distinct from one another, and for that reason they have been classified in different categories. This book, therefore, challenges the idea of what exactly can be termed as a ‘dedication’, a concept which extends far beyond the dedication of musical works.

The saxophone is a globally popular instrument, often closely associated with renowned players such as Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, or more recently, Kenny G. Less well known, however, is the historical presence of women saxophonists in the nineteenth century, shortly after the instrument’s invention. Elise Hall (1853–1924), a prominent wealthy socialite in Boston at the turn of the twentieth century, defied social norms by mastering the saxophone, an unconventional instrument for a woman of her time. Despite her career’s profound impact, Elise Hall remains relatively obscure in broader music communities. Her untiring work as an impresario, patron, and performer made a significant mark on the history of the instrument. Yet these contributions have been historically undervalued, largely due to gender bias. This collection of essays, written by mainly women saxophonists/scholars, re-evaluates Elise Hall’s legacy beyond a discrete history, updating the narrative by highlighting the ways in which her identity and the saxophone itself have influenced historical accounts. By analyzing the sociocultural factors surrounding this innovative musician through a contemporary lens, the contributors challenge previously held narratives shaped by patriarchal structures and collectively affirm her place as one of the pioneers in the history of the saxophone.

Authorship is a pertinent issue for historical musicology and musicians more widely, and some controversies concerned with major figures have even reached wider consciousness. Scholars have clarified some of the issues at stake in recent decades, such as the places of borrowing and arranging in the creative process and the wider cultural significance of these practices. The discovery of new sources and methodologies has also opened up opportunities for reassessing specific authorship problems. Drawing upon this wider musicological literature as well as insights from other disciplines, such as intellectual history and book history, this book aims to build on what has already been achieved by focussing on keyboard music. The nine chapters cover case studies of authorship problems, the socioeconomic conditions of music publishing, the contributions of composers, arrangers, copyists and music publishers in creating notated keyboard compositions, the functions of attribution and ascription, and how the contexts in which notated pieces were used affected concepts of authorship at different times and places.

Introduction -- Part I. Musical Privilege. Legal Privilège and Musical Production ; Social Privilège and Musician-Masons -- Part II. Property. Private Property : Music and Authorship ; Public Servants ; Cultural Heritage : Music as Work of Art ; National Industry : Music as a "Useful" Art and Science -- Postlude : A "Detractor" Breaks his "Silence" -- Conclusion : Privilege by Any Other Name.

This book is the first study of John Zorn’s ‘file card’ works, with special focus made on the pieces Godard (1985), Spillane (1986), Interzone (2010), and Liber Novus (2010). It explains the unique creative process behind these compositions, contextualizing them in relation to the history of file cards, the ‘open work’ concept, cinematic listening, and uncreative aesthetics. Semiotic, hermeneutic, and ekphrastic analyses draw hypertextual links between the four file card compositions and the worlds of their respective dedicatees: author Mickey Spillane, filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, novelist William S. Burroughs and painter Brion Gysin, and psychiatrist C. G. Jung. This book will appeal not only to those interested in Zorn’s music, but also to scholars of music semiotics and hermeneutics, intermedia studies, and avant-garde music.

Musical salons as liminal spaces: salonnières as agents of musical culture -- Sensuality, sociability, and sympathy: musical salon practices as enactments of Enlightenment --Ephemerae and authorship in the salon of Madame Brillon -- Composition, collaboration, and the cultivation of skill in the salon of Marianna Martines -- The cultural work of collecting and performing in the salon of Sara Levy -- Musical improvisation and poetic painting in the salon of Angelica Kauffman -- Reading musically in the salon of Elizabeth Graeme -- Conclusion.