Rare Book School
Preliminary Reading List

The Music of America on Paper

D. W. Krummel

Previous to the class, this very general background is expected:

1. American Music

Rather than specify a single source, let me suggest that you will want to have a very general picture of the field, such as can be provided by any of the following: (1) Richard Crawford, An Introduction to America's Music (2001, or its abridgements); (2) Daniel Kingman, American Music (1979 & later eds.); (3) H. Wiley Hitchcock, Music in the United States (1969 and later eds.); Gilbert Chase, America's Music (1958 & later eds.); or John Tasker Howard, Our American Music (1929 & later eds.).

2. American Printing

I wish there were a better summary than parts II-III (pp. 63-419) of Hellmut Lehmann-Haupt's ancient The Book in America (Rev. ed., Bowker, 1951), but respected colleagues say there isn't. I'll need to cover much of this in class. The new History of the Book in America (Amer. Antiquarian Soc., Cambridge Univ Pr.; 5 vols. projected) may eventually help, although the first vol. in this series, Hugh Amory and David D. Hall, The Colonial Book in the Atlantic World (2000), however splendid, emphasizes publishing more than printing, and alas has next to nothing on music. Some background will need to be provided in class.

3. Music Printing in General

The essays by H. Edmund Poole and DWK in The New Grove Dictionary (either the 1980 ed., or the 2nd ed., which is also on line) present the basic background. (Much of the discussion of European topics, in the "Publishing" article in particular, can be skipped.) For further reading, the following items in the Bibliography are recommended:

Reference Sources: Fuld (1971, and later eds.)
General Histories: Barksdale (1957) and King (1964)
Technical Accounts: Gamble (1923) and Ross (1971)

4. American Music Printing

The New Grove Dictionary of American Music ["Amerigrove"]. Edited by H. Wiley Hitchcock & Stanley Sadie. Macmillan, 1996.

Read the articles on "Publishing and Printing Music" (vol. 3, pp. 650-54) and "Bibliography" (vol. 1, pp. 205-12).

A detailed course bibliography from 2004 is available as an Adobe PDF file. An updated version will be distributed at the first class.