Ron's research interests include late medieval and early Renaissance music theory, notation, and manuscript studies, especially the writings of Johannes Tinctoris (c. 1435鈥1511); 19th- and 20th-century music performance studies, especially repertories for clarinet, piano, voice, and chamber media, and currently centred on the pianist Ilona Eibensch眉tz and performing style in the circles of Brahms and Clara Schumann; early recordings, including Lieder; the work of George Antheil, especially his violin sonatas of the 1920s and collaboration with Olga Rudge; contemporary music performance (clarinet and piano).
Thesis
鈥楾丑别 Proportionale musices of Iohannes Tinctoris: a critical edition, translation and study鈥, DPhil, University of Oxford, 1982.
Current and recent research projects
- Johannes Tinctoris: Complete Theoretical Works: 聽on 15th-century music theory.
- Ilona Eibensch眉tz and pianism in the circles of Brahms and Clara Schumann.
- George Antheil鈥檚 Violin Sonatas and collaboration with Olga Rudge in the 1920s.
- Melography, Stenography, Tachygraphy: Musical Shorthands from Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century France.
- CD recording: York Bowen, Phantasy-Quintet for bass clarinet and strings; Joseph Holbrooke, Ballade for bass clarinet and piano (premi猫re recording), with John Thwaites (piano) and Primrose Piano Quartet (Meridian Records, 2016).
- CD recording in collaboration with composer Liz Johnson in creation of new Clarinet Quintet Sea-change, for multiple clarinets and string quartet, with the Fitzwilliam Quartet; also Liz Johnson songs, with Lor茅 Lixenberg (mezzo-soprano) (Divine Art/M茅tier, 2017).
- CD album 'Come, let us make love deathless': Gustav Holst, Twelve Humbert Wolfe Songs, Op. 47 (with premi猫re recording of additional song, completed by Colin Matthews); Joseph Holbrooke, Songs (premi猫re recordings), with James Geer (tenor) (EM Records, 2019).
- CD album 'Fa莽ades': Songs and piano duets by William Walton and Constant Lambert, with James Geer (tenor) and Andrew West (piano) (SOMM Recordings, 2020).
- Future CD recordings include songs by Rebecca Clarke, Elizabeth Maconchy, Elizabeth Poston, and Gerald Finzi; and British music for clarinet/basset horn/bass clarinet by Liz Johnson, Edward Cowie, Morris Pert, Elizabeth Maconchy, Elizabeth Lutyens, and Judith Weir.
Grants and funding
-
Arts & Humanities Research Council: Research Grant 鈥楾丑别 Complete Theoretical Works of Johannes Tinctoris: A New Digital Edition鈥, 2011鈥14 (拢400K); Worshipful Company of Musicians, John Clementi Collard Fellowship, 2000鈥1 (拢30K); Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship, 2000鈥1 (拢12K); Arts & Humanities Research Board, Research Leave, 2002 (拢12K); Leverhulme Trust Emeritus Fellowship, 2020.
Also various commission funding for composers and first performances: see Activities above.
Johannes Tinctoris: Complete Theoretical Works: ongoing open-access internet resource (Latin texts, English translations, source transcriptions, facsimile images, commentary materials, etc.; project team includes Jeffrey J. Dean (Senior Researcher) and David Lewis (Researcher); Early Music Theory (EMT) website at ); legacy version hosted by the Stoa Consortium, University of Kentucky. Currently available texts include: (i) Tractatus de notis et pausis; (ii) Liber imperfectionum notarum musicalium; (iii) Scriptum super punctis musicalibus; (iv) Tractatus alterationum; (v) De regulari valore notarum (vi) Liber de arte contrapuncti, Book I; (vii) De inventione et usu musices; legacy site includes (viii) Expositio manus; (ix) earlier edition of Tractatus alterationum. Also available on EMT and/or Stoa sites: Biographical outline; Work-list; other related articles and papers, including most recently: 鈥楽yncopated Imperfection and Alteration in Tinctoris鈥檚 Theoretical Writings鈥 (2012); and 鈥楾丑别 Dating and Provenance of Valencia 835: A Suggested Revision鈥 (2013); plus archive of earlier authored journal publications.
Monograph: John Tucke: A Case Study in Early Tudor Music Theory, Oxford Monographs in Music (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993).
Peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters on Tinctoris and 15th-century musicology
鈥楾inctoris鈥檚 Family Origins: Some New Clues, Journal of the Alamire Foundation, 5/1 (2013), 69鈥94聽 (Turnhout: Brepols). (This issue guest-edited by Ronald Woodley).
鈥楾inctoris and Nivelles: The Obit Evidence鈥, Journal of the Alamire Foundation, 1 (2009), 110鈥21 (Turnhout: Brepols).
鈥楽harp Practice in the Late Middle Ages: Exploring the Chromatic Semitone and its Implications鈥, Music Theory Online, 12/2 (2006), downloadable PDF: 50 pp. plus sound files.聽Also available online聽and subsequent links to 鈥楻elated Articles and Papers鈥.
鈥楤russels, Biblioth猫que Royale, MS II 4147: The Cultivation of Johannes Tinctoris as Music Theorist in the Nineteenth Century鈥, in Ars musica septentrionalis: De l鈥檌nterpr茅tation du patrimoine musical 脿 l鈥檋istoriographie, ed. Barbara Haggh and Fr茅d茅ric Billiet, with Claire Chamiy茅 and Sandrine Dumont (Paris: Presses de l鈥檜niversit茅 Paris-Sorbonne, 2011), 121鈥58. Updated version also available as open-access internet publication (Stoa Consortium, University of Kentucky聽[Paper delivered at international conference, Douai and Cambrai, Association Ad Fugam with University of Paris IV鈥揝orbonne, November 2005].
鈥楳inor Coloration Revisited: Okeghem鈥檚 Ma bouche rit and Beyond鈥, Th茅orie et analyse musicales 1450鈥1650: Actes du colloque international (Louvain-la-Neuve, 23鈥25 septembre 1999), ed. Anne-Emmanuelle Ceulemans and Bonnie J. Blackburn, Musicologica Neolovaniensia. Studia 9 (Louvain-la-Neuve, 2001), 39鈥63.聽Also available online聽and subsequent links to 鈥楻elated Articles and Papers鈥.
鈥楾inctoris鈥檚 Italian Translation of the Golden Fleece Statutes: A Text and (Possible) Context鈥, Early Music History, 8 (1988), 173鈥244.聽Also available online聽and subsequent links to 鈥楢rchive鈥.
鈥楻enaissance Music as Literature: On Reading Tinctoris鈥檚 Proportionale musices鈥, Renaissance Studies, 1 (1987), 209鈥20; reprinted in Music Theory in the Renaissance, ed. Cristle Collins Judd (Farnham and Burlington VT: Ashgate, 2013), 259鈥70.
鈥楾丑别 Printing and Scope of Tinctoris鈥檚 Fragmentary Treatise De inuentione et usu musice鈥, Early Music History, 5 (1985), 239鈥68.聽Also available online聽and subsequent links to 鈥楢rchive鈥.
鈥業ohannes Tinctoris: A Review of the Documentary Biographical Evidence鈥, Journal of the American Musicological Society, 34 (1981), 217鈥48.
Forthcoming edited volume of essays: Johannes Tinctoris and Music Theory in the Late Middle Ages and Early Renaissance, volume of essays deriving from international conference, University of London 2014, edited Ronald Woodley and Christian Goursaud, scheduled for publication in the series 脡pitome musical (General Editor: Philippe Vendrix), Brepols (c. 2017): in preparation.
Journal articles and book chapters in other areas of musicology
鈥楽teve Reich鈥檚 Proverb, Canon, and a little Wittgenstein鈥, in Canon and Canonic Techniques, 14th to 16th Centuries, ed. Katelijne Schiltz and Bonnie J. Blackburn, Analysis in Context: Leuven Studies in Musicology (Leuven and Dudley MA: Peeters, 2007), 457鈥81. [Paper delivered at international conference, Catholic University of Leuven, October 2005].
鈥楶erforming Ravel: Style and Practice in the Early Recordings鈥, in The Cambridge Companion to Ravel, ed. Deborah Mawer (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 213鈥39. Spanish translation as: 鈥業nterpretando a Ravel: estilo y pr谩ctica en las grabaciones tempranas鈥, Quodlibet, 45 (December 2009), 94鈥128; corrigenda list in Quodlibet, 46 (April 2010), 118.
鈥楽trategies of Irony in Proko铿乪v鈥檚 F minor Violin Sonata鈥, in The Practice of Performance: Studies in Musical Interpretation, ed. John Rink (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 170鈥93.
鈥楽teve Reich鈥, in Contemporary Composers, ed. Brian Morton (London & Chicago, 1991).
Other recent musicological work
鈥業lona Eibensch眉tz鈥檚 Solo Piano Arrangements of Brahms and Schumann Lieder: Issues of Performance Style and Genre鈥, Performing Brahms in the Twenty-First Century: A Symposium on Performing Practice, University of Leeds, June鈥揓uly 2015: online Proceedings article in preparation (2016).
鈥楶ianism, Performing Style and Instinct in Newly Recovered Recordings by Ilona Eibensch眉tz鈥, Institute of Musical Research, School of Advanced Study, University of London, 9 November 2006: open-access internet resource in preparation (2016鈥17).
Sample international conference participation
- 鈥業lona Eibensch眉tz鈥檚 Solo Piano Arrangements of Brahms and Schumann Lieder: Issues of Performance Style and Genre鈥, Performing Brahms in the Twenty-First Century: A Symposium on Performing Practice, University of Leeds, June鈥揓uly 2015.
- Director of international conference 鈥楯ohannes Tinctoris and Music Theory in the Late Middle Ages and Early Renaissance鈥, in collaboration with the Institute of Musical Research (School of Advanced Study), University of London, October 2014.
- 鈥楾inctoris鈥檚 Early Years: A Few New Clues鈥, Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Music, Institut d鈥橢studis Catalans, Barcelona, July 2011.
- 鈥業mperfection and Alteration in Fifteenth-Century Notation: The Intellectual Context鈥, Renaissance Society of America, Venice, April 2010; developed from 鈥楢t the Limits of Mensural Theory: Tinctoris on Imperfection and Alteration鈥, 41st International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 2006.
- 鈥楤russels, Biblioth猫que Royale, MS II 4147 and the Cultivation of Johannes Tinctoris as Music Theorist in the Nineteenth Century鈥, Ars Musica Septentrionalis: De l鈥檋istoriographie 脿 la valorisation du patrimoine musical, Douai and Cambrai, Association Ad Fugam with University of Paris IV鈥揝orbonne, November 2005.
- 鈥楽teve Reich鈥檚 Proverb, Canon, and a little Wittgenstein鈥, International Conference on Canon and Canonic Techniques, 14th to 16th Centuries, Catholic University of Leuven, October 2005.
- 鈥楧id Tinctoris Listen to Okeghem? Questions of Textuality and Authority in the Fifteenth Century鈥, 40th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 2005.
Professional clarinettist and pianist, commissioned or dedicated works聽
- Stephen Pratt, Judgement of Paris (clarinet and or颅chestra: 1984).
- Steve Ingham, Shards (bass clarinet, marimba, piano and tape: 1986; commission funded by Merseyside Arts); and Panama (clarinet, bass clarinet and tape: 1990).
- James Wishart, 脪ran Canaigh (two bass clarinets and tape: 1990; commission funded by Northern Arts); and Threnos: Zerrissen: Headsong (oboe/cor anglais, bass clarinet, ensemble & electronics: 2002).
- Roger Marsh, Holz und Hitze (two bass clarinets: 1992).
- Christopher Fox, clarinet quintet (1993; commission funded by the Holst Foundation of Great Britain); and straight lines in broken times 4 (two bass clarinets and tape: 1994).
- Liz Johnson, Narixa for bass clarinet and trombone (2006).
- Liz Johnson, Wild Man Dances, for two pianos (2015).
- Liz Johnson, Clarinet Quintet聽Sea-change, for multiple clarinets and string quartet: see CD Recordings below.
Extensive experience as clarinettist, bass clarinettist and chamber pianist; founder member of Newcastle Piano Trio (1991鈥4), re-formed as Camilli Piano Trio (1996鈥8); ongoing two-piano partnerships with Andrew West and Roy Howat; frequent song recitals with tenor James Geer (2008鈥 ), including complete songs of Duparc (2011鈥12); earlier pioneering work in 1980s as chalumeau player with Colin Lawson and the Parley of Instruments, including broadcast for BBC Radio 3.
CD Recordings
1. York Bowen, Phantasy-Quintet for bass clarinet and strings; Joseph Holbrooke, Ballade for bass clarinet and piano (premi猫re recording), with John Thwaites (piano) and Primrose Piano Quartet (Meridian Records, 2016)
2. Liz Johnson, Clarinet Quintet Sea-change, for multiple clarinets and string quartet, with the Fitzwilliam Quartet; also Liz Johnson songs, with Lor茅 Lixenberg (mezzo-soprano) (Divine Art/M茅tier, 2017)
3. 'Come, let us make love deathless: Songs by Gustav Holst and Joseph Holbrooke': Gustav Holst, Twelve Humbert Wolfe Songs, Op. 47 (with premi猫re recording of additional song, completed by Colin Matthews); Joseph Holbrooke, Songs (premi猫re recordings), with James Geer (tenor) (EM Records, 2019).
4. 'Fa莽ades': Songs and piano duets by William Walton and Constant Lambert, with James Geer (tenor) and Andrew West (piano) (SOMM Recordings, 2020).