Performing Music History: Musicians Speak First-Hand about Music History and Performance

by John C. Tibbetts (Editor), Michael Saffle (Editor), William A. Everett (Editor)

Performing Music History offers a unique perspective on music history and performance through a series of conversations with women and men intimately associated with music performance, history, and the musicians themselves. Fifty-five celebrated artists―singers, pianists, violinists, cellists, flutists, horn players, oboists, composers, conductors, and jazz greats―provide interviews that encompass most of Western music history, from the Middle Ages to contemporary classical music, avant-garde innovations, and Broadway musicals. The book covers music history through lenses that include “authentic” performance, original instrumentation, and social context. Moreover, the musicians interviewed all bring to bear upon their respective subjects three outstanding 1) their high esteem in the music world as immediately recognizable names among musicians and public alike; 2) their energy and devotion to scholarship and the recovery of endangered musical heritages; and 3) their considerable skills, media savvy, and showmanship as communicators. Introductory essays to each chapter provide brief synopses of historical eras and topics. Combining careful scholarship and lively conversation, Performing Music History explores historical contexts for a host of fascinating issues.

386 pages, Hardcover

Published October 10, 2018

About the author

John C. Tibbetts is an associate professor in the department of film & media studies at the University of Kansas, where he teaches courses in film history, media studies, and theory and aesthetics. He is an author, educator, broadcaster, as well as an artist and pianist. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in multi-disciplinary studies (art history, theater, photography and film).

As a broadcaster and journalist and scholar he has hosted his own television show in Kansas City, Missouri; worked as a news reporter/ commentator for CBS Television (KCTV) and National Public Radio; produced classical music programming for KXTR-FM radio; written (and illustrated) ten books, more than 200 articles, and several short stories.

His current radio series are The World of Robert Schumann (currently being broadcast worldwide on the WFMT Radio Network) and Piano Portraits (a 17-episode series of interviews with world-class concert pianists).

Among his awards is the 2008 Kansas Governor's Arts Award.

Invited conference appearances include "The Robert Schumann Bicentenary Conference" in Zwickau, Germany (2010); The International Popular Culture Conference in Warsaw, Poland (July 2012); and the "Portland International Piano Festival" in Portland (5-8 June 2014).

He spent a sabbatical trip in Australia, where he researched a book on Australian cinema.