Queering the pitch
Subtitle: the new gay and lesbian musicology
By: edited by Philip Brett, Elizabeth Wood, Gary C. Thomas
Contributors: Brett, Philip; Wood, Elizabeth, 1939-; Thomas, Gary, 1944-
Edition: 2nd ed
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2006
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 406
Subjects: Homosexuality and music; Sex in music; Gay musicians; Gender identity in music
Description: When the first edition of Queering the Pitch was published in early 1994, it was immediately hailed as a landmark and defining work in the new field of Gay Musicology. The first collection of its kind, its contributors covered a wide range of subjects from analysis of the work of gay composers to queer readings of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony. Among the contributors were many then-new scholars, --including the late Philip Brett (one of the editors of the first edition), Susan McClary, Jennifer Rycenga, Paul Attinello, and Martha Mockus--who have since become leaders in the field. In light of the explosion of Gay Musicology since 1994, a new edition of Queering the Pitch is timely and needed. In this new work, the editors are including a landmark essay by Philip Brett on Gay Musicology, its history and scope, which was written for Grove's Dictionary of Music-but only published in a greatly reduced version, because of its strong political approach. The essay itself has become a cause celebre, and this will be its first full appearance in print. Along with this new historical essay, the editors are contributing a new introduction that outlines the changes that have occurred over the last decade as Gay Musicology has grown.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index
Table of contents: title: Queering the pitch : a posy of definitions and impersonations / Wayne Koestenbaum; title: Canons and arias. Musicality, essentialism, and the closet / Philip Brett ; Sapphonics / Elizabeth Wood ; On a lesbian relationship with music : a serious effort not to think straight / Suzanne G. Cusick ; A conversation with Ned Rorem / Lawrence D. Mass; title: Chronicles. Henry Lawes's setting of Katherine Philips's friendship poetry in his Second book of ayres and dialogues, 1655 : a musical misreading? / Lydia Hamessley ; Unveiled voices : sexual difference and the castrato / Joke Dame ; "Was George Frideric Handel Gay?" : on closet questions and cultural politics / Gary C. Thomas ; Constructions of subjectivity in Schubert's music / Susan McClary ; Eros and orientalism in Britten's operas / Philip Brett ; Queer thoughts on country music and k.d. lang / Martha Mockus; title: Consorts. Lesbian compositional process : one lover-composer's perspective / Jennifer Rycenga ; Growing up female(s) : retrospective thoughts on musical preferences and meanings / Karen Pegley and Virginia Caputo ; Authority and freedom : toward a sociology of the gay choruses / Paul Attinello; title: Coda. Preface to "Lesbian and gay music" / Elizabeth Wood ; Lesbian and gay music / Philip Brett and Elizabeth Wood