October 19, 2001 UNT Inhouse publication: Conference explores music history, celebrates doctoral program

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Conference explores music history, celebrates doctoral program

The legacy of a pioneering faculty member in the College of Music will be remembered during an international conference on campus Oct. 25-28.

Music scholars from around the world will participate in "Legacies: 500 Years of Printed Music," which celebrates the 500th anniversary of Ottaviano Petrucci's Harmonice musices odhecaton A.

"As the first volume of music printed from movable type, the Odhecaton set in motion a series of seminal changes in the Western world," says Michael Cooper, associate professor of musicology and conference organizer.

"Just as Johann Gutenberg's development of the printing press had from 1453-55, the first volume of printed music transformed a culture and an entire set of social institutions that previously centered on oral and manuscript transmission among the economically endowed by emphasizing widespread public dissemination," Cooper says.

Professor Helen Hewitt, one of the first female musicologists and the world's first great scholar on the impact of the Odhecaton, taught at UNT from 1942 to 1969. In addition, it was during her tenure that the university established its first Ph.D. program in musicology.

The conference will include the presentation and discussion of scholarly papers as well as three important concerts reflecting the diversity and richness of Petrucci's and Hewitt's legacies.

The performances, open to the public, are scheduled during the conference:

Oct. 25 — Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia and NOVA will present "From Print to Performance: New Works by UNT Composers" at 8 p.m. in the Concert Hall, located in the Music Building.
Oct. 26 — Dame Gillian Weir will present an organ recital at 8 p.m. in the Main Auditorium, located in the Auditorium Building. Tickets cost $5.
Oct. 27 — The UNT Collegium Musicum will present "Music from Italianate Prints, from Petrucci to Corelli" at 8 p.m. in the Recital Hall, located in the Music Building.

The conference is offered with the support of the Getty Foundation, the UNT division of music history, theory and ethnomusicology, the UNT College of Music and the UNT administration.