James Wierzbicki

Profile

Adjunct Associate Professor of Musicology

Executive Editor, Music of the United States of America (MUSA)

Ph.D. in music, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (dissertation topic: “Burlesque Opera in London: 1729–1738”), 1979.

M.M. in clarinet performance, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, 1971.

B.F.A. in clarinet performance, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 1970.

Current Research Interests

American and British film music

Musical sociology

Popular music in America

The reception of Italian opera in 18th-century England

Memberships

American Musicological Society

College Music Society

Music Critics Association of North America

Society for American Music

Society for Cinema Studies

Publications

BOOKS

Forbidden Planet (book, part of the Film Score Guide series, ed. Kate Daubney). Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 2005.

CHAPTERS

“The Postmodern in Music,” chapter of Semiotics and Postmodernity, ed. Rocco Capozzi and Marc-Oliver Schuster. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, forthcoming in 2008.

“Sour Notes: Hanns Eisler and the FBI,” chapter of Modernism on File: Modern Writers, Artists, and the FBI, 1920–1950, ed. Claire A. Culleton and Karen Leick. London: Palgrave/Macmillan, forthcoming in 2008.

“Psycho-analysis: Form and Function in Bernard Herrmann’s Music for Hitchcock’s Masterpiece” and “The Ghostly Noise of J-Horror: Roots and Ramifications,,” chapters of Terror Tracks: Music, Sound, and Horror Cinema, ed. Philip Hayward. London: Equinox, forthcoming in 2007.

“Sound and Music/Sound as Music: The Aural Landscapes of Terrence Malick,” chapter of Poetic Visions of America: The Cinema of Terrence Malick, ed. Hannah Patterson. London: Wallflower Press, 2003

ARTICLES

“Shrieks, Flutters, and Vocal Curtains: Electronic Sound / Electronic Music in Hitchcock’s The Birds,” Music and the Moving Image, vol. 1, no. 2, forthcoming in Spring 2008.

“Reflections on Rochberg and ‘Postmodernism’,” Perspectives of New Music, vol. 44, no. 2, Fall 2007.

“The Hollywood Career of Gershwin’s Second Rhapsody,” Journal of the American Musicological Society, vol. 60, no. 1, Spring 2007.

“Grand Illusion: Arthur Benjamin’s ‘Storm Cloud’ Music and The Man Who Knew Too Much,” Journal of Film Music, vol. 1, nos. 2-3, Fall-Winter 2004.

“Banality Triumphant: Iconographic Use of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Recent Films,” Beethoven Forum, vol. 10, no. 2, Fall 2003.

 “Raiders of the Lost Arc: Hollywood’s Appropriation of Operatic Narrative Structure,” Interdisciplinary Humanities, Fall 2002.

“Weird Vibrations: How the Theremin Gave Musical Voice to Hollywood’s Extraterrestrial Others,” Journal of Popular Film and Television, vol. 30, no. 3, Fall 2002.

“Judith Milhous, Gabriella Diderikssen, and Robert D. Hume: Italian Opera in Late Eighteenth-Century London. Volume II: The Pantheon Opera and its Aftermath 1789–1795,” (book review) Opera Quarterly, vol. 18, no. 2, Spring 2002.

“Wedding Bells for The Bride of Frankenstein: Symbols and Signifiers in the Music for a Classic Horror Film,” Philosophy and Film, special edition, Summer 2001.

“Traditional Values in a Century of Flux: The Music of Felix Labunski (1892–1979),”        Polish Music Journal (University of Southern California), Spring-Summer 2001.

“Dethroning the Divas: Satires Directed at Cuzzoni and Faustina,” Opera Quarterly, vol. 17, no. 2, Spring 2001.

Articles for The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, 2001.

              “Biscardi, Chester”                                       “Kirchner, Leon” (co-author)                

              “Brown, Earle,” (co-author)                        “Larsen, Libby”             

              “Del Tredici, David”                                     “Paulus, Stephen”                      

              “Feldman, Morton” (co-author)                   “Schwantner, Joseph”             

              “Kalichstein, Joseph”                                    “Weaver, James”                        

Articles for The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, 1992.

              “Atherton, James”

               “Kurka, Robert”

               “Neblett, Carol”

               “The Music of Elliott Carter,” 80th Birthday brochure, BMI, 1988.

Articles for The New Grove Dictionary of American Music, 1986.

              “Adam, Claus”                                         “Krainis, Bernard”                                               

             “Barrows, John”                                      “Lane, Robert”                                        

              “Cooper, Kenneth”                                 “Parnas, Leslie”                                      

              “Covelli, John”                                        “Primavera String Quartet”                                       

               “Dorian Wind Quintet”                          “Shelton, Lucy”                       

              “Ferden, Bruce”                                      “Sherry, Fred”                                       

              “Fodor, Eugene”                                     “Slenczynska, Ruth”                              

              “Folger Consort”                                    “Stoltzman, Richard”                

              “Gubrud, Irene”                                      “Vermeer Quartet”                                 

              “Hayman, Richard”                               “Wilson, Richard”                  

“Michael Colgrass and Jacob Druckman: 20th-Century Eclecticism,” Recorded Anthology of American Music, 1983.

“Maddalena: Prokofiev's Adolescent Opera,” Opera Quarterly, Spring 1983.

“Color, Music and Arnold Schoenberg's Die glückliche Hand,” University of Cincinnati Graduate Research Journal, Fall-Winter 1975–76.

Papers and Presentations

“Structured Soundtracks: Sonic Design in Early Hitchcock Films,” presented at the annual conference of the Society for Cinema Studies, Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 2003.

“Sound Collage in the Films of Terrence Malick,” presented at the annual conference of the Society for Cinema Studies, Denver, Colorado, May 2002.

“Weird Vibrations: The Iconography of the Theremin in 1940s and ’50s Hollywood,” presented on the Wednesdays@one series, University of California, Riverside, May 2002.

 “Max Weber’s Sociology of Music: Why an Important Text Remains Clouded in Obscurity,” presented at the annual meeting of the Pacific Sociological Association, Vancouver, B.C., April 2002.

“Deconstructing Disney: Gender Issues in the Songs for the Animated Films,” presented at the Hollywood Musicals and Music Symposium, American Music Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, August 2001.

“Cantata Interrupta: The ‘Storm Cloud’ Music in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much,” presented to the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the College Music Society, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, February 2001.

“The Interface between Musical Composition and Musical Criticism,” presented to Washington Composers' Forum, Seattle, Washington, April 1996.

“The Role of the Wind Ensemble in Contemporary Musical Life,” presented at the annual conference of the National Association of College Band Directors, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, March 1995.

“Making Sense of Contemporary Music,” public lecture presented at Contemporary Music Festival, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana, November 1994.

“Problems in Contemporary Aesthetic Theory,” presented to graduate seminar in philosophy, Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, October 1992.

“Structural Links in Mishima's The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea and Hans Werner Henze's Das verrätene Meer,” presented at a symposium sponsored by the San Francisco Opera, San Francisco, California, November 1991.

“Music Criticism in the Soviet Union: New Directions,” presented at annual meeting of the Music Critics Association of North America, Aspen, Colorado, August 1989.

“Silence in Western Music: Frames and Open Spaces,” presented at interdisciplinary faculty seminar (topic: Silence), Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. April 1989.

“The Confrontation between Tradition and Experimentation in Today's Music,” presented at the Festival of New Music, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, March 1989.

“Music Criticism in Theory and Practice,” presented to graduate students in the degree program in music criticism, Peabody Conservatory of Music, February 1989.

“Evaluating the Ephemeral – Criticism and Improvisation,” keynote address at music critics’ institute, New Music America Festival, Miami, Florida, December 1988.

“Northern Exposure: Contemporary Scandinavian Music in the United States,” presented at symposium sponsored by Finnish Music Center, Helsinki, Finland, January 1988.

“The Latent Guiding Thread: The Idea of Mobilité in the Post-Modern Avant Garde,” presented at interdisciplinary faculty seminar (topic: Mallarmé's influence on 20th-century art), Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, April 1987.

“For Whom Do We Write?” presented at Music Critics Association institute, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, July 1986.

“Music Journalism and Music Criticism – What’s the Difference?” presented at Music Critics Association institute, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, July 1986.

“The Musical Experience – Active Listening,” public lecture presented at Contemporary Music Festival, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana, October 1984.

“Music Today,” a series of four public lectures (I: “New Music, Modernism and the Avant Garde,” II: “The Vocabulary of New Music,” III:

“New Aesthetics,” IV: “The Mainstream of Modern Music”), presented at the St. Louis Conservatory of Music, September–October 1983.

“Franco Alfano's Resurrection: Its Literary Background,” presented at Music Critics Association institute in opera, University of Cincinnati, August 1983.

“Historical Issues in Twentieth-Century Music,” presented at symposium celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Santa Fe, New Mexico, August 1982.

Teaching at the University of Michigan

“Film Music”

“American Music of the 1950s”

“The American Avant Garde”

Contact Information

Professor James Wierzbicki

University of Michigan

606 Burton Memorial Tower

Ann Arbor, MI. 48109–1270

Office Telephone: (734) 647-4580

Fax: (734) 647–1897