Lecture by Tara Browner, Professor of Ethnomusicology, UCLA

Lecture title: “Bach Culture: Performers, Scholars, and Bachfreunde in the 21^st Century.”

Abstract: In the sixty years since the publication of Theodor Adorno’s essay, “Bach Defended Against His Devotees (1951),” surprisingly little has changed in the realms of J. S. Bach performance, scholarship, and organized fandom (“Bachfreunde”). If anything, the persistence of Bach as an ideology into the twenty-first century has only intensified the conflicts between exponents of historically informed performance, scholars, and amateur Bach “experts,” all of whom read their own meanings into the life and works of a man who died more than 250 years ago. Disagreements over the ownership of Bach’s musical legacy date back to the early twentieth Century, with the 1920s and 30s marking a highpoint in composer skirmishes over Bach reception, echoed by a second resurgence of clashes in the early 1980s by proponents of historically informed performance, perhaps best exemplified in Joshua Rifkin’s Mass in B minor interpretation (known in the musicological oral tradition as “The B minor Madrigal”). But in the last decade, the emergence of the World Wide Web and YouTube have turned the Bach World upside down, as aficionados of all types have found a platform to globally present their theories and opinions to the public. These include “Faces of Bach” (comparative portraits), Bach Scholar (the secret to Bach’s tempi), and YouTube videos where Bach’s secret numerologies are revealed in their graphic complexity under scrolling scores. For this presentation, I intend to create a working taxonomy of this complex mix of fans, scholars, and performers, who collectively ensure that Bach’s music remains a living tradition.

Tara Browner is the author of Heartbeat of the People: Music and Dance of the Northern Pow-Wow (University of Illinois Press, 2002), editor ofMusic of the First Nations: Tradition and Innovation in Native North American Music (University of Illinois Press, 2009), and editor of Songs from "A New Circle of Voices:" The 16th Annual Pow-wow at UCLA (Music of the United States of America [MUSA], A-R Editions, Madison, Wisconsin, 2008). She has published in several major journals including Ethnomusicology, The Journal of Musicological Research, and American Music, and also regularly presents papers at national and international conferences. In addition to her scholarly activities, she is on the Native American Music screening committee for the Grammy Awards, is a pow-wow dancer in the Women's Southern Cloth tradition, and a professional percussionist and timpanist. Her current research focus is on manifestations of pow-wow culture in Northern Europe.

Open to the public and free of charge
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Information: (310) 825-5947

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The Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy Colloquium Series presents a variety of lectures focusing on research and other issues important in the field of ethnomusicology.