News

AMS 2024

Members of the A-R editorial team will soon depart for Chicago and the 2024 American Musicology Society Annual Meeting (November 14-17). At our booth in the exhibit hall you can peruse our newest titles, grab a special discount offer for website shopping, pick up some A-R swag, and test drive both Recent Researches in Music Online and the A-R Online Music Anthology.

Just as importantly, we want to hear from you. Do you have a critical edition in the works? Have an idea for a Recent Researches volume but could use some feedback? Come talk to us! We’re more than happy to discuss any aspect of the proposal and publication process. See you in Chicago!

Can't make it to the conference?

Our information for prospective authors can be found on our website, and questions about your edition ideas or the proposal process can be sent to proposals@areditions.com.

A-R Editions is seeking Expressions of Interest for the position of Series Editor for the series Recent Researches in the Music of the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance.

Join a team of world-renowned scholars to help shape the future of one of the longest-running and most active collection of critical music editions, Recent Researches in Music. We are seeking to appoint a new Series Editor for the series dedicated to the music of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. The series presents editions of music from ca. 500 to 1500 C.E., encompassing the principal types of both monophony and polyphony that were composed during the period. The editions include a discussion of historical context and performance practices, complete translations of texts, and a critical report.

The Series Editor is responsible for (1) curating the content and maintaining the high quality standards of the series; (2) identifying potential projects and recruiting editors to propose editions for publication in the series; (3) mentoring editors as needed to complete their proposals in a manner that aligns with A-R’s editorial philosophy and house style; (4) reviewing proposals for the series along with the internal reader reports and giving a recommendation on the project; (5) advocating for critical edition-making and A-R Editions both within and beyond the realm of musicology; and (6) maintaining general communication with the editorial staff at A-R Editions.

The Series Editor is an appointed, non-employee role of indeterminate term, although a tenure of 10 to 15 years is common. A-R Editions provides a modest annual honorarium and a complimentary copy of each title published in the series during the appointment period.

Link to further information and application

On 26 August 2024, MakeMusic announced the sunset of Finale music notation software. This is not happy news for us at A-R Editions, because Finale has been our official music engraving platform since 2007. (Prior to that, we were pioneers in the development of music engraving by computer with our proprietary program, MusE. You can read more about that story here.)

So, what will we do? For the time being, we will continue to use Finale for all of our music engraving. There's no urgency to change, as the software and all of our customizations are working fine. 

But we are also preparing for the future, when Finale is no longer viable for us. Our production team is learning about and testing Dorico Pro. We are only in the initial stages of evaluation, and no decision has been made. Any updates to the situation will be announced here.

Current and future volume editors, do not fear! Our submission guidelines allow for music manuscripts to be submitted using any engraving software, as well as handwritten music pages and marked-up photocopies. This will not change, although we now ask that digital files be submitted in three formats: native files, .musicxml, and PDF. Our house editors and production team will take it from there!

Congratulations to Jonathan Wainwright! His edition of Angelo Notari: Collected Works won the 2023 Claude V. Palisca Prize for best edition or translation, awarded by the American Musicological Society.

A-R Editions is proud to be the publisher of this three-volume edition, which comprises volumes 230, 231, and 232 in the series Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era.

Wainwright joins a prestigious list of previous winners, including several from A-R Editions:

2022: Norm Cohen, Carson Cohen, and Anne Dhu McLucas for An American Singing Heritage
2021: Jennifer DeLapp-Birkett and Aaron Sherber for Aaron Copland: Appalachian Spring, Original Ballet Version
2019: Lyn Schenbeck and Lawrence Schenbeck for Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake: Shuffle Along
2018: Michael Ochs for Joseph

By A-R Editions

The coronation service for King Charles III and Queen Camilla on 6 May 2023 was filled with music. We at A-R Editions are proud to report that this magnificently varied program included one piece from our own catalog: the opening chorus of “The King Shall Rejoice,” composed by William Boyce (1711–79) and edited by John R. Van Nice in our volume Two Anthems for the Georgian Court, Part 2 (B008, 1970).

By A-R Editions

On April 10, the last day of the 30th annual meeting of the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music (SSCM), the panel session “Cut-C, Coloration, and Critical Notes: How We Edit the Music of the Long Seventeenth Century” brought together five panelists, all with extensive and varied experience in critical edition making, to share and discuss various aspects, challenges, and approaches in editing the music of the seventeenth century.

We are pleased to announce that the A-R website is getting a new look soon!

By A-R Editions

On the last day of the 87th Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society, a professional development roundtable took place that is potentially of great import to the future of critical edition editing and publishing. “Can the White Page be Overwritten? Race and Representation in Critical Editions” brought together four panelists, all of whom actively work with editing, performing, or cataloging the work of underrepresented composers.

By A-R Editions

The upcoming online meeting of the American Musicological Society will include a professional development roundtable session: “Can the White Page be Overwritten?: Race and Representation in Critical Editions.” The session will take place on 21 November from 11:00 AM to 12:50 PM and will feature an impressive lineup of speakers. Turn on, log in, and drop by for what is sure to be a thought-provoking experience!

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Alexander Dean as managing editor for Recent Researches in Music.