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December 09, 2024Read More
By Alex Widstrand
Even for experienced music editors, constructing critical notes often poses a challenge: how do we describe elements of music notation in a way that is concise, consistent, and can be easily parsed by a reader assumed to have access only to the edition in front of them and not the material on which the edition is based? In most cases, this question is easily addressed by recognizing the four principal types of emended source readings and the appropriate “formula” to use for critical notes reporting each type. The general guidelines presented below—not comprehensive, but broadly applicable to the most common situations in which a critical note is needed—give an overview of A-R’s preferred critical note syntax as a starting point for prospective Recent Researches editors.
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June 01, 2022Read More
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.
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January 06, 2022Read More
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.
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June 29, 2020Read More
By Esther Criscuola de Laix
What are critical notes? Well, many of our editions say that “critical notes describe rejected source readings” or “differences between the source and the edition” that are not otherwise covered by the editorial methods. It sounds straightforward enough. Yet many volume editors find this to be one of the most fiddly and confusing parts of the editing process. So, here are some dos and don’ts to help dispel the confusion.
