28 October 2020
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Publication, Research
Amsterdam, artist biography, biofiction, biography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, Dodo, E.F. Benson, ethel smyth, fiction, historiography, history, keynote, life-writing, literature, literature and music, Music, music and literature, music history, musical biography, musicology, national, nationality, Palgrave, Palgrave Macmillan, presentation, research, Surrey, The Netherlands, transnational, transnationality, University, University of Amsterdam, University of Surrey, Wiley, workshop
Dr Christopher Wiley has co-edited, together with Dr Marleen Rensen (University of Amsterdam), a new volume entitled Transnational Perspectives on Artists’ Lives, published by Palgrave Macmillan and including chapters on artists from Europe, North America, Africa, and Australasia representing a range of arts disciplines.
The book’s international contributors include Sander Bax, Suzanne Bode, Tamar Hager, Maximiliano Jiménez, Jane McVeigh, Anna Menyhért, Manet van Montfrans, Samantha Niederman, Suze van der Poll, Josiane Ranguin, Maria Razumovskaya, Marleen Rensen, Marc Röntsch, Maryam Thirriard, and Christopher Wiley. The table of contents is available here.
This essay collection was developed from a 2018 conference held at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, at which Dr Wiley, an internationally acknowledged expert on musical biography, gave a Keynote lecture.
Dr Wiley’s chapter in the volume, ‘Ethel Smyth as the composer Edith Staines in E.F. Benson’s Dodo trilogy’ (abstract available here), discusses the depiction of the composer Ethel Smyth as a fictional character in E.F. Benson’s sensational book Dodo and its sequels Dodo Wonders and Dodo’s Daughter.
Dr Rensen and Dr Wiley also co-authored the editorial introduction, ‘Writing Artists’ Lives Across Nations and Cultures: Biography, Biofiction and Transnationality’, which considers issues raised by writing the lives of artists, as well as the significance of transnationality to biography.
This is the second volume that Dr Wiley has published with Palgrave Macmillan this year, the first being on researching and writing about contemporary art and artists.
For further information, and to purchase the book: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030451998
Bibliographic citations
Wiley, Christopher. ‘Ethel Smyth as the composer Edith Staines in E.F. Benson’s Dodo trilogy’, in Marleen Rensen and Christopher Wiley eds. Transnational Perspectives on Artists’ Lives. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, pp. 255–69.
Rensen, Marleen and Christopher Wiley. ‘Writing Artists’ Lives Across Nations and Cultures: Biography, Biofiction and Transnationality’, in Marleen Rensen and Christopher Wiley eds. Transnational Perspectives on Artists’ Lives. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, pp. 1–24.
Rensen, Marleen and Christopher Wiley eds. Transnational Perspectives on Artists’ Lives. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020. pp. xv, 276. ISBN 978-3-030-45200-1, 978-3-030-45200-1 (eBook)
Full texts
The full text of Dr Wiley’s chapter is available here: https://www.academia.edu/65118145/Ethel_Smyth_as_the_composer_Edith_Staines_in_E_F_Bensons_Dodo_trilogy
And the full text of the co-authored editorial introduction may be downloaded here: https://www.academia.edu/65117588/Writing_Artists_Lives_Across_Nations_and_Cultures_Biography_Biofiction_and_Transnationality
27 October 2019
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Publication, Research
Bach, biography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, historiography, history, J. S. Bach, JMR, Journal of Musicological Research, literature, literature and music, Marchand, Music, music and literature, music history, musical biography, musicology, myth, mythology, Paul Watt, research, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has guest-edited a special double-issue of the Journal of Musicological Research together with co-editor Dr Paul Watt (Monash University, Melbourne).
Entitled ‘Musical Biography: Myth, Ideology, and Narrative’, the special issue comprises Vol. 38, Nos. 3–4 of the journal, and developed originally from a conference on musical biography co-organized by the editors in 2015.
The special issue includes articles by a wide range of international scholars: Kirsty Asmussen, Anna Maria Barry, Joanne Cormac, Uri Golomb and Ronit Seter, Markéta Kratochvílová, Emily MacGregor, Richard Parfitt, Paul Watt, and Christopher Wiley.
Dr Wiley’s contribution to the special issue includes his 10,000-word article, ‘Myth-Making and the Politics of Nationality in Narratives of J.S. Bach’s 1717 Contest with Louis Marchand’ (pp. 193–215), which examines the widely divergent writing on a single biographical episode across the countries and centuries (see abstract here).
Dr Wiley and Dr Watt also co-authored an introductory article, ‘Musical Biography in the Musicological Arena’ (pp. 187–92), in which they reflect on the current status of musical biography within the discipline of musicology.
The full table of contents for the special issue is available here: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/gmur20/38/3-4
Bibliographic citations
Wiley, Christopher and Watt, Paul (eds.). ‘Musical Biography: Myth, Ideology, and Narrative’, Journal of Musicological Research, Special Issue, Vol. 38, Nos. 3–4 (2019).
Wiley, Christopher and Watt, Paul. ‘Musical Biography in the Musicological Arena’, Journal of Musicological Research, Vol. 38, Nos. 3–4 (2019), pp. 187–92. doi: 10.1080/01411896.2019.1644140
Wiley, Christopher. ‘Myth-Making and the Politics of Nationality in Narratives of J.S. Bach’s 1717 Contest with Louis Marchand’, Journal of Musicological Research, Vol. 38, Nos. 3–4 (2019), pp. 193–215. doi: 10.1080/01411896.2019.1644141
20 June 2018
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Research
anecdote, biographical anecdote, biography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, history, life-writing, Music, music and literature, music history, musical biography, musicology, narrative, Nottingham, presentation, public history, research, Surrey, University, University of Nottingham, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has presented a paper at the multi-disciplinary conference ‘Biography and Public History: Constructing Historical Narratives through Life-Writing’, held in the Department of Music at the University of Nottingham on Wednesday 20 June 2018.
Dr Wiley’s paper, ‘Anecdote as a Genre in Musical Biography’, drew primarily on his recent research on Victorian life-writing, while also discussing the foundational role of anecdote within musical biography from its advent at the turn of the nineteenth century onwards.
Proposing that biographical anecdote warrants recognition as a genre in its own right given its extraordinary staying power and the sophisticated narratives that developed around specific examples, Dr Wiley demonstrated its potential to contribute to a greater understanding of associated culture through the recounting of stories of its most cherished figures.
The one-day conference was attended by some 50 international delegates. Dr Wiley also chaired the opening session, which featured papers on archaeology, buildings architecture, and literature.
Further information may be found at the conference webpage: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/conference/fac-arts/humanities/music/biography-and-public-history/biography-and-public-history.aspx
The full conference programme is available online here: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/humanities/departments/music/documents/2018/final-programme.pdf
15 June 2018
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Research
autobiography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier University, ethel smyth, history, literature, Master Musicians series, memoirs, Mozart, Music, music and literature, music history, music reception, musical biography, musicology, Napier, presentation, Requiem, research, Scotland, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has delivered a paper on musical biography at the ‘Music and Literature: Innovations, Intersections, and Interpretations’ conference hosted at Merchiston Campus, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland on 14-15 June 2018.
Entitled ‘Musical biography and the (non-)consonance of music and literature’, Dr Wiley’s paper revealed how biographical narratives might actually contradict the evidence of the music itself, or they may represent an appropriation of specific works for a given time and place, or function to promote them within wider reading communities who may otherwise be unfamiliar with that music.
Dr Wiley drew case studies from his wider research conducted over the years on musical biography, including the apocryphal story of Mozart’s Requiem, the earliest 12 volumes of the ‘Master Musicians’ series, and Ethel Smyth’s autobiographies. The two-day conference was attended by some 50 delegates.
Further information may be found at the conference website: https://musicandliteratureconference.wordpress.com/
The full programme for the event is available online here: https://musicandliteratureconference.wordpress.com/programme/
26 January 2018
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Research
Amsterdam, artist biography, Bach, biography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, historiography, history, J. S. Bach, keynote, life-writing, literature, Marchand, Music, music and literature, music history, musical biography, musicology, myth, mythology, national, nationality, presentation, research, Surrey, The Master Musicians series, The Netherlands, transnational, transnationality, University, University of Amsterdam, University of Surrey, Wiley, workshop
Dr Christopher W
iley gave a Keynote lecture at the two-day international workshop, ‘Transnational Perspectives on the Writing of Artists’ Lives, 19th-21st centuries’, held at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands on 25–26 January 2018.
Dr Wiley’s 50-minute paper, entitled ‘Musical Biography as a National and Transnational Genre’, explored the extent to which composer life-writing reflects the preoccupations and concerns of its time and place of origin while simultaneously embodying pan-European values that remain strikingly robust across texts from different countries and centuries.
Addressed to an interdisciplinary audience primarily from The Netherlands, France, the UK, and US, Dr Wiley’s lecture developed research previously presented at the University of Oxford, and generated much productive discussion from delegates.
An internationally acknowledged expert in the field, Dr Wiley has given a number of previous keynotes at conferences on biography, including the four-day ‘(Auto)Biography as a Musicological Discourse’ held at the University of Arts, Belgrade in 2008.
The full schedule for the workshop may be viewed here: http://www.uva.nl/en/shared-content/subsites/amsterdam-institute-for-humanities-research/en/events/events/2018/01/transnational-perspectives-artists-lives.html
The programme is also available online as a PDF: https://www.huizingainstituut.nl/v02/wp-content/uploads/Programme-Workshop-Transnational-Perspectives-on-Artists-Lives-2-Jan-18.pdf
16 June 2015
Christopher Wiley
Colloquium, Presentation, Research
Bach, biography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, colloquium, conference, Faculty of Music, historiography, history, J. S. Bach, literature, Marchand, Music, music and literature, music history, musical biography, musicology, myth, mythology, nationality, Oxford, presentation, research, seminar, Surrey, The Master Musicians series, University, University of Oxford, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley presented his paper ‘National Trends in Musical Biography’ in the Music Research Colloquia series at the Faculty of Music, University of Oxford on 16 June 2015, to close the series for the 2014–15 academic year.
Speaking to some 25 academics and postgraduate students in the Faculty’s Denis Arnold Hall, Dr Wiley explored the relationship between musical biography and nationality, in terms of the status of the genre at particular times and places as well as its development over time.
Case studies upon which Dr Wiley drew included biographical retellings of the story of J.S. Bach’s keyboard contest with Louis Marchand, and the ideologies that emerge from the original volumes of the ‘Master Musicians’ series. Dr Wiley had presented earlier versions of this research at the Institute of Musical Research, University of London in 2015 and 2014.
The weekly colloquia are organized by graduate students and feature musicological research presented by a range of leading academics and younger researchers from universities around the world.
Details of Dr Wiley’s Research Colloquium may be found here: http://www.music.ox.ac.uk/event/research-colloquium-chris-wiley/
10 April 2015
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Research
Bach, biography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, historiography, history, Institute of Musical Research, J. S. Bach, literature, London, Marchand, Music, music and literature, music history, musical biography, musicology, myth, mythology, presentation, research, Surrey, University, University of London, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley and Dr Paul Watt (Monash University, Melbourne) have co-organized a two-day international conference on musical biography held at the Institute of Musical Research, University of London, on 9-10 April 2015.
The conference, entitled ‘Musical Biography: National Ideology, Narrative Technique, and the Nature of Myth’, brought together a broad range of some 50 interdisciplinary scholars from the UK, US, Australia, and Continental Europe.
In addition to several panel sessions, the conference incorporated two invited roundtable discussions, whose speakers included Professors Simon Keefe (University of Sheffield), Mark Evan Bonds (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Jonathan Cross (University of Oxford), and Rosamund Bartlett (Oxford).
In the course of the conference, Dr Wiley also chaired three of the panel sessions as well as presenting his paper ‘Myth-making and the Politics of Nationality in Narratives of J.S. Bach’s 1717 Contest with Louis Marchand’, which discussed the ideological significance of the variations in retellings of a single biographical story across different countries in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The schedule for the event may be viewed at the conference website: http://events.sas.ac.uk/imr/events/view/17765/Music+Biography+Conference
The full conference programme may be downloaded here.
18 July 2014
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Research
aesthetics, biography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, historiography, history, Institute of Musical Research, literature, London, Music, music and literature, musical biography, musicology, presentation, research, Surrey, The Master Musicians series, University, University of London, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley presented his paper ‘Life and Works: The Master Musicians Series (1899–1906) as Victorian Period-Piece’ at the ‘Music Literature, Historiography, and Aesthetics’ Conference held at the Institute of Musical Research, University of London, on 17-18 July 2014.
Dr Wiley’s paper explored elements of Victorian ideology (including preoccupations with evolutionist theory and with ‘working partnerships’ between men and women) that emerge strongly from a close reading of the volumes of the original Master Musicians series. He then showed how these concerns yielded important consequences for the authors’ discussions of the musical works themselves.
The conference’s call for papers is available here: http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/news-events/call-for-papers-conference-on-music-literature-historiography-and-aesthetics/
The full conference programme may be downloaded here: http://music.sas.ac.uk/sites/default/files/files/Music%20Literature%20Historiography%20and%20Aesthetics%20programme%20(1).doc
Dr Wiley had previously presented a paper at a related conference held at Monash University, Melbourne earlier in the year.
DR CHRISTOPHER WILEY 