School of Music faculty member Frederick Reece received a First Book Manuscript Award as part of his recruitment to the University of Washington as an assistant professor in the Music History program. Reece's permanent appointment was effective in Autumn 2021, and prior to that, he served a year as visiting lecturer in the program.
Reece completed his Ph.D. at Harvard University with his dissertation “Ringing False: Music Analysis, Forgery, and the Technologies of Truth.” He has published on the issue of forged compositions in his article “Composing Authority in Six Forged ‘Haydn’ Sonatas,” in the Journal of Musicology. His current research explores the works of canonical western composers such as Haydn, Mozart, and Schubert as emulated by musical forgers, from the eighteenth century to the present day. A book on the subject, titled Forgery in Musical Composition: Aesthetics, History, and the Canon, is under contract to Oxford University Press.
The First Book Award, sponsored by the School of Music and the Simpson Center for the Humanities, brings two distinguished scholars to campus to discuss in depth Reeces’s book manuscript with him. James Currie (University at Buffalo—SUNY) and Melanie Lowe (Vanderbilt University), the two visiting scholars, will also give a colloquium on forgery, identity, and authenticity in musical composition as part of the School of Music's THEME lecture series on Friday, December 2, at 4pm in Brechemin Auditorium. The event is co-sponsored by the School of Music and the Simpson Center for the Humanities.
The December 2 THEME lecture is open to the public admission is free. More details are available here.