H. Earle Johnson Publication Subvention
H. Earle Johnson, pioneer scholar of music in America, was a founding member, former Vice President, and first Chairman of the Publications Committee of the Sonneck Society (now the Society for American Music). He served the Society with enthusiasm and dedication tempered by realistic vision and sound judgment. His contributions to scholarly study of music in America are numerous, the quality and significance of which are reflected by ubiquitous references to his works in scholarly publications. Johnson was a member of the music faculty at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, from 1937-1942 and 1946-1953, a visiting professor of music at Temple University in Philadelphia, and a professor in the Eminent Scholars Program of the College of William Mary in 1975, He continued at William and Mary as a visiting professor until his retirement in 1983. Early in his career, as a critic for the New Haven Register, Earle developed an ear and heart for the performers of music. Though music criticism ceased to serve as his means of livelihood, he retained an avid interest in concert life and continued to be charitable in supporting and encouraging performers and organizations. In recognition of his many contributions to the history of American music and his service to the Society, H. Earle Johnson was elected as an Honorary Member in 1986. The H. Earle Johnson Book Publication Subvention Award of the Society for American Music is intended to support the costs of the publication of a significant monograph on an important topic in American Music.
Committee: Jessica Sternfeld, Chair (2012-2013), Lloyd Whitesell, Emily Ansari.
Applications: Applications should be submitted to the publications committee which will make its recommendations with brief justifications to the Society for American Music board at its spring meeting, usually held in March.
Maximum award: $2,500.
Deadline: 31 December
Guidelines: Applications should be submitted electronically, as a pdf or zip file, to jsternfeld@hotmail.com . Please create one single pdf or zip file for the entire application and include all parts within it. If a publisher is unable to submit an electronic copy, please email the Chair to acquire a mailing address. Applications should include:
1. A statement about publication plans. (Note: before application for a subvention can be made, a publisher must have agreed to put out the work)
2. Detailed financial statement, including: a breakdown of publication costs showing format, print run, and projected costs; specific request for amount from the committee; indication of the impact of subvention on the price of the book
3. Brief curriculum vita
4. Outline of proposed publication (including table of contents)
5. Sample chapter or excerpt from work
Please note that the Johnson Subvention is not for research-related expenses, but for publication costs, and the application must come from the Publisher. The subvention is for completed manuscripts, not works-in-progress.
Eligibility: Authors must be a current member of the Society for American Music.
Funding cycle: Applications may be made at any time, but applicants should anticipate a long waiting period. To receive consideration before the board meeting, applications should be received by the date set by the committee. Currently that date is December 31.
Previous Recipients
| Award Year | Authors and Projects |
|---|---|
| 2013 | Melissa de Graaf, The New York Composers’ Forum Concerts: 1935-1940, from the University of Rochester Press Christopher Smith, The Creolization of American Culture: William Sidney Mount and the Roots of Blackface Minstrelsy, from the University of Illinois Press |
| 2012 | Sheryl Kaskowitz, God Bless America: The Surprising History of an Iconic Song Carol Hess, Representing the Good Neighbor: Music, Difference, and the Pan American Dream |
| 2011 | John Spitzer, ed., American Orchestras in the Nineteenth Century |
| 2010 | John Koegel, ed., Music, American Made: Essays in Honor of John Graziano Steve Swayne, Orpheus in Manhattan: William Schuman and the Shaping of America's Musical Life |
| 2005-2009 | John Koegel, Music in German Immigrant Theater: New York City, 1840-1920 Raymond Knapp, The American Musical and the Performance of Identity Howard Pollack, George Gershwin: His Life and Legacy Judith Tick, Music in the USA: A Documentary Companion Catherine Parsons Smith, Making Music in Los Angeles: Transforming the Popular Mark Zobel, The Third Symphony of Charles Ives Larry Hamberlin, That Opera Rag: Operatic Novelty Songs in the Ragtime Era |
| 2004 | Elizabeth B. Crist, Music for the Common Man: Aaron Copland during the Depression and War Gayle Murchison, The American Stravinsky: The Style and Aesthetics of Copland’s New American Music, the Early Works, 1921-1938 |
| 2003 | Doris Evans McGinty, A Documentary History of The National Association of Negro Musicians Ron Pen, Louis Dolive, and Richel Brett Harley, eds., Kentucky Harmony and Supplement to Kentucky Harmony |
| 2002 | Tim Brooks, Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919 Liane Curtis, A Rebecca Clark Reader Leta E. Miller, Lou Harrison |
| 2001 | R. Allen Lott, Grand Tours: Five European Piano Virtuosos in the New World |
| 2000 | Carol Oja, Making Music Modern: New York in the 1920s Ellen Koskoff, Music in Lubavitcher Life Kai Fikentscher, "You Better Work!" Underground Dance Music in New York City |
| 1999 | Bell Yung and Helen Rees, Understanding Charles Seeger Catherine P. Smith, Study in Contradictions: Toward a Biography of William Grant Still Charles K. Wolfe, Good-Natured Riot: The Birth of the Grand Ole Opry Alan C. Beuchner, Sons of Harmony |
| 1998 | Adrienne Fried Block, Amy Beach, Passionate Victorian Michael Hicks, Sixties Rock: Garage, Psychedelic, and Other Satisfactions Andrea Olmstead, Juilliard: A History |
| 1997 | Ralph P. Locke, Cyrillia Barr, Cultivating Music in America: Women Patrons and Activities Dale Cockrell, Demons of Disorder: Early Blackface Minstrels and Their World Karen Ahlquist, Democracy at the Opera: Music, Theatre, and Culture in New York City, 1815-60 |
| 1996 | Judith Vander, Shoshone Ghost Dance Religion Nolan Porterfield, The Last Cavalier: John A Lomax, 1867-1948 |
| 1995 | Cecelia Conway, African Banjo, Echoes in Appalachia |
| 1994 | Marilyn Ziffrin, Carl Ruggles |
| 1993 | Katherine K. Preston, Opera on the Road: Traveling Opera Troupes in the United States, 1825-1860 Ellen Knight, Charles Martin Loeffler: A Biography |
| 1992 | Barbara Heyman, Samuel Barber: The Composer and his Music |
| 1991 | Thomas McGeary, The Music of Harry Partch: A Descriptive Catalogue |