Essays & Studies
Musicology, rhetoric and performance practice, 1740–1830.
Introducing the John Walker Digital Library
A digital library dedicated to the treatises of the 18th century elocutionist and rhetorician, John Walker
A 1777 Johannes Plenius Square Piano: Restoration & Context
A new addition to the collection
Franz Ignaz Beck’s Keyboard Sonatas
Franz Ignaz Beck (1734–1809) was an influential German composer associated with the Mannheim School, who significantly shaped musical culture in France, particularly in Bordeaux.
Corporeal Eloquence: Reviving the Mannheim Court Ballet
This project explores the revival of expressive practices from the eighteenth-century Mannheim Court, emphasizing historically informed musical performances through the lens of rhetorical expressivity, acting, and sensibility.
Vogler’s Travel Souvenirs for Keyboard
Georg Joseph Vogler (1749–1814) stands as one of music history’s most fascinating travelers—a composer whose career can only be described as a perpetual "Lebensreise," or journey through life.
The Importance of a Rhetorical Approach to Performance
An abridged version of my prize-winning paper: During the period 1740–1830, the classical art of rhetoric was still largely connected to music. Eighteenth-century theorists emphasized crucial links between rhetoric and the musical arts.
The Biedermeier Salon
An introductory article about the salon during the Biedermeier age, which accompanied my recent album release. This album immerses listeners in the intimate musical world of the Biedermeier period (1815-1848), a flourishing era of domestic artistry in Central Europe, celebrating values of…
Rediscovering Beethoven’s Concerto Op. 61
Beethoven’s Violin Concerto is revered today as a cornerstone of classical music, renowned for its monumental scale, emotional depth, and sublime beauty. Yet, intriguingly, Beethoven himself adapted this masterpiece into a lesser-known piano concerto version shortly after its première.
Beethoven & the English Pianoforte
This recording presents Ludwig van Beethoven's piano sonatas performed on a historical fortepiano constructed circa 1806 by John Broadwood & Sons. Canadian fortepianist Anders Muskens explores the interpretive nuances and expressive potential inherent to this English-style instrument, which has…