Music

Dr. Lawrence Schenbeck has taught at Spelman College since 1991. He teaches music history courses in the Western classical tradition, including MUS 350-351, the two-semester survey of European and American art music. He also developed, and annually teaches, MUS 130 Women in Music, which examines music by and about women in several world cultures and historic periods. Graduating senior music majors begin senior research projects under his supervision in MUS 490, Senior Seminar.

As a music historian, Dr. Schenbeck’s work regularly extends beyond the classroom into Atlanta, the region, and the nation. His special interests in research include the Viennese Classical Era and twentieth-century America, especially the influence of race, class, and gender discourses on art music. He is the author of a book, Joseph Haydn and the Classical Choral Tradition (Chapel Hill, NC: Hinshaw Music, 1996), and of scholarly articles that have appeared in The Musical Quarterly, Opera Quarterly, Choral Journal, and other publications. His critical reviews of the literature on Haydn’s and Mozart’s sacred music and the life and music of Leopold Mozart are part of the newly released Reader’s Guide to Music: History, Theory and Criticism (Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn). He currently serves on the Editorial Board of Choral Journal and edits its bimonthly column, "Research Reports." A member of the American Musicological Society, the Society for American Music, and the College Music Society, he has presented papers at international, national, and regional meetings of these groups. In addition, Dr. Schenbeck is an Associate of the Center for Black Music Research.

Closer to home, Dr. Schenbeck enjoys giving pre-concert lectures for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and other local groups; he also serves as President of the South-Central Chapter of the AMS. He has received awards and grants for his work from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Ford Foundation (through Spelman College), and the Firestone-Baars Foundation. Right now he is working on a book that will examine the attitudes and values of African-American classical musicians and their white patrons and critics during the "uplift" years of the early twentieth century.

If you want to know more about finding and acquiring classical-music CDs, you might enjoy reading his brief guide, "How to Shop for Classical CDs."