24 January 2009

The Dissertation Chronicle, Opus 7

A couple of weeks ago I turned in the first draft of my dissertation proposal to my advisor. I received some helpful comments and had a lengthy, hour-long discussion with my advisor. I am still in the revision stage of the proposal, but forging ahead to actual intensive analysis of the symphonies I have gathered thus far. Over the past week, I made a significant and helpful contact regarding one of my composers. There is a Swede who is interested in music from this time and created a website devoted to Paul Wranitzky, one of the composers I am look at. The site is great for the information provided about the composer, and the list of contributors include notable names in the field of music history. Though the site master is nt a musician by trade or profession (I believe he is a computer programmer), he does good work. I contacted him, descibed my dissertation topic to him, and he has been emailing me symphonies by Wranitzky I need to look at. This is great for me because this will be about ten fewer scores I will have to track down and request from libraries and/or travel to acquire them on my own. I am examining the three symphonies I have received so far, and look forward to receiving the remaining symphonies. Who knows, perhaps this could lead to a new wave in music research.

1 comment:

POPDIVA said...

The internet = best research tool ever invented. I'm sure once I get to the proposal stage at least 50% of my bibliography will be web-based. AWESOME.