Julius Herford Prize

Each year the Julius Herford Prize Subcommittee of the Research and Publications Committee accepts nominations for the outstanding doctoral terminal research project in choral music.  Projects are eligible if they comprise the principal research component of the degree requirements, whether the institution defines the project as a “dissertation,” “document,” “thesis,” or “treatise,” etc. Eligibility is limited to doctoral recipients whose degrees were confirmed during the calendar year prior to the year of nomination.  The winner will receive $1000.00 in cash and a plaque.

Nomination Guidelines

Nominations must be approved by the dean, director, or chair of the music unit.  An institution may submit only one document.  In the event that there are two nominations of equal merit from one school, the administrative head of the unit must submit a letter justifying the additional nomination.

A letter of nomination signed by the administrative head of the music unit and one unbound copy of the dissertation must be submitted no later than the announced date to the chair of the Julius Herford Prize Subcommittee

Nomination Period: typically opens in the spring of each year by announcement in Choral Journal

Call for Nominations in 2008

The subcommittee for the Julius Herford Prize, given annually by the American Choral Directors Association, is now accepting nominations for the outstanding doctoral terminal research project in choral music for 2007.  Projects are eligible if they comprise the principal research component of the degree requirements, whether the institution defines the project as a “dissertation,” a “document,” a “thesis,” or “treatise,” etc.  Eligibility is limited to doctoral recipients whose degrees were conferred during the period January 1 through December 31, 2007.  The winner will receive a $1000 cash award and a plaque.

Nominations must be submitted by the dean, director, or chair of the music unit.  An institution may submit only one document.  In the event that there are two nominations of equal merit from one school, the administrative head of the unit must submit a letter justifying the additional nomination.

A letter of nomination signed by the administrative head of the music unit and one unbound copy of the dissertation must be submitted no later than June 30, 2008 to:

Dr. John Silantien, Chair
Julius Herford Prize Subcommittee
Music Department
University of Texas at San Antonio
One UTSA Circle
San Antonio, TX 78249
Phone:  210/458-5328; fax: 210/458-4381
E-mail: <john.silantien@utsa.edu>

Previous Winners

1981 - Graeme Cowen
"Igor Stravinsky's Threni:  a conductor's study for performance." Indiana University

1982 - Chester Lee Alwes, Jr.
"Georg Otto's Opus musicum novum (1604) and Valentin Geuck's Novum et insigne opus (1604): a musico-liturgical analysis of two collections of gospel music from the court of Hesse-Kassel." University of Illinois - Urbana

1983 - Catherine Rose Melhorn
"Mendelssohn's Die erste Walpurgisnacht." University of Illinois - Urbana

1984 - G. Roberts Kolb
"Tours MS. 168: The music of Guillaume Bouzignac." University of Illinois - Urbana.

1985 - Leonard Ratzlaff
"A conductor's preparatory analysis of Anton Bruckner's Te Deum." University of Iowa

1986 - Craig Jon Westendorf
"The textual and musical repertoire of the Spruchmotette." University of Illinois - Urbana

1987 - Stanley B. Wold
" Eskil Hemberg-Swedish Composer, Choral Conductor, and Administrator: A Survey of His Works." University of Cincinnati

1988 Melinda Pauly O'Neal
"Berlioz's L'Enfance du Christ: trilogie sacrée, op. 25:  a conductor's analysis for performance." Indiana University

1989 - Carmen Helena Téllez
"Musical form and dramatic  concept in Handel's Athalia." Indiana University

1990 - Christine De Catanzaro
"Sacred Music in Mozart's Salzburg: Authenticity, Chronology, and Style in the Church Works of Cajetan Adlgasser."  University of North Carolina

1991 - Edward J. Lundergan
"Benjamin Britten's War Requiem: Stylistic and Technical Sources." University of Texas at Austin

1991 - A. Christopher Munn
"Medieval and Renaissance Prescriptions Regarding Text Underlay and Their Application to Music of the Fifteenth Century." University of Oklahoma

1992 - Marika Kuzma
"Dmitrii Stepanovich Bortnianskii (1751-1825): An Introduction to the Composer through an edition of his Choral Concertos Priidite, vospoim and Hlasom moim." Indiana University

1993 - James Armstrong
"Litaniae Laurentanae: Sacred Music at the Viennese Imperial Court, ca. 1700-1783." University of Wisconsin - Madison

1994 - David Newby
"Igor Stravinsky's Oedipus rex: Literary background, musical structure, and dramatic symbolism." Indiana University

1995 - Betty Karol Fairchilds Wilson
"Choral Pedagogy: Crossroads of Theory and Practice in Sixteenth-Century Germany." Boston University

1996 - none selected

1997 - Richard Sparks
"The Swedish Choral Miracle: A Cappella Choral Music." University of Cincinnati

1998 - none selected

1999 - Kirin Nielsen
"The Spiritual Madrigals of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina."  University of Illinois - Urbana

2000 – Andrew Kuster
"Stravinsky's Topology: An Examination of his Twelve-Tone Works through Object-Oriented Analysis of Structural and Poetic-Expressive Relationships with Special Attention to his Choral Works and Threni." University of Colorado

2001 - James John
“Johannes Brahms’s Nänie, Op. 82: A Study in Context and Content.” Eastman School of Music

2002 - Elizabeth Zobel
"Benjamin Britten's War Requiem." University of Colorado

2003 - none selected

2004 - Timothy Newton
"A Study and Critical Ediition of Samuel Capricornus’s Theatrum musicum (1669, 1670) and Continuatio theatri musici (1669)." University of Illinois

2005 - Laurier Fagnan
"The Acoustical Effects of the Core Principles of the Bel Canto Method on Choral Singing." University of Alberta/IRCAM

2005 - Christopher Jackson
"An Examination, Reinterpretation and Application of Selected Performance Practices in Four Motets of Luca Marenzio (1553-1599): Implications for a Modern Choral Performance Context." University of Arizona

Christopher Jackson accepts the Julius Herford Award at the 2007 ACDA National Convention.

2006 - Robert Lamb
"Michel-Richard de Lalande's In convertendo Dominus: A Performance Edition with Performing Commentary," University of Cincinnati.

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