keywords
- 18th to 20th century Euro-American music, music for the stage, African American musicals, work of especially notable performers and composers, Frank Loesser, Paul Robeson
- Contact Info
Riis, Thomas L
Positions
- Professor Emerita/Emeritus, College of Music
Research Areas
Research
Publications
selected publications
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book
- Frank Loesser 2008
- The Music and Scripts of "In Dahomey". Ed. Riis, Thomas L. 1996
- More Than Just Minstrel Shows: The Rise of Black Musical Theatre at the Turn of the Century 1992
- Just Before Jazz: Black Musical Theater in New York, 1890-1915 1989
- Les Institutions politiques centrales du Danemark 1100-1332 1977
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chapter
- African American Musical Theater, 1890-Present 2012
- Minstrelsy and Theatrical Miscegenation. 65-80. 2011
- Crossing Boundaries Black Musicians Who Defied Musical Genres. 147-158. 2011
- The Music of a Trip to Coontown 2011
- American Musical Theatre from 1870 to 1945. 411-445. 2006
- Musical Theater: A Chronological Survey. 185-210. 2006
- New York Roots: James Reese Europe, Black Broadway, and Early Stride Pianists. 53-63. 2005
- African American Musical Cultures 2005
- African American Musical Theater 2001
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The successors of Rodgers and Hammerstein from the 1940s to the 1960s.
164-189.
2001
- Clarence Cameron White 2000
- Rosamond Johnson 2000
- Will Marion Cook 2000
- Concert Singers, Prima Donnas, and Entertainers: The Changing Status of Black Women Vocalists in the Nineteenth-Century America 1998
- Dvorak’s Black Students 1996
- In Dahomey in Text and Performance. Ed. Riis, Thomas L. xiii-xlvi. 1996
- Musical Theatre 1996
- Pink Morton's Theater, Black Vaudeville, and the TOBA 1992
- Dwight's Journal of Music 1990
- JEMF Quarterly 1990
- The Black Perspective in Music 1990
- Hirdlovgivningen hos Saxo og Sven Aggesen.. 143-147. 1975
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journal article
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Preface.
Il Nuovo Cimento C - Colloquia on Physics.
2019
-
1865 Harmonia Mundi 807549 (J Horner-Kwiatek, B Molsky).
Nineteenth Century Music Review.
361-363.
2016
- Music at the University of Colorado: The Early Years, Part 2. American Music Research Center Journal. 13-35. 2015
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American Orchestras in the Nineteenth Century.
Nineteenth Century Music Review.
331-334.
2014
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Blackness in Opera.
African American Review.
185-187.
2013
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FORGOTTEN MANUSCRIPTS: A Trip to Coontown.
African American Review.
7-24.
2011
- Black People: Entertainers of African Descent in Europe and Germany. Journal of the American Musicological Society. 252-260. 2009
- Cross the Water Blues: African American Music in Europe. Journal of the American Musicological Society. 252-260. 2009
- Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919. Journal of the American Musicological Society. 252-260. 2009
- Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1922. Journal of the American Musicological Society. 252-260. 2009
- Out of Sight: The Rise of African American Popular Music, 1889-1895. Journal of the American Musicological Society. 252-260. 2009
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Singing in my soul: Black gospel music in a secular age..
American Historical Review.
514-515.
2006
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Manufacturing the muse: Estey organs and consumer culture in Victorian America..
Technology and Culture.
828-830.
2003
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America's musical life: A history.
Journal of the American Musicological Society.
578-587.
2002
- 'You've Got to Be Carefully Taught': Canonical Concerns in American Musical Theater. 11-12. 2001
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Tavern singing in early Victorian London: The diaries of Charles Rice for 1840 and 1850.
Theatre Research International.
112-113.
1999
- Opera and the Operatic, Drama and the Melodramatic: What Was the State of Things in Nineteenth-Century America?. 76-89. 1995
- Opera and the Operatic, Drama and the Melodramatic: What Was the State of Things in Nineteenth-Century America?. 75-89. 1995
- DVORAK AND HIS WORLD - BECKERMAN,M. Notes. 604-606. 1994
- DVORAK,ANTONIN, MY FATHER - DVORAK,O. Notes. 604-606. 1994
- Remembering Sister Mary Dominic Ray (1913-1994). American Music Research Center Journal. 1. 1994
- A Conversation with George Crumb. American Music Research Center Journal. 40. 1993
- Why American Research?. American Music Research Center Journal. 1-2. 1992
- Schillers 'Die Braut von Messina' og Harald Kiddes 'Jærnet'. Danske Studier. 144-148. 1989
- British-American Musical Interactions: The Experience and Impact of Black Entertainers in England, 1895-1920. American Music. 50. 1986
- The Experience and Impact of Black Entertainers in England, 1895-1920. American Music. 50. 1986
- The Music and Musicians in Nineteenth-Century Productions of "Uncle Tom's Cabin". American Music. 268. 1986
- Bob Cole: His Life and Legacy to Black Musical Theatre. 135. 1985
- Black Musical Theater, 1870-1930:Research Problems and Resources. American Music. 95. 1984
- Music of the American Theater: Black Musical Theater, 1870-1930:Research Problems and Resources. American Music. 95. 1984
- The Cultivated White Tradition and Black Music in the Nineteenth-Century America: A discussion of Some Articles in Dwight’s Journal of Music. 156-176. 1976
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Preface.
Il Nuovo Cimento C - Colloquia on Physics.
2019
editor of
Teaching
courses taught
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MUEL 2752 - Music in American Culture
Primary Instructor - Spring 2018
Explores the role of music as a powerful cultural agent from the Colonial Period to the present. Focuses on influences from normative and marginalized musicians throughout American history. A wide range of musical styles and genres are studied to demonstrate themes of appropriation, appreciation, and syncretism. Teaches students to think critically about the relationships between culture, power, and identity.
Background
education and training
- Ph.D., University of Michigan Ann Arbor 1981
- M.A., University of Michigan Ann Arbor 1976
- B.A., Oberlin College 1972
awards and honors
International Activities
geographic focus
- Europe Continent
- United Kingdom Country