The Vincent H. Duckles Award is the Music Library Association’s annual prize for the best book-length bibliography or reference work in music. The prize, awarded since the 1976 publication year, was named in honor of Vincent Duckles in 1985.
Vincent H. Duckles (1913–1985) was Head of the Music Library and Professor in the Department of Music at the University of California, Berkeley. During his long and distinguished career he made major contributions to music libraries, librarianship, and scholarship. In his 33 year tenure at Berkeley he built the music library into one of the country’s most important collections. He was active in the Music Library Association, serving on the board of directors as member-at-large and MLA President in 1961. He also chaired the Survey of Library Resources, Constitutional Revision, and Program committees. In recognition of his stature in the profession MLA awarded him its highest honor, the MLA Citation, in 1980. Vincent Duckles’ most widely known work is Music Reference and Research Materials, which grew out of his famous music bibliography course at Berkeley. First published in 1967, it rapidly became and has remained the standard book in its field. The last edition to appear under his sole authorship was the third, in 1974; it is now in its fifth edition, under the editorship of Ida Reed (New York, Schirmer Books).
Vincent Duckles received his Ph.D. in musicology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1953. He was a specialist in seventeenth-century English song and the author of Thematic Catalog of a Manuscript Collection of Eighteenth-Century Italian Instrumental Music in the University of California, Berkeley, Music Library, published in 1963. Toward the close of his career he turned his attention to historiography of music and the history of musical scholarship. He was active in the local musical scene as a performer on the double bass, organ, and piano. He was a dedicated concert-goer, and had a large and admiring circle of students, colleagues, and friends.
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All Recipients
- 2019 Inger Sørensen
This year the award goes to Inger Sørensen.
Representing the first comprehensive thematic catalogue of the complete works of Danish composer J.P.E. Hartmann, Sørensen presents a well-organized and detailed set of entries in two volumes, with text in Danish and English. The works are categorized first by medium and form, and entries are then organized by thematic catalog number (beginning with HartW) followed by opus or other composer-supplied numbers, providing an effective and intuitive experience as a reference and research tool. Each entry includes date of composition, instrumentation, an incipit, sources and publications (including manuscripts, first editions, reprints), and a brief bibliography. Sørensen’s addition of four indexes at the end of Volume 2 includes easy-to-browse lists by title and first line of work, names listed throughout the publication, authors of entries, and a list of works by opus number, further demonstrating the care with which this catalog was constructed to meet the needs of music scholars.
A valuable addition to music research and scholarship, it is a great pleasure to award the Vincent H. Duckles Award to Inger Sørensen.
J.P.E. Hartmann, Thematic-Bibliographic Catalogue of His Works, edited by Birthe Skou. Danish Humanist Texts and Studies, Volume 56 (Copenhagen: Dansk Center for Musikudgivelse, Det Kongelige Bibliotek, 2017).
- 2018 Jane Gottlieb
This year the award goes to Jane Gottlieb, for her book Music Library and Research Skills, 2nd edition (New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016). As the Publication Awards Committee wrote:
Gottlieb provides readers with a thorough and meticulously crafted guide to music libraries, research methodology, and print and electronic resources. In describing music research tools, she offers invaluable information on their history, scope, and contents. Gottlieb also provides sage advice on bibliographic style, copyright, and resources for exploring careers in music. This volume, drawing from her extensive experience in music librarianship, elegantly captures the current state of the art in music research and is an inspiration to anyone who has ever entered or worked in a music library. This well-written and exhaustive book will be invaluable to music students, librarians, educators, and researchers.
It is a pleasure to award the Vincent H. Duckles Award to Jane Gottlieb.
Gottlieb, Jane. Music Library and Research Skills, 2nd edition (New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016).
- 2017 Reinmar Emans and Ulrich Krämer
Reinmar Emans and Ulrich Krämer, Musikeditionen im Wandel der Geschichte (Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 2015).
- 2016 Edward Komara and Greg Johnson
Edward Komara and Greg Johnson, 100 Books Every Blues Fan Should Own (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014).
- 2015 John Gray
John Gray, Baila! A Bibliographic Guide to Afro-Latin Dance Musics from Mambo to Salsa (Nyack, NY: African Diaspora Press, 2013)
- 2014 Richard Griscom and David Lasocki
Richard Griscom and David Lasocki, The Recorder: A Research and Information Guide, 3rd edition (Routledge Music Bibliographies, 2012)
- 2013 Jerry McBride
Jerry McBride, Douglas Moore: a Bio-Bibliography (Middleton, Wis.: A-R Editions, 2011)
- 2001 David Fallows
A Catalogue of Polyphonic Songs, 1415–1480 (Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1999)
- 2001 James B. Sinclair
A Descriptive Catalogue of the Music of Charles Ives (New Haven [Conn.] : Yale University Press, 1999)
- 2000 Glenda D. Goss
Jean Sibelius: A Guide to Research (New York, NY: Garland Publishomg, 1998)
- 1999 Paul Bryan
Johann Wanhal, Viennese Symphonist: His Life and His Musical Environment (Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, 1997)
- 1998 Michael Twyman
Early Lithographed Music: A Study Based on the H. Baron Collection (London: Farrand Press, 1996)
- 1997 Lawrence Earp
Guillaume de Machaut: A Guide to Research (New York: Garland Publishing, 1995)
- 1996 Donald Burrows and Martha J. Ronish
A Catalogue of Handel’s Musical Autographs (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994)
- 1995 Helen Myers, ed.
Ethnomusicology: Historical and Regional Studies (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1993)
- 1994 Mary Kay Duggan
Italian Music Incunabula: Printers and Type (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992)
- 1993 Richard Kitson
Dwight’s Journal of Music (1852–1881) (Ann Arbor, Mich.: U.M.I., 1991)
- 1992 Allen Perdue Britton, Irving Lowens, and Richard Crawford
American Sacred Music Imprints, 1698–1810: A Bibliography (Worcester: American Antiquarian Society, 1990)
- 1991 Hans-Joachim Schulze and Christoph Wolff
Bach Compendium: Analytisch-bibliographisches Repertorium der Werke Johann Sebastian Bachs (Frankfurt, New York: C.F. Peters, 1985–89)
- 1990 Anik Devries and Franois Lesure
Dictionnaire des éditeurs de musique francais, vol. II (Géneve: Editions Minkoff, 1988)
- 1990 Thomas J. Mathiesen
Ancient Greek Music Theory: a Catalogue Raisonné of Manuscripts (RISM B/XI) (Munchen: G. Henle, 1988)
- 1989 Arthur B. Wenk
Analyses of Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Music (Boston: Music Library Association, 1987)
- 1988 H. Wiley Hitchcock and Stanley Sadie, ed.
The New Grove Dictionary of American Music (London: Macmillan, 1986)
- 1987 John Reed
The Schubert Song Companion (New York: Universe Books, 1985)
- 1986 Donald L. Hixon
Thea Musgrave: A Bio-Bibliography (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1984)
- 1985 Boston Area Music Libraries
The Boston Composers Project (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1983)
- 1984 Carol J. Oja, ed.
American Music Recordings: A Discography of 20th Century U.S. Composers (Brooklyn: Institute for Studies in American Music, 1982)
- 1983 D. W. Krummel et al.
Resources of American Music History: A Directory of Source Materials from Colonial Times to World War II (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1981)
- 1982 Anna Harriet Heyer, comp.
Historical Sets, Collected Editions, and Monuments of Music: A Guide to Their Contents, 3d ed. (Chicago: American Library Association, 1980)
- 1980 Maurice Hinson
The Piano in Chamber Ensemble: An Annotated Guide (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978)
- 1979 Rita Benton
Ignace Pleyel: A Thematic Catalogue of His Compositions (New York: Pendragon Press, 1977)
- 1978 E. Ruth Anderson, comp.
Contemporary American Composers: A Biographical Dictionary (Boston: G.K. Hall, 1976)