Apel Willi, *10 October 1893 Chojnice (Pomerania), †14 March 1988 Bloomington (Indiana), American musicologist. From 1912 to 1914, he studied mathematics at the universities of Bonn and Munich, and from 1918 to 1921 in Berlin. During this time, he also studied piano with L. Kreutzer, E. Fischer and C.A. Martienssen. He was self-taught in musicology. From 1922 to 1928, he taught mathematics and music in Wikkersdorf, and from 1928 to 1936 in Berlin. In 1936, he received his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Berlin for his thesis Accidentien und Tonalität in den Musikdenkmälern des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts. Later that year, he emigrated to the United States, where he taught at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from 1936 to 1943, and at Harvard University and Radcliffe College from 1938 to 1942. From 1937 to 1950, he also lectured in Boston at the Boston Centre for Adult Education, and in 1950 he became a professor at Indiana University in Bloomington.
Apel’s musicological interests concern almost exclusively early music. In addition to numerous detailed studies, he wrote a series of fundamental monographs on this subject, distinguished by their individual approach and extraordinary clarity of exposition, which is why these books are now also used as university textbooks. His Harvard Dictionary of Music, consisting exclusively of subject entries, is an attempt to combine a popularising approach with strictly academic definitions: most entries begin with a general, accessible explanation, followed by a detailed, specialist discussion. His Historical Anthology of Music gained a huge audience, as evidenced by eight editions by 1970. This was mainly due to the very careful selection of works, most of which were unpublished, each illustrating a technical or stylistic problem. From an early age, Apel was interested in music for keyboard instruments, which was linked to his piano studies. In addition to many smaller works in this field, he wrote two fundamental books: Masters of the Keyboard and Geschichte der Orgel- und Klavier-Musik bis 1700, and published a number of source publications (cf. the individual volumes of Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae) and practical publications (cf. the anthology by G. Tagliapietra).
Literature: Essays in Musicology, Festschrift for Apel, ed. H. Tischler, Bloomington 1968.
Die Fuge, Berlin 1932
Accidentien und Tonalität in den Musikdenkmälern des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts, Berlin 1936
The Notation of Polyphonic Music 900–1600, Cambridge (Massachusetts) 1942, 5th edition 1961, revised German translation: Die Notation der polyphonen Musik 900–1600, Leipzig 1962
Harvard Dictionary of Music, Cambridge 1944, revised and expanded edition 1969
Masters of the Keyboard, Cambridge 1947
Gregorian Chant, Bloomington 1958
Geschichte der Orgel und Klavier-Musik bis 1700, Kassel 1967
articles:
Bachs Kunst der Fuge, “Die Musik” XXII, 1930
Die Tabulatur des Adam Ileborgh, “Zeitschrift für Musikwissenschaft” XVI, 1934
Early Spanish Music for Lute and Keyboard Instruments, “The Musical Quarterly” XX, 1934
Du nouveau sur la musique française pour orgue au XVIe siècle, “La Revue Musicale” XVIII, 1937
Neapolitan Links between Cabezón and Frescobaldi, “The Musical Quarterly” XXIV, 1938
The Partial Signatures in the Sources up to 1450, “Acta Musicologica” X, 1938
A Remark about the Basse Danse, “Musica Disciplina” I, 1946
The French Secular Music of the Late Fourteenth Century, “Acta Musicologica” XVIII/XIX, 1946/47
Early History of the Organ, “Speculum” XXIII, 1948
From St. Martial to Notre-Dame, “Journal of the American Musicological Society” II, 1949
The Early Development of the Organ Ricercar, “Musica Disciplina” III, 1949
Imitation Canons on L’Homme armé, “Speculum” XXV, 1950
Anent a Ritornello in Monteverdi’s Orfeo, “Musica Disciplina” V, 1951
Rondeaux, Virelais and Ballades in French 13th-Century Song, “Journal of the American Musicological Society” VII, 1954
The Central Problem of Gregorian Chant, “Journal of the American Musicological Society” IX, 1956
The Earliest Polyphonic Composition and its Theoretical Background, “Revue Belge de Musicologie” X, 1956
Imitation in the 13th and 14th Centuries, in: Essays on Music in Honor of A.T. Davison, Cambridge 1957
Remarks about the Isorhythmic Motet, in: Les Colloques de Wégimont 1955, Paris 1959
Drei plus Drei plus Zwei = Vier plus Vier, “Acta Musicologica” XXXII, 1960
Der Anfang des Präludiums in Deutschland und Polen, in: The Book of the First International Musicological Congress, devoted to the Works of F. Chopin 16th–22nd February 1960, ed. Z. Lissa, Warsaw 1963
Attaingnant: Quatorze Gaillardes, “Die Musikforschung” XIV, 1961
Die süditalienische Clavierschule des 17. Jahrhunderts, “Acta Musicologica” XXXII, 1962
Spanish Organ Music of the Early 17th Century, “Journal of the American Musicological Society” XV, 1962
Die handschriftliche Überlieferung der Klavier-Werke Frescobaldis, in: Festschrift for K. Fellerer, ed. H. Hüschen, Regensburg 1962
Die Celler Orgeltabulatur von 1601, “Die Musikforschung” XIX, 1966
Probleme der Alternierung in der liturgischen Orgelmusik bis 1600, in: C. Monteverdi e il suo tempo, congress proceedings, Venice 1968
Bach erede della tradizione, “Nuova Rivista Musicale Italiana” III, 1969
Der deutsche Orgelchoral um 1600, in: Musa – Mens – Musici, Festschrift for W. Vetter, Leipzig 1970
Music and Mathematics in the Middle-ages, in: Musica e arte figurativa nei secoli X–XII, materials from the 13th Convention Centro di studi sulla spiritualità medievale in Todi 1972
Studien über die frühe Violinmusik, “Archiv für Musikwissenschaft” XXX–XXXV, 1973–78
Orgelmusik in Ost-Europa im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert, Musica Antiqua Europae Orientalis. Acta scientifica IV, Bydgoszcz 1975
French, Italian and Latin Poems in 14th Century Music, “Journal of the Plainsong and Medieval Music Society” I, 1978
Die italienische Violinmusik im 17. Jahrhundert, Wiesbaden 1983
The Notation… 1942, revised Italian edition, La notazione della musica polifonica dal X al XVII secolo, Florence 1984
Medieval Music, Wiesbaden 1986 (collected articles)
prepared editions:
Musik aus früher Zeit, 2 iss., Mainz 1934
Concord Classics for the Piano, 2 iss., Boston 1938
A Historical Anthology of Music, with A.T. Davison, 2 vols., Cambridge 1946, 1950, revised edition, vol. 1 Cambridge 1949
German version of Antologia di musica antica e moderna per pianoforte G. Tagliapietry: Anthologie alter und neuer Musik für Klavier, 18 vols., Milan 1934
French Secular Music of the Late Fourteenth Century, Cambridge 1950
works by: M. Facole «Corpus of Early Keyboard Music» 2, C. Antegnati «Corpus of Early Keyboard Music» 9, J.U. Steigleder «Corpus of Early Keyboard Music» 13, A. Reincken «Corpus of Early Keyboard Music» 16, D. Strunck and P. Mohrhardt «Corpus of Early Keyboard Music» 23, P. Cornet «Corpus of Early Keyboard Music» 26, J. Jiménez (for organ) «Corpus of Early Keyboard Music» 31
14th and 15th century keyboard music, Spanish organ music before Cabezón, German organ chorales «Corpus of Early Keyboard Music» 1, 14, 17
14th c. French secular «Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae» 53
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editor in chief of the «Corpus of Early Keyboard Music» series, published by the American Institute of Musicology
