Boyden, David Dodge (EN)

Boyden David Dodge, *10 December 1910 Westport (Connecticut) † 18 September 1986 Berkeley (California), American musicologist. He studied at Harvard University (1932 B.A. magna cum laude, 1938 M.A.), Columbia University (1935–36), and Hartt College of Music (1936–37), where he received an honorary doctorate in 1957; he also studied piano with Moshe Paranov and Harold Bauer (1933–35), and viola with Miriam Zunsser and Felix Khuner (in the 1940s). In 1938–39, he was a lecturer at Mills College in Oakland, and from 1939 until his retirement in 1975, he worked at the University of California at Berkeley; he became a professor in 1955, and he was dean of the faculty of music in 1955–61. He was Visiting Professor at Cornell University in Ithaca in 1950, a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1951 and 1956, and at the University of Iowa in 1960. He was a lecturer at the Oxford Bach Festival in 1963, and at the Tanglewood Summer School of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1965. He was active in the American Musicological Society (in 1954–56 and 1960–62 he was vice-president, in 1958, 1966 and 1978–9 he was a member of the board of the Oakland Symphony Association), in 1960–71 he was a member of the board of the Oakland Symphony Association. He took part in the “Musica Antiqua Europae Orientalis” congress organised in Bydgoszcz in 1972 (paper: The Corelli “solo” sonatas and their ornamental additions by Corelli, Geminiani, Dubourg, Tartini, and the “Walsh anonymous”).

Boyden is the author of a fundamental work on the evolution of violin construction and the history of playing this instrument from 1520 to the mid-18^th century. His The History of Violin Playing from its Origins to 1761, and Its Relationship to the Violin and Violin Music (1965), translated into German (1971) and Polish (1980), contains valuable information on the methods of notation and performance practice of violin playing (including bowing, articulation, chord playing, vibrato), on the composers of pieces for violin, on luthiers, etc. Boyden, the author of a facsimile edition of Geminiani’s The Art of Playing on the Violin (1751), used in his book theoretical treatises and period documents (manuscripts, first editions of works), as well as contemporary sound experiments with old bows and instruments that have survived to this day or have been reconstructed. The book’s additional assets include a rich iconography, numerous musical examples, and an accompanying CD of recorded musical examples. Boyden also edited the impressive Hill Collection of string instruments in the Ashmolean Museum and wrote a widely circulated textbook, An Introduction to Music.

Literature: Ian Parrott David D. Boyden, An introduction to music, “The Musical Times” June 1960; Walter Kolneder David D. Boyden: The history of violin playing from its origins to 1761 and its relationship to the violin and violin music, “Die Musikforschung” III, 1967; Kurt Wegerer David D. Boyden: Catalogue of The Hill Collection of Musical Instruments in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, “Österreichische Musikzeitschrift” XI, 1969; James D. Hart, Daniel Heartz, Joseph Kerman, Lawrence Moe David D. Boyden, Music: Berkeley, www: University of California: In Memoriam, 1986 (cdlib.org); Joseph Kerman David D. Boyden (1911–1986), “Newsletter. The American Musicological Sosiety” I, 1987, https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.amsmusicology.org/resource/resmgr/files/Ne 1987-2.pdf; Elena Ferrari-Barassi Ripensando alle origini del violino: Morfologia, impiego, repertorio / Reconsidering the origins of the violin: Morphology, usage, and repertoire, in: Un corpo alla ricerca dell’anima: Andrea Amati e la nascita del violino, 1505–2005 / Andrea Amati and the birth of the violin, 1505–2005, vol. 2. Cremona 2005; Piotr Wilk The violin technique of Italian solo sonata in the 17th century, “Musica Iagellonica” (5), 2011.