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Janet Pollack

Coordinator of Music History

(970) 491-1342 | pollack@lamar.colostate.edu

Dr. Pollack received her Ph.D. from Duke University in historical musicology with a dissertation titled A Reevaluation of Parthenia (1612/13) and Its Context; her scholarly interests cross the boundaries between literature, music, and cultural studies. Current research explores English music criticism in the 16th- and 17th centuries, the publication history of Parthenia, historical musical pedagogy, a recreation of the entertainments at the 1613 Palatine Wedding, and the new religiosity in twentieth-century music. She also actively promotes the recognition of early modern women’s contributions in music. Recent publications include “Elizabeth Stuart as Musician and Muse” in Many Voices of Early Modern Women, and “Anne Boleyn as Composer” for The New Historical Anthology of Women Making Music. She reviews books for Renaissance Quarterly and the Journal of Seventeenth Century Music, and writes CD notes for RiverRun Records, UK. She has presented her research at numerous national and international conferences in Europe and the USA (including the American Musicological Society, International Musicological Society, Society for Seventeenth-Century Music, among others), participated in NEH sponsored institutes and seminars, and recently was invited to present her research at the NEH sponsored International Symposium on “Reading and Writing the Pedagogy of the Renaissance” and the Folger Shakespeare Library Institute’s interdisciplinary seminar on “Harmony’s Entrancing Power.”

Janet Pollack, in addition to research, remains active as a harpsichordist, and organizes and performs on early music concerts. Before joining the CSU music faculty in 2005, she taught at Duke University and the University of Puget Sound, and was the contracted keyboardist with the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra for a number of years.