Tempo (journal)

Tempo (journal) Tempo is a quarterly scholarly journal devoted to modern and contemporary musicology and music criticism, focusing on twentieth- and twenty-first-century composition and performance. The journal publishes articles, reviews, and historical documents relating to composers, performers, ensembles, and institutions associated with modernism, serialism, electronic music, and avant-garde movements. Contributors have examined figures and organizations from Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky to Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez, John Cage, Krzysztof Penderecki, and ensembles such as the London Sinfonietta and BBC Symphony Orchestra.

History

Tempo was founded in 1939 amid debates surrounding modernism and reactions to pre-war cultural politics involving figures like Benjamin Britten, William Walton, and Michael Tippett. Early editorial direction intersected with institutions such as the BBC, the Royal College of Music, and the Royal Philharmonic Society, reflecting contemporary controversies addressed by critics connected to The Times and The Observer. In the postwar decades Tempo mapped developments linked to the International Society for Contemporary Music, the Donaueschingen Festival, and the Darmstadt School, chronicling activities of composers including Anton Webern, Pierre Boulez, Luigi Nono, and Olivier Messiaen. During the Cold War the journal engaged with exchanges between Western and Eastern figures like Dmitri Shostakovich, Alfred Schnittke, and ensembles attached to the Moscow Conservatory and the Glinka Conservatory. Later editorial periods navigated the emergence of minimalism with attention to Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and institutions such as the American Composers Forum and the Juilliard School.

Scope and Content

The journal addresses compositional techniques, analyses of works, and cultural histories centering on composers including Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Anton Webern, Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Bax, Benjamin Britten, Harrison Birtwistle, Helmut Lachenmann, György Ligeti, Iannis Xenakis, Luciano Berio, Elliott Carter, Béla Bartók, Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev, Arthur Honegger, Edgard Varèse, John Adams, Krzysztof Penderecki, György Kurtág, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Henryk Górecki, Arvo Pärt, Sofia Gubaidulina, Witold Lutosławski, Paul Hindemith, Ernst Krenek, George Benjamin, Thomas Adès, Meredith Monk, Kaija Saariaho, Unsuk Chin, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Lou Harrison, Harry Partch, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez, and Luciano Berio. It also surveys institutions and events such as the BBC Proms, the Aldeburgh Festival, the Wigmore Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the Tanglewood Festival, the Donaueschingen Festival, and the Darmstadt International Summer Course for New Music. Coverage extends to performers and ensembles including Sir Simon Rattle, Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez (conductor), Esa-Pekka Salonen, Marin Alsop, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble InterContemporain, Asko Ensemble, Ensemble Modern, and BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Editorial Structure and Publication Details

Published quarterly by Cambridge University Press, the journal operates with an editorial board drawn from scholars affiliated with institutions such as the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, the Royal College of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the University of California, Berkeley, the Juilliard School, and the New England Conservatory. Editors have included academics and critics associated with journals like The Musical Times, Tempo (journal)]—(editorial line restriction), and organizations such as the Royal Musical Association and the American Musicological Society. Each issue typically comprises peer-reviewed articles, critical essays, archival documents, and a substantial reviews section addressing books and recordings from publishers and labels including Boosey & Hawkes, Universal Edition, Schott Music, Deutsche Grammophon, ECM Records, and Nonesuch Records.

Notable Contributions and Special Issues

Tempo has published landmark essays and archival materials on topics ranging from serialism (with analyses of works by Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, and Pierre Boulez) to studies of electronic and electroacoustic music involving Karlheinz Stockhausen, Iannis Xenakis, Pierre Schaeffer, and institutions such as the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Special issues have focused on the Darmstadt School, British music since 1945 with emphasis on Benjamin Britten, Michael Tippett, and William Walton, the legacy of John Cage and Fluxus, and concentrated dossiers on festivals such as the Donaueschingen Festival and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Commemorative issues have examined the oeuvres of figures including Pierre Boulez, Olivier Messiaen, György Ligeti, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Béla Bartók, Dmitri Shostakovich, Elliott Carter, and Iannis Xenakis.

Abstracting, Indexing, and Reception

Tempo is abstracted and indexed in bibliographic services and databases used by researchers at institutions such as the British Library, the Library of Congress, the RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, JSTOR, and Scopus. The journal has been cited in monographs and reference works published by presses like Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Routledge, MIT Press, and Princeton University Press and has informed scholarship associated with departments at the Royal College of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the University of Oxford, and the University of Cambridge. Its reception among critics and scholars has placed it alongside periodicals such as The Musical Times, Journal of the American Musicological Society, Music & Letters, and Perspectives of New Music for coverage of contemporary composition and performance.

Category:Music journals