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The Musical Review and Record of Musical Science, Literature, and Intelligence

(New York, 1838-1839)

Prepared by Vashti Sadjedy and Richard Kitson
Online only (2013)

The Musical Review and Record of Musical Science, Literature and Intelligence [MMS] was published in New York City as a single volume of thirty issues from May 9, 1838 until April 20, 1839. The journal was “edited under the supervisional direction of an association of gentlemen, by E. Ives, Jun.” Each of the issues comprises twelve pages printed in two-column format and numbered consecutively from 1 to 422. In the issue dated March 30, 1835 (Vol. I, No. 29), the editor indicates the discontinuation of publication, and writes about the “secondary difficulties under which the journal struggled, the entire responsibility fell upon the shoulder of one individual, a dedicated music teacher.”

Each issue is organized in a number of discrete divisions including, among many, original essays on general subjects including music history, music education and musical criticism; reviews of published music and concerts and operas in Boston, New York City, Brooklyn, and reports from London and Paris; miscellaneous, and original communications consisting of letters to the editor with reports on music making in various American and Canadian locations.

Some articles are taken from English and Continental music journals, but no attributions of the sources are provided: Richard Mackenzie Bacon writes essays on the “objects of musical acquirement” and on the “elements of vocal science” (Quarterly Musical Magazine and Record); G. Imbert de Laphalegue contributes a biography of Nicolo Paganini; Jacob Augustus Otto provides a treatise on the construction and repair of the violin; Willian C. Stafford discusses the history of European and world music; and Edward Hodges discusses the objects of music study. Among the few American authors are T. B. Mason writing about music education in the public schools and Lowell Mason explaining the adaptation of words to metrical psalmody.

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