Assistant Professor, Musicology
Music
Music
Music Representative
Curriculum Committee
Library Liaison
Music
Office
Herbert D. Welte Hall
206
Biography
Heather de Savage completed her PhD in music history and theory at the University of Connecticut; she also holds a master’s degree in music history from the University of New Hampshire, and a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from the Eastman School of Music (with an extensive background in early music performance). Her primary area of research, extending from her doctoral dissertation, examines Gabriel Fauré’s American reception, with a particular focus on Boston, 1892−1945. She has presented portions of this research at numerous conferences in recent years, and has published on the topic of Fauré as well. Other research interests include embedded elements in the late motets of Heinrich Schütz, harmonic text painting in the lieder of Franz Liszt, and historical performance practice in fifteenth-century Franco-Flemish chanson. Publications include items for the peer-reviewed journals Nineteenth-Century Music Review, Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society, and Early Music. Ongoing research includes a wide range of topics concerning Fauré reception in the United States, and, more broadly, Franco-American musical relationships in the early-twentieth century. In addition to teaching the complete music history sequence, as well as general education classes at Central, Heather has taught a wide range of courses at UConn for music majors, minors, and non-music students, and was the 2017 recipient of the Outstanding Adjunct Award from the UConn School of Fine Arts. Additionally, she has taught music history courses at the University of Hartford, The Hartt School, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Beyond teaching in the classroom, Heather also extends her love of music to the broader community through special classes for the Central Scholars for Life! Speaker Series, concert talks at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts, and seminars and workshops offered through UConn's Center for Learning in Retirement (CLiR).
Education
Areas of Expertise
Primary research: Gabriel Fauré (reception history); French music in Boston; American musical life
Other research: Theory and performance practice in 15th-century Franco-Flemish vocal music; biblical exegesis in early-German baroque music; harmonic text painting in 19th-century German art song.
Publications, Research & Presentations
Publications:
Heather de Savage. “’Under the Gallic Spell’: Boston’s Embrace of Gabriel Fauré, 1892–1924.” Nineteenth-Century Music Review 19, Special Issue 2 (August 2022). Published first on Cambridge Core, 12 March 2021
Heather de Savage. Book Review: Jean-Michel Nectoux, ed., Gabriel Fauré: Catalogue des œuvres. Gabriel Fauré Œuvres complètes, Série VII, Volume 1. Bärenreiter, 2018. Nineteenth-Century Music Review (print pending; published first on Cambridge Core, 11 May 2020)
Heather de Savage. Score Review: Gabriel Fauré, Orchestral Music: Shylock, op. 57; Pelléas et Mélisande, op. 80; Pénélope: “Prélude”; Masques et Bergamasques, op. 112. Oeuvres completes, Séries IV, Volume 2, ed. Robin Tait. Bärenreiter, 2016. Nineteenth-Century Music Review (Summer 2018; published first on Cambridge Core)
Heather de Savage. Book Review: Piano Culture in 19th-Century Paris, ed. Massimiliano Sala. Speculum Musicae 26 (Brepols, 2014). Nineteenth-Century Music Review (Spring 2018; published first on Cambridge Core)
Heather de Savage. Book Review: “En pèlerinage avec Liszt”: Virtuosos, Repertoire and Performing Venues in 19th-Century Europe, ed. Fulvia Morabito. Speculum Musicae 24 (Brepols, 2014). Nineteenth-Century Music Review (Winter 2017; published first on Cambridge Core)
Heather de Savage. “Reimagining Fauré’s Solo Vocal Music: New Editions and Recordings of the Songs and Vocalises.” Nineteenth-Century Music Review 14, no. 2 (Spring 2017; published first on Cambridge Core)
Heather de Savage. “Chronology.” In Cambridge Companion to Vaughan Williams, edited by Alain Frogley and Aidan Thomson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013)
Heather de Savage. Richard Bass, Heather de Savage, and Patricia Grimm. “Harmonic Text-Painting in Franz Liszt’s Lieder.” Gamut: Online Journal of Music Theory Midwest 6, no. 1, article 2 (2013)
Peter Urquhart and Heather de Savage. “Evidence Contrary to the A Capella Hypothesis for the 15th-Century Chanson.” Early Music 39, no. 3 (2011): 359–78 [Cited in Burkholder, Grout, and Palisca, The History of Western Music, Tenth Edition (2019), 130, and Burkholder and Palisca, The Norton Anthology of Western Music Vol. 1, Eighth Edition (2019), 176]
Select Presentations:
“Before and After Debussy: American Responses to Gabriel Fauré’s Pelléas et Mélisande, Op.80, Boston and New York, 1902–1912.” American Musicological Society, Annual Conference, with Society for Music Theory. November 7–8, 14–15, 2020. (First presented at the American Musicological Society, New England Chapter, and New England Conference of Music Theorists (combined meeting). Massachusetts Institute of Technology April 8–9, 2016.)
“American Perspectives on the Fauré Centennial, 1945: The Writings of Aaron Copland, Elliott Carter, and Irving Fine.” American Musicological Society, New England Chapter. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, April 21, 2018.
“Copland on Fauré.” Keith Polk Music Lecture Series. University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, March 22, 2018.
“‘The Novelty of the Evening’: Gabriel Fauré’s American Reception, Boston 1892–1904." Effable and Ineffable: Gabriel Fauré and the Limits of Criticism. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, October 22–25, 2015. (Also presented at the North American Conference on Nineteenth-Century Music. Merrimack College, North Amherst, MA, July 16–18, 2015.)
“Hidden Lessons: Tonal Structure and Personal Faith in Heinrich Schütz’s Motet Gedenke deinem Knechte an dein Wort, SWV 485.” Society for Seventeenth-Century Music Annual Conference. Columbus, OH, March 21–23, 2013 (Also presented at the American Musicological Society, New England. Mt. Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA, April 14, 2012.)
Community Seminars and Workshops:
The Early Days of Record and Radio
Modern French Music: Fauré, Debussy, and Ravel
Music of the Early Baroque: Gabrieli, Monteverdi, and Schütz
Music of the Late Baroque: Vivaldi, Handel, and J. S. Bach
Awards & Grants
School of Fine Arts Outstanding Adjunct Faculty, University of Connecticut
Humanities Institute Summer Research Grant, University of Connecticut
Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, University of Connecticut
Graduate Music Scholars Fund Fellowship, University of Connecticut
Memberships & Affiliations
American Musicological Society (past Chapter Representative to the AMS Council; past Committee Member of the AMS Graduate Education Committee)
Society of Music Theory
Society for Seventeenth-Century Music
Heinrich Schütz Society