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Roger Parker is Thurston Dart Professor of Music. He studied at the University of London, first at Goldsmiths' College, then at King's College. In 1982 he moved to Cornell University in upstate New York, where he was Assistant Professor and then Associate Professor. In 1994 he came back to England to become a Lecturer in Music (later Professor) and Fellow of St Hugh's College, Oxford. In 1999 he became Professor of Music at Cambridge, where he was a Fellow of St John's College and (in 2005-6) Chair of the School of Arts and Humanities. In 2002 he was the Visiting Ernest Bloch Lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley; in 2007 he was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. From 2006 to 2010 he delivered four series of free public lectures as Professor of Music at Gresham College.

• 19th-century opera
• film music
• critical theory

Roger Parker's work has centred on opera, in particular Italian opera of the nineteenth century. For ten years he was founding co-editor (with Arthur Groos) of the Cambridge Opera Journal, and he continues as General Editor (with Gabriele Dotto) of the Donizetti Critical Edition. He received the Premio Giuseppe Verdi in 1986, was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1986-7, in 1991 was awarded the Dent Medal of the Royal Musical Association and in 2008 was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.

Recent and Upcoming Works

A History of Opera (in press with Penguin Books/Norton). With Carolyn Abbate

“Two Styles in 1830s London: ‘The form and order of a perspicuous unity’”, in Nicholas Mathew and Benjamin Walton, eds., Beethoven and Rossini (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, in press)

“Nabucco”, “Milan” and 20 smaller entries, in Roberta Montemorra Marvin, ed., The Verdi Encyclopaedia (Cambridge, in press)

Gaetano Donizetti, Adelia, in Le opere di Gaetano Donizetti (Milan, in press)

Gaetano Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor, in Le opere di Gaetano Donizetti (Milan, in press); with Gabriele Dotto

Giacomo Puccini, Manon Lescaut (Milan, in press)

Gaetano Donizetti, Le Duc d’Albe (Milan, in press).

Vincenzo Bellini, Norma, in Le opere di Vincenzo Bellini (Milan, in preparation)

Gaetano Donizetti, Don Pasquale (Milan, in preparation); with Gabriele Dotto

“Don Carlo(s): ‘Live’ on DVD”, in The Opera Quarterly, forthcoming

Books

1. Giacomo Puccini: La bohème (Cambridge, 1986). With Arthur Groos

2. Studies in Early Verdi (1832-1844) (New York, 1989)

3. Leonora’s Last Act: Essays in Verdian Discourse (Princeton, 1997)

4. “Arpa d’or”: The Verdian Patriotic Chorus (Parma, 1997)

5. Remaking the Song: Operatic Visions and Revisions from Handel to Berio (Berkeley, 2006)

6. New Grove Guide to Verdi and his Operas (Oxford, 2007)

7. A History of Opera (in press with Penguin Books/Norton). With Carolyn Abbate

Books (edited/translated)

1. Gabriele Baldini, The Story of Giuseppe Verdi (Cambridge, 1980); trans. and ed.

2. Reading Opera (Princeton, 1988); ed. with Arthur Groos

3. Analyzing Opera: Verdi and Wagner (Berkeley, 1989); ed. with Carolyn Abbate

4. Pierluigi Petrobelli, Music in the Theater: Essays on Verdi and Other Composers (Princeton, 1994); trans.

5. The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera (Oxford, 1994); trans. into German (Stuttgart. 1998), Italian (Milan, 1998), Spanish (Barcelona, 1998), Japanese (Tokyo, 1999); repr. (slightly revised) as The Oxford History of Opera (1996); repr. paperback (2001); ed.

6. Reading Critics Reading: Opera and Ballet Criticism in France from the Revolution to 1848 (Oxford, 2001); ed. with Mary Ann Smart

7. Verdi in Performance (Oxford, 2001); ed. with Alison Latham

8. Pensieri per un maestro: Studi in onore di Pierluigi Petrobelli (Turin, 2002); ed. with Stefano La Via

9. Puccini: Manon Lescaut, special issue of The Opera Quarterly, 24/1-2 (2008); ed. 

Editions

1. Giuseppe Verdi, Nabucodonosor, Series 1/3, The Works of Giuseppe Verdi (Chicago, 1987; vocal score, 1996)

2. Giacomo Puccini, Tosca (Milan, 1989; vocal score, 1995; German vocal score, 1998)

3. Gaetano Donizetti, Elisabetta (ROH, London, 1997); with Will Crutchfield

4. Gaetano Donizetti, Lucrezia Borgia (La Scala, Milan, 1998)

5. Gaetano Donizetti, Poliuto, in Le opere di Gaetano Donizetti (Milan, 2000; vocal score, 2001); with William Ashbrook

6. Gaetano Donizetti, Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali, in Le opere di Gaetano Donizetti (Milan, 2002; vocal score, 2003); with Anders Wiklund

7. Gaetano Donizetti, Adelia, in Le opere di Gaetano Donizetti (Milan, in press)

8. Gaetano Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor, in Le opere di Gaetano Donizetti (Milan, in press); with Gabriele Dotto

9. Giacomo Puccini, Manon Lescaut (Milan, in press)

10. Gaetano Donizetti, Le Duc d’Albe (Milan, in press).

11. Vincenzo Bellini, Norma, in Le opere di Vincenzo Bellini (Milan, in preparation)

12. Gaetano Donizetti, Don Pasquale (Milan, in preparation); with Gabriele Dotto

Editorial (Music)

1. General Editor, Le opere di Gaetano Donizetti (Ricordi, 1987-); with Gabriele Dotto. Volumes produced: Maria Stuarda (1989), La Favorite (1991), Il campanello (1994), Poliuto (2000), Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali (2002), Dom Sébastien (2003), Linda di Chamounix (2006), Pia de’ Tolomei (2007), Deux Hommes et une femme (2008), Betly (2010); volumes in press: Maria di Rohan, Lucia di Lammermoor, Anna Bolena, Adelia; volumes in preparation: Lucrezia Borgia, La Fille du régiment, Parisina, Don Pasquale, Belisario, Les Martyrs

2. General Editor, (Ricordi, 1987-); with Gabriele Dotto. Volumes produced: (1989), (1991), (1994), (2000), (2002), (2003), (2006), (2007), (2008), (2010); volumes in press: , , , ; volumes in preparation: , , , ,

Editorial (Journals, series, dictionaries)

1. Founding Editor, Cambridge Opera Journal (1989-98); with Arthur Groos

2. Series Editor, Princeton Studies in Opera (Princeton University Press, 1989-); with Carolyn Abbate

3. Consulting Editor, The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (1989-92)

4. External Advisory Editor, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1993-2001)

5. Editorial/Advisory Boards: The Opera Quarterly (1984-9, 1993-); Journal of the Royal Musical Association (1995-9); Cambridge Opera Journal (1998-); Opera (2000-); Musicalia (2003-); South African Music Studies (SAMUS) (2006-)

Articles in journals

1. “La composition d’Attila: Etude de quelques variantes”, Revue de Musicologie, 62/1 (1976), 104-24; with Michel Noiray

1. “La composition d’: Etude de quelques variantes”, , 62/1 (1976), 104-24; with Michel Noiray

2. “The Dramatic Structure of Il trovatore”, Music Analysis, 1/2 (1982), 155-67

3. “Levels of Motivic Definition in Verdi’s Ernani”, 19th-Century Music, 6/2 (1982), 141-50

4. “Verdi and the Gazzetta privilegiata di Milano: An ‘Official’ View seen in its Cultural Background”, RMA Research Chronicle, 18 (1982 [1984]), 51-65

5. “Un giorno di regno: From Romani’s Libretto to Verdi’s Opera”, Studi verdiani, 2 (1983), 38-58

6. “Motivic and Tonal Interaction in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera”, JAMS, 36/2 (1983), 243-65; repr. in Ellen Rosand, ed., The Garland Library of the History of Western Music, vol. 14 (New York, 1986), 363-85; with Matthew Brown

7. “‘Classical’ Music in Milan during Verdi’s Formative Years”, Studi musicali, 13/2 (1984), 259-73

8. “Maria Padilla: Some Historical and Critical Remarks”, Journal of the Donizetti Society, 6 (1984), 20-34

9. “Oberto, Ernani, and ‘In fin che un brando vindice’“, AIVS Newsletter, 12 (1984), 5-7

10. “‘Ancora un bacio’: Three Scenes from Verdi’s Otello”, 19th-Century Music, 12/1 (1985), 50-62; with Matthew Brown

11. “The Critical Edition of Nabucco”, Opera Quarterly, 5/2-3 (1987), 91-8

12. “Dismembering Mozart”, Cambridge Opera Journal, 2/2 (1990), 187-95; with Carolyn Abbate.

13. “Counterpoint: The Key of chi?” 19th-Century Music, 15/3 (1992), 229-34

14. “‘One Priest, one Candle, one Cross’: On Verdi and Religion”, Opera Quarterly, 12/1 (1995), 27-34

15. “Alzira: In Search of Verdi’s Intellectual Enthusiasms”, Opera (June, 1996)

16. “Caught up in the Web of Words: Musicology and Literary Studies”, Acta Musicologica, LXIX/1 (1997), 10-15

17. “The Sea and the Stars and the Wastes of the Desert”, University of Toronto Quarterly, 67/4 (Fall, 1998), 750-60

18. “Verdi politico: The Late Stage”, Opera (January, 2001), 35-41

19.“Musicology: A Global Perspective”, 27th Annual Congress of the Musicological Society of Southern Africa (Belleville, 2001), 10-14

20. “Sudden Charms: The Progress of an Aria”, SAMUS 21 (2001), 47-57

21. “Richard Strauss and the 21st century”, Opera (September, 2002), 1053-9.

22. “Philippe and Posa Act II: The Shock of the New”, Cambridge Opera Journal, 14/1-2 (2002), 133-47

23. “Maestro of his Day” (on Giovanni Pacini), Opera (November, 2006), 1294-8

24. “Shouted, not Sung” (on Donizetti’s Parisina), Opera (November, 2008), 1289-93

25. “Manon Lescaut: La Scala 1930”, Opera Quarterly, 24/1-2 (2008), 93-106

Chapters in books

1. “The Genesis of Aida”, in Nicholas John, ed., Aida (London, 1980), 31-40

2. “Verdi” and “Bellini”, in Heritage of Music: The Romantic Era (New York, 1989 [written 1981-2])

3. “The Music of Rigoletto”, in Nicholas John, ed., Rigoletto (London, 1982), 15-24

4. “Analysis: Act One in Perspective”, in Mosco Carner, ed., Tosca (Cambridge, 1985), 117-42; Italian trans. in Virgilio Bernadoni, ed., Puccini (Bologna, 1996), 121-51

5. “Motives and Recurring Themes in Aida”, in Abbate and Parker, Analyzing Opera (see II/3), 222-38

6. “On Analyzing Opera”, in Abbate and Parker, Analyzing Opera (see II/3), 1-24; with Carolyn Abbate

7. “‘Infin che un brando vindice’ e le cavatine del primo atto di Ernani”, in Ernani. Ieri e Oggi (Parma, 1987), 142-60

8. “On Reading Nineteenth-Century Opera: Verdi through the Looking-glass”, in Groos and Parker, Reading Opera (see II/2), 288-305

9. “A Donizetti Critical Edition in the Postmodern World”, in Francesco Bellotto, ed., L’opera teatrale di Gaetano Donizetti (Bergamo, 1993), 57-68

10. “‘Ghosts from Christmas Past’ nella Bohème di Leoncavallo”, in Jürgen Maehder and Lorenza Guiot, eds., Ruggero Leoncavallo nel suo tempo (Milan, 1993), 71-81

11. “Reading the livrets, or the Chimera of ‘Authentic’ Staging”, in Pierluigi Petrobelli and Fabrizio Della Seta, eds., La realizzazione scenica dello spettacolo verdiano (Parma, 1996), 345-66

12. “‘Insolite forme’, or Basevi’s Garden Path”, in Martin Chusid, ed., Verdi’s Middle Period (Chicago, 1997), 129-46; trans. in Emanuele Ferrari, ed., Estetica e drammaturgia della “Traviata” (Milan, 2001), 67-96

13. “Elisabeth’s Last Act”, in Mary Ann Smart, ed., Siren Songs (Princeton, 2000), 93-117

14. “Manon Lescaut and the Apotheosis of Private Man”, in Raccolto di studi in onore di Marcello Conati (Lucca, 2000), 321-8

15. “Leonoras Letzte Akt”, in Sieghart Döhring and Wolfgang Osthoff, eds., Verdi-Studien (Munich, 2000), 239-80

16. “Il ‘Vate del Risorgimento’: Nabucco e ‘Va pensiero’”, in Francesco Degrada, ed., Giuseppe Verdi: l’uomo, l’opera, il mito (Milan, 2000), 35-43

17. “Nabucodonosor: ‘Va pensiero’, ‘Immenso Jeovha’”, in Fabrizio Della Seta and Pierluigi Petrobelli, eds., Giuseppe Verdi: gli autografi del Museo Teatrale alla Scala (Milan, 2000), 1-29

18. “Verdi alla Scala, 1832-1901”, in Francesco Degrada, ed., Verdi e La Scala (Milan, 2001), 3-64

19. “On Reading Critics Reading”, in Parker and Smart, eds., Reading Critics Reading (see II/8), 1-9

20. “The Pains and Pleasures of Liberation”, in Latham and Parker, eds., Verdi in Performance (see II/9), 1-8

21. “The Opera Industry”, in Jim Samson, ed., The Cambridge History of Nineteenth-Century Music (Cambridge, 2002), 87-117

22. “In Search of Verdi”, in Fabrizio Della Seta, Roberta Montemorra Marvin and Marco Marica, eds., Verdi 2001 (Florence, 2003), 929-35

23. “Canonic Variations: The ‘Rediscovery’ of Adelia”, in Il teatro di Donizetti: percorsi e proposte di ricerca (Bergamo, 2004), 23-34

24. “Grand Opera in Verdi and Wagner”, in Jean-Jacques Nattiez, ed., Enciclopedia della musica (Turin, 2004); trans. in Musiques: Une Encyclopédie pour le XXIe siècle (Arles, 2006), 1205-20. With Carolyn Abbate

25. “’Easy reading is damned hard writing’: Puccini at Work”, in Tosca di Giacomo Puccini: Facsimile Edition (Milan, 2004)

25. “John Rosselli and the History of Opera”, in Pierluigi Petrobelli and Antonio Rostagno, eds., John Rosselli nella cultura italiana (Quaderni del Circolo Rosselli, Nuova serie 4/2005) (Florence, 2005), 71-8

26. “Verdi and verismo: The Case of La traviata,” in James P. Cassaro, ed., Music, Libraries, and the Academy: Essays in Honor of Lenore Coral (Middleton, WI, 2007), 215-22

27. “The Act I Love Duet: Some Models (Interpretative and Otherwise)”, in Arthur Groos, ed., Madama Butterfly: l’orientalismo di fine secolo, l’approccio pucciniano, la ricezione (Lucca, 2008), 247-56

28. “The Composer Paints: Verdi, Puccini and their Scenic Worlds”, in Gabriele Dotto, ed., That’s Opera: 200 Years of Italian Music (Milan, 2008), 134-46

29. “Two Styles in 1830s London: ‘The form and order of a perspicuous unity’”, in Nicholas Mathew and Benjamin Walton, eds., Beethoven and Rossini (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, in press)

At undergraduate level, I’ve taught courses at all levels. For first year students I sometime run a course on Music Techniques, but more often one on Nineteenth-century Music. In the latter I try to include a fairly large dose of cultural history. so it’s more a course on “music in society” rather than a history of musical works. For the second and third years I regularly teach a course of Film Music, which is developing all the time but which always seems to start with Hitchcock and Psycho. I also have a course on nineteenth-century Italian opera, the area of most of my research.

At masters’ level, I’ve taught the Introduction to Musicology module (what we tend to nickname “boot camp”) and, more recently, a course on opera analysis. I’m toying with launching other courses, in particular one about music in London in the nineteenth century: with the wealth of research materials all around us, this seems like an attractive prospect; what’s more, I’m writing a book on the topic at the moment, and so would get a chance to try out chapters!

Roger Parker has supervised some thirty doctoral dissertations, on a wide variety of topics. Past students now hold positions in many universities, including Auckland, Berkeley, Columbia, King's London, Liverpool, New Zealand School of Music, Oxford, Penn, Southampton, Stellenbosch, Ulster, UCL and Yale.

Current students are researching: Mathilde Kralik and her social-political milieu (Joanna Davis); South African jazz musicians in England (Lindelwa Dalamba); opera and technology in 19th-century Paris (Flora Willson); music and modernism in Italy, 1943-1963 (Harriet Boyd); music in London, 1936-1952 (Kate Guthrie); digitalisation and critical editions (Raffaele Viglianti); Verdi reception in late 19th-century Italy (Francesca Vella); pianos at the Great Exhibition (Evie Smith); Bergman and music (Anyssa Neumann); the finances of London opera in the early twentieth century (Helen Richardson).

Recent doctoral students include: Gundula Kreuzer (Verdi in Germany) 2004; Holly Rogers (music in avant-garde film) 2005; James Davies (music in London, 1829) 2005; Davinia Caddy (dance in early 20th-century Paris) 2005; Delphine Mordey (music in Paris, 1870-71) 2007; Tim Williams (the symphony in Britain, 1850-70) 2008; Mi Zhou (music and E.M. Forster) 2009; Chloe Valenti (Verdi reception in 19th-century England) 2011; Ivano Di Lillo (opera and nationalism in 20th-century Italy) 2011; Carlo Cenciarelli (Bach in film) 2011.