Catherine Gordon
Professor
Education:
Ph.D. - University of Michigan
Brief Biography:
Catherine Gordon, a full professor at Providence College in Providence, RI, earned a Master’s Degree in Harpsichord Performance from Indiana University and a Ph.D. in Musicology from the University of Michigan. She has received a number of research fellowships, including a French government bourse, sponsored by the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, a National Endowment for the Arts (NEH) grant to complete her book on mid-seventeenth-century French airs, and is the winner of the 2005 American Musicological Society’s Noah Greenberg Award for her work on French airs by Bénigne de Bacilly. Her book, Music and the Language of Love: Seventeenth-Century French Airs was published by Indiana University Press in March, 2011. Her second book in progress, The Spirit Transformed: Women, Devotion, and French Sacred Song (1655-1700), is a study of sacred parodies and airs written in the style of popular love songs composed throughout the second half of the seventeenth century. Professor Gordon is also a professional harpsichordist and has studied with Edward Parmentier in Ann Arbor, MI, Gustav Leonhardt in Amsterdam, Holland, and Peter Sykes in Boston. She has appeared with the Newport Baroque Orchestra and professional choir Sine Nomine. She also plays regularly with the Kathryn Roth, Laura Gulley, and the Providence College Faculty Baroque, which has featured guest artists Ellen Hargis (soprano), Christine Kyprianides (viola da gamba), Teresa Wakim (soprano), Amy Sims (violin), and most recently Jean Danton (soprano) and Alice Robbins (viola da gamba).
Area(s) of Expertise:
Music of the 17th and 18th centuries, Baroque performance practice, harpsichord performance, vocal historical performance
Selected Publications:
Gordon, C. The Spirit Transformed: Women, Devotion, and French Sacred Song (1655-1700).
Gordon, C. (2015) "Precious" Eroticism and Hidden Morality: Salon Culture and the Mid-Seventeenth-Century French Airs.
Gordon, C. (2011) Music and the Language of Love: Seventeenth-Century French Airs.
Gordon, C. (2009) The Allemandes of Louis Couperin: Songs Without Words.
Gordon, C. (2005) Strong Men—Weak Women: Gender Representation and the Influence of Lully’s "Operatic Style" on French Airs Sérieux (1650-1700).
Gordon, C. (2005) From Impurity to Piety: Mid 17th-Century French Devotional Airs and the Spiritual Conversion of Women.. The Journal of Musicology.
Gordon, C. (2001) Heroism Undone: The Erotic Manuscript Parodies of Lully/Quinault Tragédies Lyriques.
Gordon, C. (1998) 'La Réplique Galante': Sébastien de Brossard's Airs as Conversation." In Sébastien Brossard, Musicien.
Selected Presentations:
Gordon, C. The American Musicological Society Conference. AMS, Milwaukee, Wisconsin - "Expanded Version of Combatting the Demons Within: The Role of Jean-Joseph Surin’s Cantiques spirituels (1655) in Mystical Contemplation and Demonic Exorcism " November, 2014
Gordon, C. International Baroque Music Conference. The Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria - "Combatting the Demons Within: The Role of Jean-Joseph Surin’s Cantiques spirituels (1655) in Mystical Contemplation and Demonic Exorcism " July, 2014
Gordon, C. Guest Lecturer at Northwestern University. Northwestern University, Evanston, IL - "Expanded Version of Battling the ‘Rhetoric of Distraction’: Bénigne de Bacilly’s Spiritual Airs for Impressionable Youths and Weak-Minded Women" May, 2011
Gordon, C. The International Conference on Baroque Music. IBM, Leeds, England - "Battling the ‘Rhetoric of Distraction’: Bénigne de Bacilly’s Spiritual Airs for Impressionable Youths and Weak-Minded Women" July, 2008
Gordon, C. Society for Seventeenth-Century Music Conference. Society for Seventeenth-Century Music (SSCM), San Marino, CA The Huntington Library - "Pious Persuasion: Bénigne de Bacilly’s Spiritual Airs for Repentant Souls" April, 2008
Gordon, C. American Musicological Society Conference. AMS, Quebec City, Canada - "Expanded Version of Pious Persuasion: Bénigne de Bacilly’s Spiritual Airs for Repentant Souls" November, 2007
Gordon, C. International Musicological Conference. IMS, Zurich, Switzerland - "The Spirit Transformed: Bénigne de Bacilly’s Spiritual Airs for Repentant Souls" July, 2007
Gordon, C. Guest Lecturer. The Boston Early Music Festival, Boston, MA - "French Songs: Litigious Expressions of Love’s Pleasures and Pain" June, 2007
Detailed CV
