星空无限传媒app

School of Music

Brian Locke

Brian Locke, Ph.D.
Professor, Musicology
Sallee 214
Email: B-Locke@wiu.edu

Dr. Brian Locke, a native of North York, Ontario, Canada, earned an Honours B.Mus. at Wilfrid Laurier University in 1995 and an M.A. in Musicology at the University of 星空无限传媒app Ontario in 1997. He pursued doctoral studies in Musicology at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, with Dr. Joseph Auner and Dr. Jane Sugarman, graduating with the Ph.D. in 2002. Prior to his arrival at 星空无限传媒app in 2006, Dr. Locke taught at Dalhousie University (Halifax, Nova Scotia). He attained the rank of Professor of Musicology in 2016.

Dr. Locke's research interests span a wide range of topics in the Romantic and Early Modernist eras, most specifically in the time period between the death of Richard Wagner and the end of the Second World War. With notable exceptions, his research has focused on the musical community of Prague (Czech Republic) as a nexus of competing ideologies of nationalism and cosmopolitanism; modernism, anti-modernism, and popular culture; and the social responsibility and political discourses of art. His book, entitled Opera and Ideology in Prague: Polemics and Practice at the National Theatre, 1900-1938, appeared in 2006 with the University of Rochester Press. 2014 saw the completion of a nine-year editing project of the full score of Otakar Zich's quasi-tonal opera, Vina (Guilt, 1922), published by A-R Edition in full score with complete translation.

Dr. Locke has published several articles in major journals and books of collected essays. These include:

鈥淭丑别 Mutual Exclusion Society: Musicology and Criticism in Early Twentieth-Century Prague,鈥� in The Cambridge History of Music in the Czech Lands, eds. Martin Nedbal, Kelly St. Pierre, and Hana Vlhov谩-W枚rner (Cambridge University Press, 2025)

鈥淐zechoslovak Musicians in North American Exile鈥� (co-authored with Martin Nedbal), in The Cambridge History of Music in the Czech Lands, eds. Martin Nedbal, Kelly St. Pierre, and Hana Vlhov谩-W枚rner (Cambridge University Press, 2025)

鈥淣egotiating the 鈥楥oncerto Grosso type鈥� in Paris and Princeton: Martin暖鈥檚 Multi-Soloist Concertante Works from a Generational Perspective,鈥� in Martin暖 and His World, eds. Ale拧 B艡ezina and Michael Beckerman (Princeton University Press, 2025)

鈥淣o Regrets? Kr谩snohorsk谩鈥檚 Vlasta as a Libretto (Not) for Smetana,鈥� in Bed艡ich Smetana and European Opera, eds. Ale拧 B艡ezina and Ivana Rentsch (K枚nigshausen & Neumann, 2025)

鈥淓li拧ka Kr谩snohorsk谩 and Czech Operatic Historiography: Reconciling the Paradox of Women鈥檚 Authorial Voices,鈥� in Women in Nineteenth-Century Czech Musical Culture: Apostles of a Brighter Future, eds. Anja Bunzel and Christopher Campo-Bowen (Routledge, 2024)

鈥淢ortal Encounters, Immortal Rendezvous: Literary-Musical Counterpoints between Erwin Schulhoff鈥檚 Flammen and Karel Josef Bene拧鈥檚 Don Juan鈥� (co-authored with Gwyneth Bravo) in Avant-garde Opera in Interwar Czechoslovakia, eds. Helena Spurn谩 and Kelly St. Pierre (Koniasch Latin Press, 2022)

鈥淪wing in the Protectorate: Czech Popular Music under the Nazi Occupation, 1938-1945,鈥� in Music and World War II, eds. Pamela Potter, Roberta Marvin, and Christina Baade (Indiana University Press, 2020)

鈥淩uthless Polyphony and Audible Silences: Musico-Dramatic Narrative in Otakar Zich鈥檚 Vina鈥� (Theatralia: Journal of Theatre Studies, 2020)

鈥淣ested Gestalten: Genre, Polytonality, and Historicism in Martin暖鈥檚 Concerto for Harpsichord, in Martin暖-Studien 3, eds. Ale拧 B艡ezina and Ivana Rentsch (Peter Lang, 2010)

鈥溾�楨ver More Fearful Grows the Confusion鈥�: Genre and the Problem of Musical Narrative in Schubert鈥檚 Fierrabras,鈥� in The Unknown Schubert, eds. Lorraine Byrne Bodley and Barbara Reul (Ashgate, 2008)

鈥淣ov谩k鈥檚 Lucerna and the Historiographical Problem of 鈥楥zech Modernism鈥欌�� (Intersections: Journal of Canadian Music, 2008)

鈥淭丑别 Wozzeck Affair: Modernism and the Crisis of Audience in Prague鈥� (Journal of Musicological Research, 2005)

Dr. Locke's research has afforded him the opportunity for eleven research trips to the Czech Republic to date. In recent years, this research has also included a variety of new projects of different focal points, most prominently the popular music of the Prague-based music industry in the years 1918-1948. This project has resulted in long-term research on the music of Czech jazz pioneer Jaroslav Je啪ek (1906-1942) and the Czech-Canadian Swing composer Ji艡铆 Traxler (1912-2011); Locke is currently assisting in the archival inventory of Traxler鈥檚 musical estate in both Prague and Toronto. Other current projects include serving as co-editor for the forthcoming volume, The Cambridge Companion to Dvo艡谩k, alongside Martin Nedbal.

Active as a bass vocalist, Dr. Locke has pursued the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Vocal Performance at 星空无限传媒app (2021) and continues to perform repertoire in Czech and twenty other languages.