OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this project is to make you familiar with some of the standard English-language biographies about Richard Strauss, and to evaluate their contents and relative worth for research into the life and music of Strauss.

In brief, you will do the following:

• Examine eight (8) different major books on Strauss.
• Give a brief seminar presentation on one of these items.
• Write an extended descriptive review-essay of all eight items.

The items that you will consider are:

1. Tim Ashley, Richard Strauss
2. Norman Del Mar, Richard Strauss: A Critical Commentary on His Life and Works
3. Bryan Gilliam, The Life of Richard Strauss
4. Michael Kennedy, Richard Strauss (The Master Musician series)
5. Michael Kennedy, Richard Strauss : Man, Musician, Enigma
6. Willi Schuh, Richard Strauss : A Chronicle of the Early Years, 1864-1898
7. Richard Strauss, Recollections and Reflections
8. Kurt Wilhelm, Richard Strauss : an Intimate Portrait

All of these books are on RESERVE in the UCF library for 3-day loans only. You are encouraged to find copies in other libraries in the area.

Instructions for the Seminar Presentation:

1. Each member of the seminar will choose (or be assigned) one of the above items. Only one person may present on a particular book.
2. Research the book, including such factors as:
   • Who the author is (was) and his significance as a scholar of Strauss's music.
   • When and why this particular book was originally written (specific goals of the author or other impetus for the publication). Also, was this book reissued in multiple editions and/or translations?
   • The specific contents and organization of the book.
   • Any unique or special features or other research tools found in the item.
   • The critical opinion of the book, i.e., what do reviews of the item say about it?, and its value for research.
3. Prepare a 5- to 8-minute oral presentation on your chosen/assigned book. (You may read from a prepared text or speak extempore from notes, as you prefer.)
4. The oral presentation will be given on 22 January 2009 and counts for 25% of this assignment (5% of your course grade).

Instructions for the Written Review Essay:

For each of the items, you should do the following:

1. Examine the item in general, noting its overall organization and contents. Note especially what seems to be unique about the item or of particular importance to the author.
2. Read completely the preface, introduction, table of contents, and any other "guide" materials that describe the item's contents and the author's intentions in writing the book.
3. While you need not read the entire book (especially for longer items), you should try to identify a few sections or passages that concern a work or topic, which you can then use to compare within the other items to be reviewed.
4. Using RILM, Project Muse, JSTOR, and/or the Music Index (or any other scholarly tools), locate at least 1-2 professional reviews of the item. Read those review for their comments on the item, noting especially any strengths or weaknesses that the reviewer finds.

After you have repeated this process with each of the remaining items, you are to prepare a general review-essay of all eight books, according to the following guidelines:

1. Your paper should be a single essay that discusses the biographies of Richard Strauss as a whole topic, and not as a series of eight separate reviews.
2. You may organize your paper in any logical manner that you see fit. Possible approaches (among many others) might:
   • follow a chronological (or reverse-chronological) arrangement, i.e., working from earliest to most recent dates, explaining how later books build on the earlier ones,
   • deal more with how certain biographical events are covered, e.g., Strauss and the Nazis, Strauss and copyright reform, Strauss in 1890s, etc.,
   • evaluate how the items balance discussions of the music with biography (or other topics),
   • explain which books are best for specific kinds of research and why,
   • or simply discuss the nature of biographical writing and how each of these books approaches it.
3. You must mention all eight books within your review-essay, and you must provide a value judgement of some sort for each item.
4. You must footnote all sources used, especially information drawn from professional reviews. NB. You need not agree with any of the reviews that you read, but you should be able to cite some of the more important reviews and reviewers.
5. In general, the best review-essays will focus on broader issues and how each of the books contributes to those issues. In particular, the best arguments will be supported with examples from these items (properly cited and footnoted).

Due Dates & Grading Criteria

The oral presentation on a single item will be given on 22 January 2009, during the first hour of the seminar. Grading will be split between (1) the coherence of your presentation and the quality of your delivery (organization and presentation), and (2) your description of the item and your opinion of it (content and how you support your argument). You should be prepared to answer questions about your item at that time. The oral presentation counts for 25% of this assignment (5% of your entire course grade).

The written evaluation of all eight items is due by 5:00 pm on 5 March 2009 (Thursday before the break). The item should be submitted to me as an electronic WORD document attached to an email.

The document itself should be formatted as if it were written on 8-½" x 11" paper, using a 12-point font, indenting all paragraphs, and doubling-spacing the text.

Notes may be given as either footnotes, endnotes, or in-line citations, and the chosen format must be used consistently throughout the paper.

All materials cited from other sources as either a direct quote, paraphrase, or indirect mention (reviews or even the items themselves) must be properly acknowledged in the paper (generally by notes) and included in a bibliography that follows the paper.

The absolute minimum length of the paper, meaning the body of the text itself (not including the title page or other preliminaries, footnotes or other citations, and the bibliography or other following materials) is 1,500 words. There is no penalty for longer papers, and you are encouraged to write more, as necessary. Use the "word count" function in any Word-processor to check your work, if you are unsure of the length of your paper.

Include a title or cover page with your full name, an identification of the course, my name, and (if you wish) a title for your paper.

Grading of the review-essay will be divided 50/50 between writing (mechanics, style, proper citations and bibliography, etc.) and content (ideas and opinions presented, organization).

The written review-essay counts for 75% of this assignment (15% of your entire course grade).