Biography

• AB, music, Vassar College
• MA, musicology, Cornell University
• PhD, musicology, Cornell University

Since joining the Temple faculty in 1997, Zohn has served as Provost’s Arts Fellow, Coordinator of Music History, and the Boyer College’s Director of Graduate Studies. Born in Boston, Zohn attended Vassar College and Cornell University, where his principal teachers included Edward R. Reilly, Neal Zaslaw, and James Webster.

Zohn’s research interests focus on the music of Telemann and the Bach family, intersections of style and genre, print culture, music as intellectual property, reception history, source studies, and historical performance practices. His research on these topics has been published widely in journals, essay collections, and reference works, including The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the Journal of the American Musicological Society, the Journal of Musicology, Eighteenth-Century Music, Bach Perspectives, the Journal of the Royal Musical Association, Early Music, and The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Music. He has also edited volumes for the C.P.E. Bach and Telemann critical editions, and for the series Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era. His book Music for a Mixed Taste: Style, Genre, and Meaning in Telemann’s Instrumental Works (Oxford University Press, 2008) is the first major published study of the composer in English since the 1970s, and received the American Bach Society’s William H. Scheide Prize.

Zohn’s research has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Philosophical Society, and the German Academic Exchange Service. He is past president of the Society for Eighteenth-Century Music, and has served on committees for the American Musicological Society, American Bach Society, and American Handel Society. At present, he is Co-Editor of the journal Eighteenth-Century Music, published by Cambridge University Press, and serves on the editorial boards of the American Bach Society and the critical edition Georg Philipp Telemann: Musikalische Werke. 

As a performer on historical flutes, Zohn has appeared with numerous east-coast ensembles. From 1995 to 2004 he was founding Artistic Director of the period-instrument orchestra Publick Musick, and is currently a core member of the chamber ensemble Fioritura. His recordings of music by Bach, Boismortier, Handel, Telemann, and Vivaldi may be heard on the Centaur and Newport Classic labels. Among these are a world-premiere CD of recently discovered Telemann flute duets, and the first complete recording of a set of Telemann secular cantatas with soprano Julianne Baird. His contribution to the study and performance of early music has been recognized by the American Musicological Society with its Noah Greenberg Award.

Among Zohn’s recent course offerings at the upper-level undergraduate and graduate levels are “The Life and Music of J.S. Bach,” “Historical Performance Practices, 1700–1950,” “Current Topics in Musicology and Music Theory,” “Research in Music,” and “Telemann and Music of the Enlightenment.” He also teaches a two-semester undergraduate survey spanning ancient times to the present. 

Works and Publications 

Book

Music for a Mixed Taste: Style, Genre, and Meaning in Telemann’s Instrumental Works. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. Winner of the 2010 William H. Scheide Prize of the American Bach Society.

Critical Editions

Georg Philipp Telemann: Weltliche Kantaten. Georg Philipp Telemann: Musikalische Werke. Vol. 44. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2012.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Keyboard Trios II. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: The Complete Works. Series 2, Vol. 3/2. Cambridge, MA: Packhard Humanities Institute, 2009.

Georg Philipp Telemann: Twelve Trios. Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era. Vol. 100. Madison, WI: A-R Editions, 2000.

Selected Articles in Peer-Reviewed Journals and Chapters in Edited Books

“Aesthetic Mediation and Tertiary Rhetoric in Telemann’s VI Ouvertures à 4 ou 6.” In Bach Perspectives, vol. 9: Bach and His German Contemporaries. Edited by Andrew Talle. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2013, 24-49.

“’Die vornehmste Hof-Tugend’: German Musicians’ Reflections on Eighteenth-Century Court Life.” In Music at German Courts, 1715–1760: Changing Artistic Priorities. Edited by Samantha Owens, Barbara Reul, and Janice Stockigt. Rochester, NY: Boydell & Brewer, 2011, 413–25.

“Telemanns Witz: Burleske, Parodie und Satire in den Ouvertüresuiten.” In Telemann, der musikalische Maler; Telemann-Kompositionen im Notenarchiv der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. Bericht über die Internationale Wissenschaftliche Konferenz, Magdeburg, 10. bis 12. März 2004, anlässlich der 17. Magdeburger Telemann-Festtage. Edited by Casten Lange and Brit Reipsch. Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 2010, 70–79.

“The Baroque Concerto in Theory and Practice” (review essay). Journal of Musicology 26/4 (2009): 566–94.

 “Naïve Questions and Laughable Answers: An Eighteenth-Century Job Interview.” In Coll’astuzia, col giudizio: Essays in Honor of Neal Zaslaw. Edited by Cliff Eisen. Ann Arbor, MI: Steglein, 2009, 62–92.

“The Overture-Suite, Concerto Grosso, Ripieno Concerto, and Harmoniemusik in the Eighteenth Century.” In The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Music. Edited by Simon Keefe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009, 556–82.

“Bach and the Concert en Ouverture.” In Bach Perspectives, vol. 6: J.S. Bach’s Concerted Ensemble Music, The Ouverture. Edited by Gregory Butler. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2007, 137–56.  

“Telemann in the Marketplace: The Composer as Self-Publisher.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 58/2 (2005): 275–356.

“Don Juan de Austria and the Venetian Music Trade.” Early Music 33/3 (2005): 337–44 (co-authored with Michael J. Levin).

“Images of Telemann: Narratives of Reception in the Composer’s Anecdote, 1750–1830.”Journal of Musicology 21/4 (2004): 459–86.

“The Sonate auf Concertenart and Conceptions of Genre in the Late Baroque.” Eighteenth Century Music 1/2 (2004): 205–47.

“Bach, Telemann, and the Process of Transformative Imitation in BWV 1056/2 (156/1).” Journal of Musicology 17/4 (1999 [published 2001]): 546–84 (with contributions from Ian Payne).

“Music Paper at the Dresden Court and the Chronology of Telemann’s Instrumental Music.” In Puzzles in Paper: Concepts in Historical Watermarks. Essays from the International Conference on the History, Function, and Study of Watermarks, Roanoke, Virginia. Edited by Daniel W. Mosser, Michael Saffle, and Ernest W. Sullivan II. New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press; London: The British Library, 2000, 125–68.

“New Light on Quantz’s Advocacy of Telemann’s Music.” Early Music 25/3 (1997): 441–61.

“When is a Quartet not a Quartet?: Relationships Between Scoring and Genre in the German Quadro, ca. 1715–40.” In Johann Friedrich Fasch und sein Wirken für Zerbst. Bericht über die Internationale Wissenschaftliche Konferenz am 18. und 19. April 1997 im Rahmen der 5. Internationalen Fasch-Festtage in Zerbst. Fasch-Studien 6. Edited by Konstanze Musketa and Barbara Reul. Dessau: Anhaltische Verlagsgesellschaft, 1997, 263–90.

“Arne, Handel, Walsh, and Music as Intellectual Property: Two Eighteenth-Century Lawsuits.” Journal of the Royal Musical Association 120/1 (1995): 112–45 (co-authored with Ronald J. Rabin).

Selected Articles in Reference Works

“Telemann, Georg Philipp.” In The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. 2nd edition. 29 vols. London: Macmillan 232.

Over 400 articles on composers, performers, and writers of the seventeenth to twentieth centuries. In The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. Edited by Don Michael Randel. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996.

Selected Reviews

“A Trove of Telemann.” Review of 13 recordings of music by Telemann. Early Music 40/2 (2012).

Jürgen Neubacher, Georg Philipp Telemanns Hamburger Kirchenmusik und ihre Aufführungsbedingungen (1721–1767): Organisationsstrukturen, Musiker, Besetzungspraktiken. Magdeburger Telemann-Studien 20. Hildesheim: Olms, 2009. Music & Letters 92/3 (2011): 480–84.

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767): Suites for Strings. B’Rock. Et’Cetera, KTC 4027, 2008. Eighteenth-Century Music 8/2 (2011): 346–48.

“Pachelbel Outside the Canon.” Review of Wolfgang Hirschmann, ed. Johann Pachelbel: Arien. Johann Pachelbel: Sämtliche Vokalwerke, vol. 11. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2008. Notes: Journal of the Music Library Association 65/1 (2009): 164–66.

Cöthener Bach-Hefte 12: Beiträge vom Symposium “Suiten und Partiten im Werk Johann Sebastian Bachs und seiner Zeitgenossen” am 8. November 2003 im Rahmen des 4. “Köthener Herbstes.” Edited by Andreas Waczkat. Köthen: Druckhaus Köthen, 2004. Music & Letters 88/2 (2007): 328–30.

David K. Wilson, ed. and trans. Georg Muffat on Performance Practice: The Texts from Florilegium Primum, Florilegium Secundum, and Auserlesene Instrumentalmusik: A New Translation with Commentary. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001. Journal of Seventeenth–Century Music 11/1 (2005): https://sscm-jscm.org/v11/no1/zohn.html

Brit Reipsch, ed. Georg Philipp Telemann: Miriways, TVWV 21:24. Georg Philipp Telemann: Musikalische Werke, vol. 38. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1999; and Wolfgang Hirschmann, ed. Georg Philipp Telemann: Emma und Eginhard, oder Die Last-tragende Liebe, TVWV 21:25. Georg Philipp Telemann: Musikalische Werke, vol. 37. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2000. Notes: Journal of the Music Library Association 59/2 (2002): 438–42.

Christine Klein, Dokumente zur Telemann-Rezeption 1767–1907. Schriftenreihe zur Mitteldeutschen Musikgeschichte, series II/1. Oscherleben: Ziethen, 1998. Notes:

Journal of the Music Library Association 58/1 (2001): 75–77.

Martin Ruhnke, ed. Georg Philipp Telemann: Thematisch-Systematisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke: Telemann-Werkverzeichnis: Instrumentalwerke (= Georg Philipp Telemann: Musikalische Werke, Supplement). Vol. 3. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1999. Notes: Journal of the Music Library Association 57/1 (2000): 110–12.

Floyd K. Grave, ed. Ballet Music from the Mannheim Court, Part I: Christian Cannabich, Le rendes-vous, ballet de chasse and Georg Joseph Vogler, Le rendez-vous de chasse, ou Les vendages interrompues par les chasseurs. Recent Researches in the Music of the Classical Era, vol. 45. Madison: A-R Editions, 1996; Nichole Baker, ed. Ballet Music from the Mannheim Court, Part II: Carl Joseph Toeschi, Mars et Vénus and Christian Cannabich, Médée et Jason. RRMCE, vol. 47. Madison: A-R Editions, 1997; and Paul Cauthen, ed. Ballet Music from the Mannheim Court, Part III: Carl Joseph Toeschi, Céphale et Procris and L’Enlèvement de Proserpine. RRMCE, vol. 52. Madison: A-R Editions, 1998. Dance Research Journal 32/1 (2000): 155–58.

Joachim Jaenecke, Georg Philipp Telemann: Autographe und Abschriften: Kataloge. Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz: Kataloge der Musikabteilung, series I/vii. Munich: Henle, 1993. Music & Letters 76/1 (1995): 96–98.

Stephen E. Hefling, Rhythmic Alteration in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Music: Notes Inégales and Overdotting. New York: Schirmer, 1993. Music & Letters 75/3 (1994): 444–46.

Selected Program Annotations for Commercial Recordings

Johann Sebastian Bach: Six Trio Sonatas. Tempesta di Mare. Chandos Records CHAN 0803 (2014).

Telemann: Ouvertures à 8. Zefiro, Alfredo Bernardini. Arcana A371 (2013).

Georg Philipp Telemann: Sonatas and Sonatinas for Recorder and Basso Continuo. Heiko ter Schegget, Zvi Meniker, Mieneke van der Velden, and Benny Aghassi. Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm, MDG 905 1693-6 (2011).

Telemann: Early Concertos and Sonatas. Ensemble CORDIA, Stefano Veggetti. Brilliant Classics 94208 (2011).

Telemann: Twelve Fantasias and Other Works. Aldo Abreu. Bressan Recordings 0901 (2009).

Boismortier: Concertos for Five Flutes. Stephen Schulz. Dorian DSL 90803 (2008).

Georg Philipp Telemann: Concerti. Martin Haselböck and Musica Angelica. NCA 60194 (2008).

Divine Harmony: Georg Philipp Telemann: Sacred Cantatas. Patrice Djerejian, alto; Sir Philip Ledger and the English Chamber Orchestra. MSR Classics MS 1211 (2007).

Telemann: Geistliches Singen und Spielen (Eisenach 1710–1711): Christmas Cantatas. Paul Dombrecht and Il Fondamento. Fuga Libera FUG 520 (2006).

Georg Philipp Telemann: Double Flute Concertos. The Hanoverian Ensemble. MSR Classics MS 1113 (2005). 

Media 

Georg Philipp Telemann: Moral Cantatas. Julianne Baird, Steven Zohn, Leon Schelhase, and Eve Miller. Centaur Records, forthcoming.

Telemann: Flute Duets, TWV 40:141–46. Steven Zohn and Colin St. Martin. Centaur Records, CRC 3102 (2011). World premiere recording.

Handel: Judas Maccabæus. Ama Deus Ensemble, Valentin Radu. Lyrichord LEMS-8070 (2009).

Vivaldi, Telemann, Boismortier: Concertos. Fioritura. Centaur Records CRC 2784 (2005).

Georg Philipp Telemann: Trio Sonatas. The Publick Musick. Centaur Records CRC 2592 (2002). World premiere recordings.

C.P.E. Bach and J.S. Bach: Magnificats. The Washington Bach Consort, J. Reilly Lewis. Newport Classic NCD 60155 (1999).