Professor Richard Wistreich

MA (Cantab), MA (Music), PhD

Research Professor

Richard Wistreich is a scholar, teacher and singer, with wide-ranging research interests and in particular, vocal and ensemble performance in Europe between 1450 and 1800. He has published on many aspects of the cultural history of singing, and travels widely to talk about his work to both music specialists and at interdisciplinary conferences. Richard was the RCM’s Director of Research from 2014-2020. He is currently Chair of the Advisory Board of the Warburg Institute, London University School of Advanced Studies and was until 2022 Honorary Chair of the Society for Renaissance Studies.

Recent publications include The Cambridge History of Sixteenth Century Music and Voicing Text 1500–1700, a special issue of the Huntington Library Quarterly. Current projects include a monograph on the history of the early modern voice and ‘Materialising Musical Instruments’, together with the RCM’s Professor Gabriele Rossi Rognoni, funded by the British Academy and Leverhulme Trust.

Richard has also had a long and distinguished career as a singer of both early and contemporary music. He has made concert, radio and television appearances in concerts and opera worldwide, and recorded more than 100 CDs. In 1989 he co-founded the ensemble Red Byrd with John Potter, dedicated to performing both old and new music, often side-by-side in the same concerts.

Selected publications

Fenlon I & Wistreich R (eds.) (2018), The Cambridge History of Sixteenth Century Music, Cambridge University Press []. Includes three chapters by R Wistreich: ‘Introduction’, ‘Music and war’, and ‘The lives of musicians.’

Wistreich R (2017), ‘Inclosed in this tabernacle of flesh’: body, soul, and the singing voice, Journal of the Northern Renaissance, 8, [].

Richards J & Wistreich R (2016), The anatomy of the Renaissance voice, in A Whitehead & A Woods (eds.), The Edinburgh Companion to the Critical Medical Humanities (pp. 276-293), Edinburgh University Press [].

Wistreich R (2015), High, middle and low: singing Monteverdi, in D Fabris & M K Murata (eds.) Passaggio in Italia: Music on the Grand tour in the Seventeenth Century, Brepols [].

Wistreich R (2013), Using the music: musical materials and expert singers’ practices in Monteverdi’s time, Basler Jahrbuch für Historische Musikpraxis, Amadeus [].

Wistreich R (2011), Music books and sociability, Il Saggiatore Musicale, 18, 230-246.

Wistreich R (ed.) (2011), The Baroque Composers: Monteverdi, Ashgate [].

Wistreich R (2007), Warrior, Courtier, Singer: Giulio Cesare Brancaccio and the Performance of Identity in the Late Renaissance, Routledge (reprint 2016) [].

Faculties / departments: Research

Research

Latest Publications

Wistreich, R. and Rossi Rognoni, G. (2024) Journal of Musicological Research pp. 1-19. ISSN 0141-1896 (print) 1547-7304 (online)

Wistreich, R. (2023) In: University of Birmingham Centre for Reformation and Early Modern Studies, 25 October 2023, Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon. (Unpublished)

Wistreich, R. (2023) In: 鈥楾he Revival of Heritage鈥�: in memoriam Richard Taruskin (1945鈥�2022), 28鈥�29 August 2023, STIMU Symposium, Utrecht Festival Oude Muziek. (Unpublished)

Wistreich, R. (2023) Journal of the American Musicological Society, 76 (2) pp. 513-518. ISSN 0003-0139 (print) 1547-3848 (online)

Wistreich, R. (2023) In: The Museum of Renaissance Music: A History in 100 Exhibits. Brepols, Turnhout, pp. 423-425. ISBN 978-2-503-58856-8 (paperback) 978-2-503-58857-5 (e-book)

Wistreich, R. (2022) In: Materialising Musical Instruments, 8-9 December 2022, 麻豆视频. (Unpublished)

Wistreich, R. (2022) In: Royal Musical Association Annual Conference, 7-10 September 2022, Durham. (Unpublished)

Wistreich, R. (2021) In: Forum f眉r Auff眉hrungspraxis, 1 December 2021, Staatliche Hochschule f眉r Musik, Trossingen, Germany. (Unpublished)

Wistreich, R. (2021) In: Early Modern Soundscapes, 7 July 2021, Online (Liverpool John Moores University). (Unpublished)

Wistreich, R. (2019) Handel News, 76 pp. 5-8. ISSN 2517-7656

Richards, J. and Wistreich, R. (2019) Huntington Library Quarterly (special issue), 82 (1) pp. 3-16. ISSN 1544-399X (online) 0018-7895 (print)

Fenlon, I. and Wistreich, R. (2019) In: The Cambridge History of Sixteenth-Century Music. The Cambridge History of Music . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 1-23. ISBN 9780511675874

Wistreich, R. (2019) In: The Cambridge History of Sixteenth-Century Music. The Cambridge History of Music . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 176-205. ISBN 9780511675874

Wistreich, R. (2019) In: The Cambridge History of Sixteenth-Century Music. The Cambridge History of Music . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 288-334. ISBN 9780511675874

Wistreich, R. (2018) In: National Early Music Forum, 21 October 2018, Brighton. (Unpublished)

Wistreich, R. (2018) In: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Historical Performance in Music. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 9781107108080 (hardback) 9781107518476 (paperback) 9781108698573 (e-book)

Wistreich, R. (2018) In: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Historical Performance in Music. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 476-482. ISBN 9781107108080 (hardback) 9781107518476 (paperback) 9781108698573 (e-book)

Wistreich, R. (2018) In: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Historical Performance in Music. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 576-580. ISBN 9781107108080 (hardback) 9781107518476 (paperback) 9781108698573 (e-book)

Wistreich, R. (2018) In: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Historical Performance in Music. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 676-681. ISBN 9781107108080 (hardback) 9781107518476 (paperback) 9781108698573 (e-book)

Wistreich, R. (2017) Journal of the Northern Renaissance, 8 ISSN 1759-3085

Tregear, P. and Johansen, G. and Jorgensen, H. and Sloboda, J. and Tulve, H. and Wistreich, R. (2016) Arts & Humanities in Higher Education, 15 (3-4) pp. 276-292. ISSN 14740222

Wistreich, R. and Richards, J. (2016) In: The Edinburgh Companion to the Critical Medical Humanities. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, pp. 276-293. ISBN 9781474400046 (hardback) 9781474414555 (e-book)

Wistreich, R. (2016) In: Diversity in Historically Informed Performance, 17 May 2016, King's Place, London. (Unpublished)

Wistreich, R. (2015) In: Passaggio in Italia: Music on the Grand Tour in the Seventeenth Century. Brepols, Turnhout, pp. 65-83. ISBN 978-2-503-53568-5

Wistreich, R. and Potter, J. (2013) Early Music, 41 (1) pp. 22-26. ISSN 0306-1078 (print) 1741-7260 (online)

Wistreich, R. (2013) In: Die Musik in der Kultur der Renaissance: Kontexte, Disziplinen, Diskurse. Handbuch der Musik der Renaissance (5). Laaber, Lilienthal, Germany. ISBN 9783890077055

Wistreich, R. (2013) Analecta Musicologica, 49 pp. 138-150. ISSN 0569-9827

Wistreich, R. (2012) In: The Cambridge History of Musical Performance. The Cambridge History of Music . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 398-420. ISBN 9781139025966

Wistreich, R. (2012) Renaissance Studies, 26 (1) pp. 1-12. ISSN 0269-1213 (print) 1477-4658 (online)

Wistreich, R. (2012) In: Der Countertenor: Die m盲nnliche Falsettstimme vom Mittelalter zur Gegenwart. Schott Campus . Schott Music, Mainz, pp. 71-85. ISBN 9783795707934

Wistreich, R. (2011) Il Saggiatore Musicale: Rivista Semestrale di Musicologia, 18 pp. 230-246. ISSN 1123-8615 (print) 2035-6706 (online)

Wistreich, R. (2011) In: 鈥楲ords of Wine and Oile鈥�: Community and Conviviality in the Poetry of Robert Herrick. Oxford University Press, Oxford. ISBN 9780199604777

Wistreich, R. (2011) TroJa. Jahrbuch f眉r Renaissancemusik, 10 pp. 157-176. ISSN 2513-1028

Wistreich, R. (2010) Basler Jahrbuch f眉r Historische Musikpraxis, 34 pp. 61-72.

Wistreich, R. (2009) In: Masculinity and Western Musical Practice. Ashgate, Farnham, pp. 67-94. ISBN 9780754662396

Wistreich, R. (2007) In: The Cambridge Companion to Monteverdi. Cambridge Companions to Music . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 261-279. ISBN 9780521875257 (hardback) 9780521697989 (paperback) 9781139798631 (e-book)

Wistreich, R. (2007) Routledge, Abingdon. ISBN 9780754654148 (hardback) 9781138263000 (paperback) 9781315547657 (e-book)

Wistreich, R. (2006) Early Music History, 25 pp. 257-308. ISSN 0261-1279 (print) 1474-0559 (online)

Wistreich, R. (2002) Basler Jahrbuch f眉r Historische Musikpraxis, 26 pp. 17-29.

Wistreich, R. (2002) TroJa. Jahrbuch f眉r Renaissancemusik, 2 pp. 59-77. ISSN 2513-1028

Wistreich, R. (2000) In: The Cambridge Companion to Singing. Cambridge Companions to Music . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 178-191. ISBN 9780521627092 (print) 9781139002073 (online)

Wistreich, R. (1994) Early Music, 22 (1) pp. 7-20. ISSN 0306-1078 (print) 1741-7260 (online)