James Stark

James (Arthur) Stark. Musicologist, tenor, b Minneapolis 11 Jun 1938, naturalized Canadian 1968; BA (Minnesota) 1960, M MUS (Toronto) 1967, PH D (Toronto) 1973. He studied with Roy Schuessler in Minnesota, and Aksel Schiøtz in Toronto. He received a PH D for his thesis 'The rise of virtuoso singing,' a study of vocal performance practices of the early baroque period. Pursuing a career in performance and musicology, he taught voice and music history 1966-74 at the University of Western Ontario, where he specialized in oratorio and Lieder and gave regular recitals with the pianist Clifford von Kuster. He was head 1974-82 of the Dept of Music at Mount Allison University and in 1990 continued to teach musicology and voice there.

In 1985 Stark began to study the diatonic harp with Grianne Yeats and Elizabeth Hannon. He subsequently has performed medieval songs, Irish folksongs and arrangements, and his own compositions, which include a cycle of tenor Songs of Middle Earth, settings of poems by Tolkien for harp and voice. His later research has concentrated on 19th-century vocal pedagogy (especially Manuel Garcia and his Traité complet de l'art du chant of 1847) and 20th-century voice science.

Writings

'Giulio Caccini and the "Noble Manner of Singing",' CAUSM J, vol 1, Fall 1971

'Vocal gymnastics,' CAUSM J, vol 5, Fall 1975

'Vocalism: the solo-choral conflict,' Troubador, vol 1, Jun 1980

Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy (University of Toronto Press, 1999)