Journal of the Royal Musical Association

The Journal of the Royal Musical Association (JRMA) is one of the major international refereed journals in the discipline. Founded 150 years ago (as the Association’s Proceedings) to advance ‘the art and science of music’, JRMA maintains a wide-ranging, inclusive interpretation of music studies that encompasses historical, cultural and critical musicology; theory and analysis; ethnomusicology; gender and sexuality; popular music and jazz studies; pedagogy; audiovisual media and practice-led research. Its editorial policy is to disseminate outstanding work across the evolving discipline, to communicate specialist perspectives to a broad readership, and to prompt new scholarly debate. Research articles published in JRMA have undergone rigorous double-anonymous peer review after initial screening by the Editors for quality and fit with the journal’s objectives.

Journal of the Royal Musical Association is published by Cambridge University Press. RMA members can access the Journal via the Members’ Area of the website.

RMA Research Chronicle

The Research Chronicle’s aim is to publish submissions from all areas of music research that make extensive use of primary sources such as recordings, digital-borne files, results of ethnographic work, and/or archival materials. The journal is published online, and the editors will consider submissions of any length (with a recommended length of up to 15,000 words), including short essays, position papers, forums and roundtables, and material in non-written formats such as video and audio. Submissions that make use of extensive apparatus such as indexes, catalogues, inventories and calendars are also welcome and can be in addition to the recommended article length. All articles published in the Research Chronicle undergo rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and refereeing by at least two anonymous referees.

RMA Research Chronicle is published by Cambridge University Press. RMA members can access the Journal via the Members’ Area of the website.

RMA Monographs

The RMA publishes a series of research monographs supported by funds made available from the estate of Thurston Dart.  Its purpose is to provide a medium for specialised investigations of a topic, concept or repertory – studies of a kind that would not normally be feasible for commercial publishers and that would be too long for most periodicals.

RMA Monographs are published by Routledge. RMA members are entitled to a 30% discount on series subscriptions and a 20% discount on individual titles.

List of Volumes

40. Dolores Pesce: The Malmariée in the Thirteenth-Century Motet (2023)

39. Catherine A. Bradley: Authorship and Identity in Late Thirteenth-Century Motets (2022)

38. Florian Bassani: Gregorio Ballabene’s Forty-eight-part Mass for Twelve Choirs (1772) (2021)

37. Karen Cook: Music Theory in Late Medieval Avignon: Magister Johannes Pipardi (2021)

36. Beverly Jerold: Disinformation in Mass Media: Gluck, Piccini and the Journal de Paris (2020) 

35. Cheryll Duncan: Felice Giardini and Professional Music Culture in Mid-Eighteenth-Century London (2019)

34. Roger Savage: The Pre-History of The Midsummer Marriage (2019)

33. James Cook: Authorship, Englishness and the Early Mass Cycle (2019)

32. Anna Zayaruznaya: Upper-Voice Structures and Compositional Process in the Ars Nova Motet (2018)

31. Paul Watt: The Regulation and Reform of Music Criticism in Nineteenth-Century England (2018)

30. Iain Quinn: The Genesis and Development of an English Organ Sonata (2017)

29. Benedict Taylor: Towards a Harmonic Grammar of Grieg’s Late Piano Music : Nature and Nationalism (2016)

28. Margaret Bent: Magister Jacobus de Ispania, author of the “Speculum musicae” (2015)

27. Christian Meyer and Karen Desmond: The ‘Ars musica’ Attributed to Magister Lambertus/Aristoteles (2015)

26. Elena Abramov-van Rijk: Singing Dante: The Literary Origins of Cinquecento Monody (2014)

25. Margaret Seares: Johann Mattheson’s Pièces de clavecin and Das neu-eröffnete Orchestre: Mattheson’s Universal Style in Theory and Practice (2014)

24. Roberta Montemorra Marvin: The Politics of Verdi’s Cantica (2014)

23. Nicholas Marston: Heinrich Schenker and Beethoven’s ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata (2013)

22. Michael Burden: Regina Mingotti: diva and impresario at the King’s Theatre, London (2013)

21. Robert Pascall: Brahms beyond mastery: his Sarabande and Gavotte, and its recompositions (2013)

20. Katharine Ellis: The politics of plainchant in fin-de-siècle France (2013)

19. Kenneth M. Smith: Skryabin, philosophy and the music of desire (2013)

18. Phillip Ross Bullock: Rosa Newmarch and Russian Music in Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth-Century England (2009)

17. Peter Bennett: Sacred Repertories in Paris under Louis XIII (2009)

16. Julie Brown: Bartók and the Grotesque: Studies in Modernity, the Body and Contradiction in Music (2007)

15. Anthony M. Cummings: MS Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Magl. XIX, 164-167 (2007)

14. Rebecca Herrissone: To fill, forbear, or adorne’: The Organ Accompaniment of Restoration Sacred Music (2006)

13. Adam Ockelford: Repetition in Music: Theoretical and Metatheoretical Perspectives (2004)

12. Ian Woodfield: Salomon and the Burneys: Private Patronage and a Public Career (2003)

11. Stephen Downes: Szymanowski, Eroticism and the Voices of Mythology (2003)

10. Kathryn Bailey: ‘Composing with Tones’: a musical analysis of Schoenberg’s Op.23 pieces for piano (2001)

9. Matthew Head: Orientalism, Masquerade and Mozart’s Turkish Music (2000)

8. Christopher Page: Latin Poetry and Conductus Rhythm in Medieval France (1997)

7. Noel O’Regan: Institutional Patronage in Post-Tridentine Rome: Music at Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini 1550-1650 (1995)

6. Curtis Price, Judith Milhous & Robert D. Hume: The Impresario’s Ten Commandments. Continental Recruitment for Italian Opera in London 1763-64 (1992)

5. Iain Fenlon & Peter N Miller: The Song of the Soul: Understanding Poppea (1992)

4. David Fanning: The Breath of the Symphonist: Shostakovich’s Tenth (1989)

3. Bonnie J Blackburn: Music of Treviso Cathedral in the Late Sixteenth Century: A Reconstruction of the Lost MSS 29 & 30 (1987)

2. Denis & Elsie Arnold: The Oratorio in Venice (1986)

1. David Osmond-Smith: Playing on Words: A Guide to Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia (1986)

Statement on Ethics in Reviews

The editor of the RMA Monographs series and the members of the RMA’s Publications Committee seek to foster constructive and civil dialogue that advances our field and that is beneficial for authors, reviewers, and readers. While scholars will invariably have intellectual disagreements, we believe that scholarly publications must hold a high standard for productive, respectful exchange. We will strive to ensure that reviewers for the RMA monographs series:

• Disclose any conflict of interest before accepting the commission.
• Maintain the highest standards of scholarly integrity and collegiality by refraining from ad hominem comments or attacks, whether expressed directly or obliquely.
• Represent the reviewed material accurately and fairly, including in cases in which the reviewer reveals errors in the work under review or disagrees with its argumentation.
• Refrain from language that could be construed as unprofessional, including remarks of a prejudiced, sarcastic, or gendered nature.
• Engage constructively with the work under review. We rely on the assistance of experts to offer balanced and learned opinions on recent scholarship, while maintaining the highest level of civility in any criticisms. Reviews should seek to advance the field—not to pursue a personal agenda.

Acceptance of any anonymous peer review is contingent on approval by the editor of the RMA monographs series. The editor reserves the right to return reviews that do not follow these guidelines to the reviewer for revision or to reject the review outright.

Adapted from the Statement on Ethics in Reviews followed by the Journal of the Royal Musical Association and RMA Research Chronicle.