Scholar and Writer

About My Research

As scholar, my research interests mainly lie in violin pedagogy, performance practice, and solo and chamber music literature of the 18th and 19th centuries. My 2019 DMA dissertation document was actually a portfolio comprised of three separate documents with a unified thread titled: “Issues in Late Classical Violin Concerto Literature: Historically informed Cadenzas, the Concerto in E-Flat, K. 268 Attributed to Mozart, and Beethoven’s Unfinished Concerto Movement in C, WoO 5.” My final lecture-recital program included a performance of K. 268 and WoO 5 (as completed by Spanish violinist Juan Manen) accompanied by a Classical-sized orchestra.

Part 1 (“I AM NO GREAT LOVER OF DIFFICULTIES”: AN EXPLORATION OF HISTORICALLY IDIOMATIC CADENZAS FOR MOZART’S VIOLIN CONCERTOS”) provides different historically informed alternatives and solutions to the lack of authentic cadenzas by Mozart for his concertante works for violin.

The second part (“MOZART’S SPURIOUS VIOLIN CONCERTO IN E-FLAT, K. 268: A STUDY OF ITS SOURCES, AUTHORSHIP, AND PLACE IN THE CLASSICAL CONCERTO LITERATURE”) analyzes the origins, authenticity, and musico-pedagogical value of this infamous, yet valuable, seldom-performed and recorded work.

Finally, the third part (“RE-ENVISIONING GENIUS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF FOUR RECONSTRUCTIONS OF BEETHOVEN’S FRAGMENT IN C-MAJOR FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA, WOO 5”) compares four different attempts to finish a youthful fragment of a projected violin concerto composed by Beethoven around 1790, prior to his departure for Vienna.

The main abstract, as well as individual introductions for each section, can be found in the BLOG. Feel free to CONTACT ME if you would like a copy of the document.

Dr. Oyenard knows what it means to be a professional. In addition, he has an increasingly rare, perhaps old-fashioned respect for higher learning. His scholarly and pedagogical interests came together in the DMA dissertation he completed at the University of Oklahoma under my supervision. It draws on his expertise in the matters of performing editions, performance practice, primary sources, stylistic characteristics of Mozart and Beethoven, determining authenticity of works, and philosophical and pragmatic approaches to textual issues. It could have just as well been a PhD dissertation in musicology.

I have come to realize that Dr. Oyenard knows everything about the violin. We have had conversations about the genealogy of violinists, schools and methods of playing, performance practice, recordings, string quartets and concertos, and he has always been able to tell me something interesting that I didn’t know.

DR. SANNA PEDERSON

Mavis C. Pitman Professor of Musicology - School of Music, University of Oklahoma

About My Writing

In addition to performing, teaching, and arranging, I enjoy taking on writing projects and commissions, such as concert program notes, CD liner notes, proofreading scholarly documents, and reviews and translations of books on music or methods for violin. Click on these links to read some of my writing samples:

CD liner notes
Program notes
Book review
Translation

And feel free to CONTACT ME for any project I can be of help.

Lectures and Workshops

As a way of making my research on Classical cadenzas accessible and applicable for students and colleagues, I am currently offering a workshop on the topic. The workshop covers:

A historical and stylistic overview of cadenzas in the Baroque and Classical eras.
The differences between cadenzas and lead-ins (eingaenge).
A study of Mozart’s authentic cadenzas for his piano concertos.
A survey of published cadenzas for Mozart’s violin concertos.
Different approaches to the lack of authentic cadenzas for Mozart’s violin concertos (including modifying existing ones, using Classical era templates, and creating stylistically appropriate cadenzas and lead-ins).

Additional workshops (in preparation) include:

A comparative study of different scales systems for the violin (including the widely used approaches by Carl Flesch and Ivan Galamian, as well as more recent publications by Roland Vamos, Jascha Heifetz, and Simon Fischer). This lecture-workshop will discuss the strengths and shortcomings of each particular method and provide students with vital practice strategies and exercises for an efficient daily study of scales and arpeggios.
A comprehensive, historical and pedagogical survey of about 50 different editions of J.S. Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, BWV 1001-06. This lecture-workshop will trace the evolution of performance practice of these essential works of the literature for unaccompanied violin, and survey the many different solutions and stylistic approaches to Bach’s technical and musical demands, as suggested by renowned pedagogues and soloists of the past and present.