National University of Ireland, Maynooth

Faculty Member, Music

Professor of Music and Head of Department

About

Fiona Palmer joined the Department of Music at NUI Maynooth as Professor and Head in October 2007. As an active professional musicologist and performer Fiona’s publications focus on music and musicians in the marketplace. Her current research projects draw directly on her interests as music historian and orchestral player. Projects underway include a study of orchestral conducting and hierarchies in 19th-century Britain and research into the first one hundred years of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society’s history (1840-1940).

Fiona’s most recently completed monograph is Vincent Novello (1781–1861): Music for the Masses (Ashgate Publishing, December 2006). This is the first large-scale reappraisal of the career of the pioneering London-based editor and publisher. It follows on neatly from her book Dragonetti in England (1794-1846): the Career of a Double Bass Virtuoso (Oxford University Press, 1997). The life and work of both these musicians illuminates our understanding of the marketplace for musicians in London during the nineteenth century. Fiona is also the author of a history of concerts at Birmingham’s Barber Institute of Fine Arts, and has written entries for both New Grove 2 and the New Dictionary of National Biography. Published articles can be found in the Journal of the Royal Musical Association, 19th-Century British Music Studies 3, The Musical Times, The Strad, and Muzio Clementi: Studies & Prospects.

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