When searching for primary source information about Symphony of Wind Instruments and other pieces that debuted on the same night, I got pretty stuck and couldn’t find much past the date and place it was performed. I was trying every trick I knew in catalyst, looking at the microfilm in the library, and searching for relevant databases. Then I found the Times Digital Archive database in our course guide. This was a complete eureka moment for me because it included primary source newspaper reviews for every piece of information I could’ve wanted about my piece: reception, critique, even other pieces performed that night and that weekend. That was my most exciting find.
There isn’t a shortage of scholarship on the Symphony of Wind Instruments which is very fortunate, but it can be challenging to find information on the analysis of the piece that isn’t directly discussing the score. To be an accurate fictional primary source, we must keep in mind that our reviewer has only heard the piece at its debut. The scholarship I’ve found tends to get into the nitty gritty specifics, so drawing generalizations from it has been a little difficult.
As formidable as writing a fictitious primary source can be – to be frank – it ensures that we know what we’re talking about. Putting ourselves into the perspective of someone of the time causes us to think contextually about every sentence we write. This does mean it takes a lot more time, but because of the level of research it requires, we come out more knowledgeable. I have quite a love-hate relationship with it.