Anna Harwell Celenza

Anna Celenza at the American Academy in Rome. Photo: Annie Schlechter.

Selected Works

Edited Books

Cambridge Companion to Gershwin (2019)

The music of George Gershwin was shaped by American political, intellectual, cultural and business interests. As a composer and performer, he embraced technological advances and broke new ground in music business practices. This Companion describes the making of George Gershwin's 'American' identity and its legacy after his death.

Music as Cultural Mission: Explorations of Jesuit Practices in Italy and North America (2014)

Music as Cultural Mission: Explorations of Jesuit Practices in Italy and North America elucidates how the performing arts have played a seminal role in the cultural mission of the Society of Jesus. Drawing on unpublished archival documents, music, and dramatic texts performed in Italy and North America over the last four centuries, the volume features the work of leading scholars in Italy and the United States and offers a broad view of the Jesuits' influence on musical and theatrical practice.

Niels. W. Gade's St. Hans' Evening Play Overture (2001)

St. Hans' Evening Play is the second complete overture composed by Niels W. Gade (1817-90), undoubtedly the most prominent figure in nineteenth-century Danish music. This edition marks the first scholarly edition of this important work.

Books, Music History

Jazz Italian Style: From Its Origins in New Orleans to Fascist Italy and Sinatra (2017)

By examining politics, immigration patterns, economics and technology in explaining the largely forgotten Italian connection to jazz, the book will attract readers interested in music history, Italian-American culture, the Fascist era in Italy, music technology, and the evolution of popular music.

Hans Christian Andersen and Music: The Nightingale Revealed (2005)

“This is a tautly written, readable and fascinating volume, casting new light on familiar figures from start to finish.”

–Classical Music

The Early Works of Niels W. Gade: In Search of the Poetic (2001)

Niels W. Gade (1817-1890) was an influential musical figure in 19th century Denmark. This work presents an in-depth study in English of Gade's life and works. It describes the evolution of Gade's compositional style as reflected in his early orchestral and chamber works and re-evaluates his role as a nationalist composer. It investigates Gade's literary and musical roots, and studies Gade's "search for the poetic" by presenting descriptions of seven works represented in Gade's compositional diary.

Children's Picture Books

Saint-Saëns's Danse macabre (2013)

"Zig and zig and zig. Maestro Death keeps time." A friend's poem and a visit to the catacombs underneath Paris in 1872 inspire composer Camille Saint-Saëns to write a now-famous orchestral piece echoing the sounds of dancing, clacking skeletal bones.

Vivaldi's Four Seasons (2012)

A heartwarming story of friendship, imagination, and the transforming power of music.

Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite (2011)

An upbeat Christmas book about breaking boundaries and experimenting with new ideas. Includes a recording of Ellington’s suite. (Publishers Weekly).
The Nutcracker Suite has never been so hip!

Bach's Goldberg Variations (2005, 2016)

Johann Sebastian Bach encourages Count Keyserlingk to take in a talented young orphan named Johann Gottlieb Goldberg. The Count is an insomniac, but hearing Goldberg play the harpsichord soothes him. Soon the Count challenges Goldberg to combine all the music he's learned and throw in a riddle. Under Bach's tutelage, Goldberg successfully plays a difficult piece that becomes known as Goldberg Variations.

"[T]he story is wonderfully told in the tropes and manner of a folktale."
— Booklist

Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (2006)

It's 1924, and with just a few weeks' notice, George Gershwin has been asked to compose a new concerto that exemplifies American music. In his search for a new melody, Gershwin realizes that American music is much like its people -- a great melting pot of sounds, rhythms, and harmonies. JoAnn Kitchel's illustrations capture the 1920's in all their art-deco majesty.

Beethoven's The Heroic Symphony (2004, 2016)

When Beethoven learns he is going deaf, he is determined to write a great symphony. As war rages in Europe he thinks he has found his inspiration in the heroic deeds of Napoleon. But has he?

Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (2003, 2016)

Modest Mussorgsky is deeply saddened by the death of his friend, Victor Hartmann. In his grief, Modest turns his back on his dream of bringing the glories of the Russian people to the world through his music. His friends must find a way to help Modest deal with the loss of Victor and inspire him to compose again.

"[A] new gem for music lovers."
— Booklist

Haydn's The Farewell Symphony (2000, 2016)

A fictionalized telling of the true story behind Haydn's Farewell Symphony brings to life the long summer Haydn and his musicians spent at Esterhaza, the summer palace of Prince Nicholas of Esterhazy. When the musicians become homesick they devise a way to convince the prince it's time to go home.

Biography

Anna Harwell Celenza is a professor at Johns Hopkins University, where she holds a joint appointment in The Writing Seminars (Krieger School of Arts & Sciences) and Musicology Department (Peabody Conservatory). She is the author/editor of several scholarly books, including Music and Human Flourishing (2023), The Cambridge Companion to Gershwin (2019), Jazz Italian Style: From Its Origins in New Orleans to Fascist Italy and Sinatra (2017), Music as Cultural Mission: Explorations of Jesuit Practices in Italy and North America (2014) and Hans Christian Andersen and Music: The Nightingale Revealed (2005). Her work has also appeared in The Hopkins Review, Musical Quarterly, Nineteenth-Century Music, Notes, The Cambridge Companion to Liszt (2005), and Franz Liszt and His World (2006) and The Cambridge Companion to Duke Ellington (2014). In addition to her scholarly work, she has authored a series of award-winning children's books with Charlesbridge Publishing: The Farewell Symphony (2000), Pictures at an Exhibition (2003), The Heroic Symphony (2004), Bach's Goldberg Variations (2005), Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (2006), Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite (2011), Vivaldi's Four Seasons (2012), Saint-Saëns's Danse macabre (2013) and a 14-part syndicated series on Louis Armstrong for the NC Press Foundation. Her work has been featured on nationally syndicated radio and TV programs, including NPR's "Todd Mundt Show", BBC's "Music Matters" and "Proms Broadcasts", and C-Span's "Book-TV". In 2017, Celenza curated an exhibition titled Margaret Bonds and Langston Hughes: A Musical Friendship (Georgetown University Library, 2016). Her exhibition catalog won the 2017 Leab Exhibition Catalog Award from the Association of College and Research Libraries. In 2016, Celenza co-founded Music Policy Forum, a non-profit organization that advises local governments about how to create sustainable music ecosystems. Over the last ten years, she has participated in a range of music advocacy work, including serving on the Board of the Baltimore Jazz Alliance and as a co-developer of the 2019 Washington DC Music Census and the 2024 Baltimore Music Census.