Associate Professor Denis Collins
Associate Professor

Denis Collins

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Phone: 
+61 7 336 53512

Background

Denis Collins is a world authority on the history of compositional techniques, especially counterpoint, in Western art music from the late Middle Ages to the time of J.S. Bach. He is also an expert on the history of music theory, including the legacy of the Russian composer and theorist Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev. Denis's research draws upon digital applications to music, musical iconography, and music perception and cognition. He has been Lead Chief Investigator on two Discovery Projects awarded by the Australian Research Council: "Canonic techniques and musical change from c.1330 to c.1530" (2015-17) and "The art and science of canon in the music of early 17th-century Rome" (2018-20). He was an Associate Investigator at the ARC's Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions in Europe, 1100-1800. He has published extensively in Australian and international music journals and edited volumes and he presents the results of his research regularly at international conferences and symposia. He is Editor-in-Chief of Musicology Australia, the official journal of the Musicological Society of Australia.

Availability

Associate Professor Denis Collins is:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Arts, University College Dublin
  • Bachelor of Music, University College Dublin
  • Masters (Coursework), Stanford University
  • Doctor of Philosophy, Stanford University

Research interests

  • Musicology

  • Music Theory

  • Counterpoint in Medieval and Early Modern music

  • Music of J.S. Bach

  • Digital applications to music research

  • Music and visual culture

  • Music and the history of emotions

Research impacts

Denis is deeply committed to the success of musicological research in Australia and to highlighting its many positive contributions to the cultural life of the nation. Through collaboration with scholars and music organisations nationally and internationally, he positions the results of his research for the broader community. Activities include workshops and performances by choral and instrumental groups of historical repertoire studied as part of his projects. Denis is the co-founder of the Canons Database (www.canons.org.au) which serves as the foremost online resource for musical canons and is aimed at a very broad community of music enthusiasts from scholars and performers to general audiences worldwide.

Search Professor Denis Collins’s works on UQ eSpace

66 works between 1993 and 2024
All (66) Journal Article (35) Book Chapter (18) Conference Publication (6) Book (4) Other Outputs (3)

1 - 20 of 66 works

Featured

2022

Journal Article

'Some disturbance to the ear when the voices enter': invertible canons at the octave in motets by Zarlino and Willaert

Collins, Denis (2022). 'Some disturbance to the ear when the voices enter': invertible canons at the octave in motets by Zarlino and Willaert. Journal of the Alamire Foundation, 14 (2), 247-282. doi: 10.1484/J.JAF.5.131812

'Some disturbance to the ear when the voices enter': invertible canons at the octave in motets by Zarlino and Willaert

Featured

2019

Journal Article

Zelenka and the combinative impulse: contrapuntal techniques in the Miserere in D Minor, ZWV 56

Collins, Denis (2019). Zelenka and the combinative impulse: contrapuntal techniques in the Miserere in D Minor, ZWV 56. Musicology Australia, 41 (2), 199-225. doi: 10.1080/08145857.2019.1703488

Zelenka and the combinative impulse: contrapuntal techniques in the Miserere in D Minor, ZWV 56

Featured

2019

Journal Article

New light on the mid-fourteenth-century chace: canons hidden in the Tournai manuscript

Stoessel, Jason and Collins, Denis (2019). New light on the mid-fourteenth-century chace: canons hidden in the Tournai manuscript. Music Analysis, 38 (1-2), 155-203. doi: 10.1111/musa.12116

New light on the mid-fourteenth-century chace: canons hidden in the Tournai manuscript

Featured

2019

Book Chapter

Dürer, Music, and Melencolia I

Collins, Denis (2019). Dürer, Music, and Melencolia I. The Persistence of Melancholia in Arts and Culture. (pp. 49-67) edited by Andrea Bubenik . New York, NY United States: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780429468469-4

Dürer, Music, and Melencolia I

Featured

2018

Journal Article

Approaching renaissance music using Taneyev's theories of movable counterpoint

Collins, Denis (2018). Approaching renaissance music using Taneyev's theories of movable counterpoint. Acta Musicologica, 90 (2), 178-201.

Approaching renaissance music using Taneyev's theories of movable counterpoint

Featured

2018

Journal Article

Horizontal-shifting counterpoint and parallel-section constructions in contrapuncti 8 and 11 from J. S. Bach’s Art of Fugue

Collins, Denis B. (2018). Horizontal-shifting counterpoint and parallel-section constructions in contrapuncti 8 and 11 from J. S. Bach’s Art of Fugue. Music Theory Online, 24 (4) 2. doi: 10.30535/mto.24.4.2

Horizontal-shifting counterpoint and parallel-section constructions in contrapuncti 8 and 11 from J. S. Bach’s Art of Fugue

Featured

2018

Book

J.S. Bach in Australia: studies in reception and performance

Denis Collins, Kerry Murphy and Samantha Owens eds. (2018). J.S. Bach in Australia: studies in reception and performance. Melbourne, Australia: Lyrebird Press.

J.S. Bach in Australia: studies in reception and performance

2024

Journal Article

Editorial

Collins, Denis (2024). Editorial. Musicology Australia, 46 (1), 1-2. doi: 10.1080/08145857.2024.2403194

Editorial

2023

Book Chapter

Crosses, circles and shared identities in riddle canons by Elway Bevin and Giovanni Maria Nanino

Collins, Denis (2023). Crosses, circles and shared identities in riddle canons by Elway Bevin and Giovanni Maria Nanino. Belonging, detachment and the representation of musical identities in visual culture. (pp. 177-196) edited by Antonio Baldassarre and Arabella Teniswood-Harvey. Vienna, Austria: Hollitzer. doi: 10.2307/jj.5211766.10

Crosses, circles and shared identities in riddle canons by Elway Bevin and Giovanni Maria Nanino

2023

Journal Article

Colloquy: a case for a critical edition of the complete works of Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679–1745)

Stockigt, Janice B., Talbot, Michael, Frampton, Andrew, Kiernan, Frederic and Collins, Denis (2023). Colloquy: a case for a critical edition of the complete works of Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679–1745). Musicology Australia, 44 (2), 143-182. doi: 10.1080/08145857.2022.2187988

Colloquy: a case for a critical edition of the complete works of Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679–1745)

2023

Book Chapter

Bevin, Elway

Hooper, Graham (original author) and Collins, Denis (2023). Bevin, Elway. Grove music online. (pp. 1-4) edited by Collins, Denis. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.02990

Bevin, Elway

2022

Book Chapter

'La grandezza del numero sonoro': canonic techniques, combinatorics, and early scientific thought in seventeenth-century Rome

Stoessel, Jason and Collins, Denis (2022). 'La grandezza del numero sonoro': canonic techniques, combinatorics, and early scientific thought in seventeenth-century Rome. Music and science from Leonardo to Galileo. (pp. 155-186) edited by Rudolf Rasch. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols.

'La grandezza del numero sonoro': canonic techniques, combinatorics, and early scientific thought in seventeenth-century Rome

2022

Journal Article

Review of Paul Walker, Fugue in the Sixteenth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020)

Collins, Denis (2022). Review of Paul Walker, Fugue in the Sixteenth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020). BACH: Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute, 53 (1), 130-137. doi: 10.1353/bach.2022.0008

Review of Paul Walker, Fugue in the Sixteenth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020)

2021

Other Outputs

Songs of Love and War: Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643), selections from Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi

Collins, Denis (2021). Songs of Love and War: Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643), selections from Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi. South Bank, Qld: Opera Queensland Ltd.

Songs of Love and War: Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643), selections from Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi

2020

Conference Publication

Using optical music recognition to encode 17th-century music prints: the canonic works of Paolo Agostini (c.1583–1629) as a test case

Stoessel, Jason, Collins, Denis and Bolland, Scott (2020). Using optical music recognition to encode 17th-century music prints: the canonic works of Paolo Agostini (c.1583–1629) as a test case. 7th International Conference on Digital Libraries for Musicology, Montreal, Canada, 16 October 2020. New York, United States: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/3424911.3425517

Using optical music recognition to encode 17th-century music prints: the canonic works of Paolo Agostini (c.1583–1629) as a test case

2020

Other Outputs

Mendelssohn String Quartets: An ear for the past with an eye to the future

Collins, Denis (2020). Mendelssohn String Quartets: An ear for the past with an eye to the future. Mt Barker Summit, SA, Australia: ABC Classic.

Mendelssohn String Quartets: An ear for the past with an eye to the future

2019

Journal Article

Review of Jan Dismas Zelenka, Six Settings of Ave regina coelorum (ZWV 128) edited by Frederic Kieran

Collins, Denis (2019). Review of Jan Dismas Zelenka, Six Settings of Ave regina coelorum (ZWV 128) edited by Frederic Kieran. Context: Journal of Music Research, 45, 89-91.

Review of Jan Dismas Zelenka, Six Settings of Ave regina coelorum (ZWV 128) edited by Frederic Kieran

2019

Book Chapter

Emotion and communities of musical expression in the high renaissance

Collins, Denis (2019). Emotion and communities of musical expression in the high renaissance. Musica movet: affectus, ludus, corpus. (pp. 91-101) edited by Milena Medić. Belgrade, Serbia: Faculty of Music, University of Arts.

Emotion and communities of musical expression in the high renaissance

2019

Book Chapter

Music and dance

Collins, Denis and Nevile, Jennifer (2019). Music and dance. A Cultural History of the Emotions in the Late Medieval, Reformation and Renaissance Age. (pp. 49-67) edited by Andrew Lynch and Susan Broomhall. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Academic.

Music and dance

2018

Book Chapter

Introduction

Collins, Denis, Murphy, Kerry and Owens, Samantha (2018). Introduction. J.S. Bach in Australia: studies in Reception and performance. (pp. 1-7) edited by Denis Collins, Kerry Murphy and Samantha Owens. Melbourne, Australia: Lyrebird Press.

Introduction

Current funding

  • 2024 - 2025
    Sounding Symmetry
    Engaging Science Grants
    Open grant

Past funding

  • 2023
    Indigenising the musicology curriculum: Developing resources for teaching and learning in higher education
    Musicological Society of Australia Special Funding Scheme
    Open grant
  • 2018 - 2021
    The art and science of canon in the music of early 17th-century Rome
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2018 - 2020
    Music keyboard and piano research equipment and infrastructure
    UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure
    Open grant
  • 2015 - 2018
    Canonic Techniques and Musical Change from c.1330 to c.1530
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2005
    The Canonic Compositions of G.P.da Palestrina and their Influence on Contrapuntal Compendia by Early Seventeenth-century Roman Composers
    University of Queensland Research Development Grants Scheme
    Open grant
  • 2001
    Canon and related contrapuntal procedures in music from ca. 1400 to ca. 1800
    UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund
    Open grant

Availability

Associate Professor Denis Collins is:
Available for supervision

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Supervision history

Current supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Shifting priorities in representations of female musicians in Renaissance art

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Andrea Bubenik

  • Master Philosophy

    Vibrato Use in Contemporary Performance of Paul Hindemith's Sonata for Solo Viola, Op. 25 No. 1

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Mr Patrick Murphy

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Rhetoric and Symbolism in Late Elizabethan Music

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Honorary Professor Samantha Owens

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Shifting priorities in representations of female musicians in Renaissance art

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Andrea Bubenik

  • Doctor Philosophy

    The Enduring Legacy of Monophonic Byzantine Chant in Australia: Educational Possibilities for Greek-to-English Chant Adaptation in Greek Orthodox Communities

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Anne Levitsky

Completed supervision

Enquiries

Contact Associate Professor Denis Collins directly for media enquiries about:

  • Baroque music
  • Canon - music
  • Contrapuntal procedures - renaissance and Baroque music
  • History of music theory
  • Music cognition
  • Music theory - history of
  • Renaissance music

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