Thomas Heck, born in Washington D.C., USA, in 1943. Ph.D. from Yale University, New Haven. Professor of Music at Ohio State University, Columbus († 2021).
Fellow (1 September 1994 – 30 June 1995)
My fellowship at NIAS during 1994/95, as part of the “Theatre Iconography” theme group, was very satisfying to me intellectually and, I think, surprisingly productive. Just having the time to discover (through computer searches) and to read the classic and newer literature in historiography, iconography, iconology, and dramatic theory and criticism was enough to recharge my batteries for another ten years. NIAS’ computer and library services were wonderfully supportive in this respect. But I also was able to complete one book in music history, Mauro Giuliani: Virtuoso Guitarist and Composer, and to start a new one in the area of our theme group, tentatively entitled “Iconography and the Performing Arts: Theory and Practice”. And I completed two research papers, one broad and theoretical (“Iconography and Iconology: Meanings Old and New”), the other more specific (“Portraits, Action Scenes, and Publishing: Aspects of Theatrical Illustration in Georgian London”). As I return to my home institution, The Ohio State University, I am preparing to give a paper on the relationship of words and images at a national meeting of the American Society for Theatre Research, entitled “Theatrical Words and Theatrical Pictures: Iconography? Illustration? Merely Pictorial Enrichment?”