Annette Richards

Annette Richards is the Given Foundation Professor of the Humanities at Cornell University, where she has taught since 1995, holding various ranks from Assistant Professor to Full Professor. She also serves as University Organist and has founded the Center for Historical Keyboard Studies at Cornell. Her research spans 18th-century music, aesthetics, and criticism, particularly in Germany; interdisciplinary intersections of music and visual culture; and keyboard studies, especially organ performance and history.

• 1984-1987: English Language and Literature, Corpus Christi College Oxford
• 1987-1991: Uitvoerend Musicus in Organ Performance, Sweelinck Conservatorium Amsterdam
• 1987-1995: Graduate studies in Music, Stanford University (M.A. 1989, Ph.D. 1995)

Richards' research focuses on interdisciplinary approaches to music and visual culture, exploring how musical practices reflect and shape Enlightenment and Gothic aesthetics. She has pioneered studies on the glass harmonica and the cultural symbolism of Handel's works, with a strong emphasis on historical keyboard studies and organ historiography.

Her recent publications highlight C.P.E. Bach's influence on music history, the physiognomy of musical portraiture, and the interplay between sound and visual representation in the 18th century. Trends in her work include music's role in social networks, speculative criticism, and the material culture of keyboard instruments.

• Marta Sutton Weeks Fellowship, Stanford Humanities Center (2018-2019)
• Humboldt Foundation Fellowship (2004)
• Mellon Foundation 'New Directions' Fellowships (2002-2005)
• Ingolf Dahl Award, American Musicological Society (1994)
• First Prize, International Organ Competition for positiv organ duo (1994)

Richards has led the Westfield Center for Historical Keyboard Studies (2008-2018) and established Cornell's Center for Historical Keyboard Studies (2017). She has received grants from the Getty Center, Mellon Foundation, and Stanford Humanities Center, supporting her interdisciplinary work and organ historiography projects. Her current monographs in progress address the 'dark side' of 1800 and the C.P.E. Bach Circle's portrait culture.