In Memoriam: Honoring Those Who Paved the Way

Dr. Maureen Carr, an esteemed music theorist and former Chair of the Department of Music at Montclair State College, now known as the John J. Cali School of Music, passed away on February 11, 2025, at the age of 85. Her illustrious career, spanning decades, left an indelible mark on the fields of music theory and musicology.

Hired in the 1970s by then-Chairman Benjamin Wilkes, Dr. Carr played a crucial role in shaping the department’s academic landscape. During her tenure as Chair from 1975 to 1979, she was responsible for hiring faculty members Ting Ho and Ruth Rendleman, both of whom became stalwart educators in the department well into the 21st century. After her tenure at Montclair, she continued her career in higher education, making an even greater impact as the Founding Director of the Penn State School of Music. At Penn State, she earned the title of Distinguished Professor of Music Theory and was honored with the Faculty Scholar Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts and Humanities. She retired from Penn State in March 2024.

A preeminent scholar of Igor Stravinsky’s music, Dr. Carr authored several influential books on the composer’s neoclassical works, including Multiple Masks: Neoclassicism in Stravinsky’s Dramatic Works on Greek Subjects and After the Rite: Stravinsky’s Path to Neoclassicism (1914–1925). Her meticulous research brought new perspectives to Stravinsky’s compositional techniques, with particular attention to his engagement with historical models.

Among her many publications, Dr. Carr also authored Stravinsky’s Histoire du soldat: A Facsimile of the Sketches and Stravinsky’s Pulcinella: A Facsimile of the Sources and Sketches, the latter of which received the Citation of Special Merit from the Society for Music Theory. At the time of her passing, she was under contract with Oxford University Press for a forthcoming monograph titled After Apollo: Stravinsky’s Path Through the Models of Bach (1929–1965), which explores the influence of Johann Sebastian Bach on Stravinsky’s later works. Additionally, she co-edited The Rite at 100 alongside Severine Neff, Gretchen Horlacher, and John Reef, a project that was recently honored with the American Musicological Society’s prestigious Ruth A. Solie Award.

Beyond her books, Dr. Carr contributed extensively to academic journals and edited volumes, with a recent article on The Rake’s Progress appearing in The Oxford Handbook of Faust in Music (2019). Her scholarly rigor and dedication to advancing music theory and historical analysis have cemented her legacy as one of the foremost experts on Stravinsky’s music.

Funeral arrangements are still being finalized, but Dr. Carr will be laid to rest alongside her family at Cedar Grove Cemetery in Queens. Her contributions to the field of music scholarship will continue to resonate with students, colleagues, and researchers for generations to come.