Dale Bonge

ABOUT

Dale Bonge (1942 – 2023) received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and joined MSU in 1977. He retired as Associate Professor of Musicology in the College of Music in 2012. Professor Bonge’s research addressed aspects of performance practices and music theory of the Middle Ages and Renaissance as well as the connections between music and other aspects of arts and culture. A particular focus of his work was tempo in early music. He presented papers at meetings of the American Musicological Society, The Michigan Academy, and the International Congress of Medieval Studies annual conference in Kalamazoo, Michigan. His publications include articles in Pro Musica, Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association, Centennial Review, Michigan Academician, Musica Disciplina, and Studi Musicali. In the classroom, Professsor Bonge concentrated on the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the seventeenth century, early notation, and performance practice. His approach emphasized insights into musical style and interpretation grounded in detailed study of representative musical works of each particular era, national style, and genre. In the courses he taught for the Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities, generations of MSU students gained an appreciation of music and its development in the context of the arts and western culture in general.