A bunch of years ago I sat down with my doctoral committee on the subject of my dissertation. I had a Bach scholar and he wanted some research done on one of the Bach kids. The renaissance department guy wanted more work on G. Dufay, blah blah, In short all five of them had a pet project all figured our for me - never mind what I wanted. One fellow persisted and told me if I didn't write on Alberic Magnard I would never get out alive. So, I went to some libraries and found about 20 of Magnard's 23 works and quite frankly the guy didn't have much talent. I told my advisors that I was going to write on a Debussy lost opera and pretty much to shove it; another of life's many crossroads where this wanderer took the wrong turn.
You see, if you are going to teach musicology at the University level, you have to have a hook; something that only a couple people on the planet know anything about and you could be a genius-expert. What it takes is a super subject and a very good composer all in one.
So, all you budding music historians out there: THIS IS YOUR GUY. Wiki has almost nothing on him. He was Flemish and contemporary to all the European bright lights (1868-1952) and there is by some slim chance people alive today who might have known him.
