Kurtzman studied piano at the
University of Colorado, graduating in piano performance in 1963. He studied musicology at the
University of Illinois from 1965 to 1968, earning a PhD in 1972 with a dissertation entitled
The Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 and their Relationship with Italian Sacred Music of the Early Seventeenth Century. He taught at
Rice University from 1975, was appointed a professor in 1982, and has been a professor of musicology at the
Washington University in St. Louis since 1986. Kurtzman is known for his research on Italian sacred music of the
Renaissance and early
Baroque, especially Monteverdi's
Vespro della Beata Vergine. He edited music by Monteverdi for
Carus-Verlag, including the collection of sacred music
Selva morale e spirituale and excerpts from it. He authored a critical edition of the
Vespro della Beata Vergine for
Oxford University Press in 1999 and subsequently wrote a book,
The Monteverdi Vespers of 1610: Music, Context, Performance. A reviewer described it as "comprehensive" and "authoritative", covering Monteverdi's work in the context of his contemporaries, the music, and considerations for its performance. He noted the author's knowledge and "keen musical instincts" in aspects of performance such as tempo, tuning, pitch and transposition, vocal technique, pronunciation and ornamentation, and
continuo realization. Together with Anne Schnoebelen, Kurtzman published a catalogue of sacred music printed in Italy, around 2000 works for mass and other liturgical functions. He edited the complete works by
Alessandro Grandi and co-founded the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music. == References ==