Hybrid musks are among our loveliest and most graceful roses, if left alone to grow to their natural shapes. My understanding is that pruning isn't called for, unless you need to remove dead or diseased growth or twiggy interior growth that may inhibit air circulation and therefore foster disease. All in all, it's better to holster those pruners!

Ah, but here I present an objection. In fact I have a number of Hybrid Musks that for the last few years have been looking worse and worse, and finally last fall appeared ready to be dug up and thrown away (these are own root plants, for what it's worth). In desperation, I cut off a good many--half?--the old canes that were all they had. This year they're putting out new canes and look a LOT better. I plan on cutting out all the remaining old canes this fall.
A last word: my neighbor has 'Cornelia' espaliered as a climber on a wall and seems to leave the principal canes alone. Direct contradiction of my own experiences. But if you have a plant that just looks more and more feeble, you don't have anything to lose cutting out a good portion of the old unproductive canes.
Melissa

I'll post a few pics of my Bubble Bath. I prune back the arching canes by 1-2 feet, but still left the arching shape.

I removed dead wood and dead twigs, did not prune back the laterals (unless it was dead wood...)

The last pic shows the base of the plant. It does send up basal growth. My Daphnes has a similar growth habit.

Buds can be set on thin stems, so the laterals can support good blooming.

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The older I get, the less energy I have, the less my roses need pruning at all. That is my new axiom in gardening.

I think pruning is largely a matter of fitting the plant into the space allowed in the garden. The older I get, the less critical my jaundiced eye becomes. This year I had very little time for pruning and consequently many roses did not get pruned. One of those was Penelope. I have never seen her look better. Odd, isn't it? Then again, this year I managed to prune Ballerina before she leafed out (haven't got to her the previous two years) and she looks about the same as always.

More and more I think that pruning the diseased canes and dead one (but only if you have to--the dead canes will be discarded by the plant eventually) works best for me.

Buff Beauty who was moved last spring and pouted was not pruned and he looks pretty good as well. (Why BB is a he I don't know). Course, his looking good is really a matter of sprawling wherever he wants and that's exactly what he is doing.

Now mind you, pruning only diseased canes can be a matter of cutting to the ground depending on the location of the disease, and this year I have a couple of those.

Anyway, my advice on Hybrid Musks (and any rose for that matter) is prune diseased canes, step back, take a look, and prune for shape depending on placement in the garden.

Don't forget to have the beverage of your choice when its over. Celebrate the work and enjoy your results.

In my garden, hybrid musks and chinas are pruned in alternate years and even then, not hard-pruned like the hybrid teas or other moderns.

Thanks for posting this question. I bought Lyda Rose last year and wonderd the same thing about pruning. Last year as a band from Heirloom she grew six canes 4' long. This year she has two new basals and lots of buds. I can't wait to see her burst out in bloom! Next year may require some pruning, though.

Give Lyda Rose a good 3 to 4 years and you'll have a lovely fountaining shrub. The graceful shape is one of best assets of this rose.
I'd have more hybrid musks were it not for the space consideration--a 6 foot wide bed is absolutely minimum. Vanity is draped over the fence and must be 15 feet wide in her 3rd year, arching over The Fairy.
I put Lavender Dream in the center of my circle bed, where it now overhangs the path a good 3 feet-- thank you Jeri for warning me about how big it would get!
In my experience even overzealous dead-heading can spoil the shape of a hybrid musk so I do my best to leave them alone! Penelope and Buff Beauty in particular seem to grow off at crazy angles if you cut back sharply.