Robert Marshall

In the annals of musicological writing, few questions have been rehearsed so often, or for so long, as that of Mozart’s relationship to Bach and the significance of that relationship for subsequent music history. The traditional, and still predominant, understanding of Mozart’s relationship with Bach, reduced to its essentials, runs as follows. About a year after he had settled in Vienna, and by early 1782 at the latest, Mozart came to know the music of J. S. Bach during the course of his weekly Sunday musical matinees at the home of Baron Gottfried van Swieten. This exposure and confrontation, this

Lorenzo da Ponte, the librettist of Mozart’s three greatest Italian operas, was born a Jew, a fact rumored about during his lifetime but not definitively established until 1900. The treatment (or not) of Da Ponte’s Jewish origins as documented from his time to the present constitutes a history of concealment, rumor, discovery, denigration, and exploitation. Its nadir was reached during the Nazi period, its zenith most recently, as the poet, hitherto a secondary player in the Mozart biographies, has emerged as the colorful protagonist in substantial biographies of his own.

Theories about old age and the presumed manifestations ofa distinctive late style in the works of great creative artists often take the form of abstractions. As proposed by such formidable thinkers past and present as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Sir Walter Raleigh, Erik Erikson, André Malraux, Theodor Adorno, and Edward Said, they are frequently expressed as binary opposites or as endpoints on a spectrum: organic Decline (fragmentation and disintegration) vs. metaphysical Transcendence (integration and coherence); Withdrawal vs. Rejuvenation; a Rupture with the past vs. natural Evolution or perhaps a Relapse to an earlier phase of development. Other polarities include Retrospection vs. Innovation and Objective Demonstration vs. Subjective Expression. This essay seeks to determine the relevance of such concepts to Johann Sebastian Bach. It also considers the pertinence of other proposed Late Style attributes to his later life and works: Generativity, Archaization, Asceticism, Death Obsession, and Goethe's cryptic and influential maxim: "Old Age: the Gradual Withdrawal from Appearance." The article suggests that, despite their many undeniable mutual contradictions, these attributes all help illuminate one or the other facet of Bach's extraordinarily multifarious career-not only in his final decades but from the beginning.

"The essays in this volume serve a single objective: to promote a deeper understanding of two of the greatest composers in history, as both supremely gifted creators and fellow human beings. The many fascinating topics include, among others, Bach's relationship to his sons, Martin Luther's importance in Bach's music and in his life, Bach's attitude toward the Jews, Mozart's wit, his portrayal in Amadeus, his evolving responses to Bach's influence, and the lessons of his unfinished works. Diverse interpretive approaches range from text criticism to style criticism and draw on Freudian and Schenkerian analysis, along with the ideas of Harold Bloom, Theodor Adorno, Edward Said, Maynard Solomon, Charles Rosen, and other challenging thinkers"-- Provided by publisher.

A singular resource, Exploring the World of J.S. Bach puts Bach aficionados and classical music lovers in the shoes of the master composer. Bach scholar Robert L. Marshall and veteran writer-translator Traute M. Marshall lead readers on a Baroque Era odyssey through fifty towns where Bach resided, visited, and of course created his works. Drawing on established sources as well as newly available East German archives, the authors describe each site in Bach's time and the present, linking the sites to the biographical information, artistic and historic landmarks, and musical activities associated with each. A wealth of historical illustrations, color photographs, and maps supplement the text, whetting the appetite of the visitor and the armchair traveler alike.

Eisenach 1685-95 -- Ohrdruf 1695-1700 -- Lüneburg 1700-1702 -- Arnstadt 1703-7 -- Mühlhausen 1707-8 -- Weimar 1703, 1708-17 -- Köthen 1717-23 -- Leipzig 1723-50.

Charles Rosen, the pianist and man of letters, is perhaps the single most influential writer on music of the past half-century. While Rosen's vast range as a writer and performer is encyclopedic, it has focused particularly on the living "canonical" repertory extending from Bach to Boulez. Inspired in its liveliness and variety of critical approaches by Charles Rosen's challenging work, Variations on the Canon offers original essays by some of the world's most eminent musical scholars. Contributors address such issues as style and compositional technique, genre, influence and modeling, and reception history; develop insights afforded by close examination of compositional sketches; and consider what language and metaphors might most meaningfully convey insights into music. However diverse the modes of inquiry, each essay sheds new light on the works of those composers posterity has deemed central to the modern Western musical tradition. Contributors: Pierre Boulez, Scott Burnham, Elliott Carter, Robert Curry, Walter Frisch, David Gable, Philip Gossett, Jeffrey Kallberg, Joseph Kerman, Richard Kramer, William Kinderman, Lewis Lockwood, Sir Charles Mackerras, Robert L. Marshall, Robert P. Morgan, Charles Rosen, Julian Rushton, David Schulenberg, László Somfai, Leo Treitler, James Webster, and Robert Winter. Robert Curry is principal of the Conservatorium High School and honorary senior lecturer in the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Sydney; David Gable is Assistant Professor of Music at Clark-Atlanta University; Robert L. Marshall is Louis, Frances, and Jeffrey Sachar Professor Emeritus of Music at Brandeis University.

Dennis Brain's recorded legacy is nothing less than prodigious. In addition to his few, highly celebrated recordings as a featured soloist, Brain participated in a breathtakingly vast number of recordings in his role as principal horn of several prestigious orchestras and chamber ensembles. By far the most important of these was the Philharmonia Orchestra, of which Brain was principal horn from its inception in July of 1945 until his death on 1 September 1957. Brain also served as principal horn of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from its founding by Sir Thomas Beecham in the autumn of 1946 through 1948, and, again, after intermittent appearances in early 1950, regularly from the autumn of 1950 until April of 1954. Since the RPO also served as the resident orchestra for the Glyndebourne festival from 1949 through 1963, Brain was involved in the early post-war Glyndebourne productions as well—at all events, through the 1953 season. In addition, Brain served as principal horn with the following organizations: the RAF Orchestra (R. P. O'Donnell) from 1940, the National Symphony Orchestra (Sidney Beer) from 1942, the London Chamber Orchestra and the (New) London Orchestra until about 1950, and, sporadically, with the London Wind Players and London Mozart Players (Harry Blech) through the early 1950s, as well as with Karl Haas's London Baroque Orchestra and London Baroque Ensemble. Brain also made recordings with his own group, the Dennis Brain Wind Quintet, which he had founded in April 1946, and with its outgrowth and continuation: the Dennis Brain Wind Ensemble.

"Mozart Speaks is a tapestry of letters, documents, contemporary accounts, and insightful commentary--a guide to Mozart's thoughts on almost every subject. Topically organized excerpts from Mozart's writings convey his daily preoccupations and pleasures, his experience of the musician's life, and his observations as he traveled throughout Europe. At the heart of the book are Mozart's ideas about music: his artistic code, his teaching methods, and his views on the art and craft of composition." -- Publisher