Russian Life of R.-aloys Mooser, Music Critic to the Tsars: Memoirs and Selected Writings

Author: 
Year:
Pages:320
ISBN:0-7734-5215-X
978-0-7734-5215-2
Price:$219.95 + shipping
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This book presents a primary source in music history, the memoirs of the Swiss music critic and scholar of Russian music, Robert Aloys Mooser. The memoir includes Mooser’s description of music and musical life in Geneva and St.Petersburg in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His first-hand account of musical figures and events, seen through the eyes of a Protestant Genevan, introduce the reader to the main cultural currents of the time. This book contains eleven black and white photographs and and twelve color photographs.

Reviews

“Mooser’s memoirs in English translation, enhanced by Mary Woodside’s splendid annotations, make available an important primary source in its own right, to the benefit of music historians and music lovers alike.” – Malcom Hamrick Brown, Professor Emeritus, Indiana University, Founding Editor of the series, Russian Music Studies

“This book will be the first English translation of a primary source for the period 1890-1910 and I expect will be a welcome addition to the scholarly research already in the public domain. The fact that it also includes translation of music criticism from the Journal de Saint-Pétersbourg, never before printed, illustrating contemporaneous attitudes towards various Russian composers, including the influence their personal lives had on critical and popular evaluation of their music is an added bonus.” - John D. Kissick, Professor And Director, School of Fine Art and Music, University of Guelph

“An entertaining, illuminating romp through turn-of-the century St. Petersburg culture, narrated by an eyewitness justifiably proud of his improvised education and rise to prominence. . . .Neal Johnson is to be commended for his sparkling translation and Mary Woodside for her indispensable commentary to the memoirs, which, beyond their technical insights, attest to the power of art to shape politics.” – Dr. Simon Morrison, Associate Professor of Music, Princeton University

“As well as providing important information and source material on the cultural history of late imperial Russia and its music, these Memoirs make a significant musicological contribution. . . .Mooser’s Memoirs provide a valuable insight on what happens when musicians and music migrate from one cultural site to another.” - Dr. Friedemann Sallis, Associate Professor, University of Calgary

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Preface: About the Edition
Foreword by Malcolm Hamrick Brown
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 Journeys
2 Artists
3 Theatres and Troupes
4 Concerts, Ensembles, Patrons
5 The Siloti Concerts
6 Composers
7 Postlude
Appendix I: Select Genealogy of Romanovs
Appendix II: Selected articles from the Journal de Saint-Pétersbourg
Bibliography
Index

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