| Sumario: | Today the classical style in music is defined primarily through the accomplishments of a handful of acknowledged masters, with Haydn and Mozart leading the field. Such selective fascination has all but eclipsed the music of most of their contemporaries. In this book, Sterling Murray examines one of the most talented of this group: Antonio Rosetti (ca. 1750-92). Born and trained in Bohemia, Rosetti spent most of his creative life in Germany, where he served as music director to the Prince of Oettingen-Wallerstein between 1773 and 1789 and then the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin until his death in 1792. The Career of an Eighteenth-Century Kapellmeister provides the first comprehensive investigation of Rosetti's life. The events of the composer's biography are unfolded against a vivid picture of musical life at the two small German courts where Rosetti was employed. The second half of the book is devoted to an examination of form and style in Rosetti's music, illustrated with full-score musical examples in the text and on a complementary website. What emerges from this investigation is a composer who, having conquered the stylistic language of his day, challenged those conventions to produce imaginative and highly creative works of great beauty. Sterling E. Murray is Professor Emeritus of the School of Music at West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania. His thematic catalog of Antonio Rosetti's music was published by Harmonie Park Press in 1997.
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