Charles Rosen (1) (1927–2012)

This is one of those books that stretched me. Much of it was beyond me, but what I understood informed me and made me a better listener. Both aspects made it a slow read. In addition, I often stopped to listen to the pieces that Rosen analyzed. Some were familiar, others I can’t recall having previously heard.
My big takeaway is that what I learned about the sonata form in music appreciation and what I still hear repeated in commentaries during the breaks in concert broadcasts is wrong. The sonata was not a set of rules. Rosen writes: “There are no fixed ‘rules,’ although there are successful patterns imitated and even aped, and unconscious habits.” Or, as he also puts it, “the sonata form could not be defined until it was dead.”
Rosen lays out the origins of the classical style in the increasingly strong polarity of tonic and dominant. Other steps in the chromatic scale could increase or relax tension, depending on their similarity or difference from the two poles. Skillful employment of this could satisfy the need for dramatic events balanced by proportion. The language employed by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven was not a definite form but a way of writing, a feeling for proportion, direction, and texture rather than pattern.
There are many good insights into performance practice. Rosen’s reaction to “authentic” performance is reticent: “A performance is not an archaeological dig.”
From start to finish, this reader felt he was in the hands of a gifted teacher who knew and understood the pieces he discussed, as well as what came before and after in music history. He also situates his discussion in the broader context of movements in the arts and literature of the time.
One thing only holds me back from awarding the fifth star: I like to reserve that for books that are so good that everyone should read them. However, because of the necessary time investment, this excellent book might not be for everyone.… (more)