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Charles Rosen

Charles Welles Rosen (May 5, 1927 â€“ December 9, 2012) was an American pianist and writer on music.[2] He is remembered for his career as a concert pianist, for his recordings, and for his many writings, notable among them the book The Classical Style.

This article is about the pianist. For the artificial-intelligence expert, see Charles Rosen (scientist). For the painter, see Charles Rosen (painter).

Life and career[edit]

Youth and education[edit]

Charles Rosen was born in New York City on May 5, 1927, to a Russian-Jewish immigrant couple, Irwin Rosen, an architect, and Anita Rosen (née Gerber), a semiprofessional actress and amateur pianist.[2][3]


Charles began his musical studies at age 4 and at age 6 enrolled in the Juilliard School.[4] At age 11 he left Juilliard to study piano with Moriz Rosenthal,[5] and with Rosenthal's wife, Hedwig Kanner.[6] Rosenthal, born in 1862, had been a student of Franz Liszt. Rosenthal's memories of the 19th century in classical music were communicated to his pupil and appear frequently in Rosen's later writings. (For instance, in Critical Entertainments, Rosen offers a memory from Rosenthal concerning how Brahms performed on the piano; specifically that he "rolled" chords upward, starting with the bass note.) Every year from the ages of three to twelve, Rosen heard Josef Hofmann play, and he later suggested that Hofmann had a greater influence on him than Rosenthal.[b]


Rosen's family background was not a wealthy one. The Guardian editor Nicholas Wroe interviewed Rosen in his old age, and reported:

(1971), his most famous work, which analyzes the nature and evolution of the style of the Classical period as it was developed by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Rosen revised the work in 1997, leaving most of the text intact but adding a second chapter on Beethoven and a preface addressing comments on the first edition.

The Classical Style

Sonata Forms (1980), which is in some ways a follow-up to The Classical Style, is an intensive analysis of the primary musical form used in the classical era. Rosen wrote the work when his intended contribution to the on sonata form was rejected by the editors; he enlarged the article he had written into book form.

New Grove

(1995), which is centered on the early generation of Romantic composers, including Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, Mendelssohn, and Berlioz.

The Romantic Generation

Beethoven's Piano Sonatas: A Short Companion (2001), which gives general background on these famous works as well as sonata-by-sonata advice for performers.

Critical Entertainments: Music Old and New (2001), a compilation of essays originally published in magazines and scholarly journals, mostly . It covers a variety of topics, including Oliver Strunk; the work of various composers; the status of contemporary music, and the "New Musicology".

The New York Review of Books

Piano Notes: The World of the Pianist (2002), an account of the concert pianist's world, addressed to the general reader. It covers piano technique, the instrument itself, the culture of piano performance, and the repertoire for the instrument.

"Schubert's inflections of Classical form", a chapter of the .

Cambridge Companion to Schubert

For : the U.S. National Book Award in category Arts and Letters.[19]

The Classical Style

Elected to the (1974).[20]

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Elected to the (1995)[21]

American Philosophical Society

For The Romantic Generation: the Otto Kinkeldey award of the (1996).

American Musicological Society

Honorary doctorates from the and Durham University.[5]

University of Cambridge

For his recording of the complete piano works of Boulez: the (Netherlands).[5]

Edison Prize

For his recordings of the and of the Diabelli Variations: Grammy Award nominations.[5]

late Beethoven piano sonatas

A , awarded by President Obama February 13, 2012, in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House.

National Humanities Medal

An opera entitled was created in his honor by librettist Jeremy Denk and composer Steven Stucky. It was premiered at the Ojai Music Festival, June 13, 2014.[22][23][24]

The Classical Style

(1971, 2nd expanded ed., 1997, New York: Norton): ISBN 0-393-31712-9

The Classical Style

Schoenberg (1976, )

Fontana Modern Masters

The Musical Languages of Elliott Carter (1984, Washington, D.C.: Music Division, Research Services, Library of Congress)

Romanticism and Realism: The Mythology of Nineteenth-Century Art (with Henri Zerner; 1985, New York: Norton):  0-393-30196-6

ISBN

Sonata Forms (2nd ed., 1988, New York: Norton):  0-393-30219-9

ISBN

The Frontiers of Meaning: Three Informal Lectures on Music (1994, New York: Hill and Wang):  1-871082-65-X

ISBN

Arnold Schoenberg (1996, Chicago: University of Chicago Press):  0-691-02706-4

ISBN

The Romantic Generation (1995, Cambridge: Harvard University Press):  0-674-77934-7

ISBN

Romantic Poets, Critics, and Other Madmen (2000, Cambridge: Harvard University Press):  0-674-77951-7

ISBN

Beethoven's Piano Sonatas: A Short Companion (2001, New Haven: Yale University Press):  0-300-09070-6

ISBN

Critical Entertainments: Music Old and New (2001, Cambridge: Harvard University Press):  0-674-00684-4

ISBN

Piano Notes: The World of the Pianist (2002, Free Press):  0-7432-4312-9

ISBN

Variations on the Canon, edited by Robert Curry et al. (2008, University of Rochester Press): a collection of essays by noted scholars and musicians, published on the occasion of Rosen's 80th birthday. It contains writings on Rosen's critical methods (and other topics), a previously unpublished essay by Rosen himself, and concludes with listings of all his recordings and published writings up to the date of publication.

Music and Sentiment (2010, New Haven: Yale University Press):  0-300-12640-9

ISBN

Freedom and the Arts: Essays on Music and Literature (2012, Cambridge: Harvard University Press)

The Joy of Playing, the Joy of Thinking: Conversations About Art and Performance. [Interviews with Catherine Temerson, translated from the French by Catherine Zerner.] (2020, Cambridge: Harvard University Press):  9780674988460

ISBN

at AllMusic

Charles Rosen

on the Naxos website

Biography of Rosen

at "Bach Cantatas"

Biography of Rosen

to The New York Review of Books

Archive of Rosen's contributions

Review by Denis Dutton of Rosen's book Piano Notes

on YouTube, David Dubal, WNCN-FM, October 17, 1980

Interview with Charles Rosen (1 of 3)

on YouTube, David Dubal, WNCN-FM, January 15, 1982

Interview with Charles Rosen (2 of 3)

on YouTube, David Dubal, WNCN-FM, June 24, 1984

Interview with Charles Rosen (3 of 3)