The Career of an Eighteenth-Century Kapellmeister

"[W]ritten in a very accessible style. . . . Murray draws on a voluminous and varied amount of archival data . . . to put together a realistic and practical idea of what it was like to live and work at the Oettingen-Wallerstein court, and to a lesser degree the Mecklenburg-Schwerin court." ECHO

"Painstakingly researched and documented. [Murray's] historical and archival scholarship are above reproach. With this volume, which sets the seal on his long-term study of the composer, Murray has succeeded in bringing 'Rosetti and his music out of the shadows and into the same scholarly light as his best-known contemporaries.'" EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY MUSIC

"Rosetti [served] his various lords with willingness and gusto. [Murray's book] succeeds in creating a concise portrait of the life of this . . . widely renowned composer that convinces through exemplary clarity and readability [and] demonstrates how Rosetti's compositional techniques developed. [Likely] to remain standard for a long time to come." DIE MUSIKFORSCHUNG

"An important book [that] portrays, for the first time in a book-length study, the life and creative output of . . . one of the important and innovative composers of his era [the late eighteenth century]. Can be recommended to anyone interested in music of the Classic era." ZEITSCHRIFT DES HISTORISCHEN VEREINS FUER SCHWABEN

"Provides many perceptive comments on music that he clearly knows very well. Admirable is his discussion of Rosetti's handling of sonata and concerto form. Will definitely become the reference point for all future work on the composer." Vassilis Vavoulis, MUSIC & LETTERS

"The Career of an Eighteenth-Century Kapellmeister is the first in-depth study of Antonio Rosetti, one of the most significant and internationally known composers of the Classical Period. Sterling Murray brings focus not only to a talented and reputable composer but also to the social situation of musicians of this period. This book is a crucial piece to the complex puzzle that is called the classical period and should be a model for further studies on equally versatile and progressive composers. --Bertil van Boer, author of the Historical Dictionary of Music of the Classical Period" .