Review
`the first comprehensive survey of Rossi's output ... the book enables us to appreciate the trials and successes of the first Jew to impress his creative talent on a grudging European scene ... the depth of research and width of context is impressive, extending far beyond matters musical. intellectual excitement ... Mary Douglas has given students of Leviticus much to ponder, and we remain as ever in her debt.' Victor Tunkel, Journal of Jewish Studies.
`as exhaustive as it could be. It accompanies Harran's meticulous edition of Rossi's collective works and together this oeuvre will finally place Rossi into musicological history in the way he deserves ... Harran's book meticulously analyses, musically and statistically, the characteristics of all the music, and as well as placing it in both musical and cultural contexts, indicates its influence, not only in the sphere of Italian music, but within our own shores.' Michelene Wandor, Early Music Review, 54, October 1999
`Harran's book is a musicological masterpiece. The book is written with a proficiency [dexterity, skills, abilities] that can only awaken envy, in a rich language and with exceptional exactitude. It is accompanied by a rich bibliography and an inclusive listing of Rossi's works. For all that, there is not a trace of mere pedantry in it. On the contrary, its discussions are conducted with an end to broadening knowledge and against the background of the rich cultural agenda of both Italian Renaissance and Jewish culture.' Ears for Music: A Gathering of Articles on Performance and Performers, January 2000
Product Description
Salamone Rossi (c.1570-c.1627) occupies a unique place in Renaissance music culture: he was the earliest outstanding Jewish composer to work in the European art music tradition. Working for the Gonzaga dukes in Mantua, yet remaining faithful to his own religious community, Rossi has a biography fraught with difficult and often exciting questions of socio-cultural order. How Rossi solved, or appears to have solved, the problem of conflicting interests is a subject worthy of inquiry, not only because we want to know more about Rossi, but also because Rossi can stand as a paradigm for other Jewish figures who, contemporary with him, moved between different cultures.
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