Charles Rosen - Life and Career

Life and Career

In his youth he studied piano with Moriz Rosenthal. 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.

Rosen has said that the pianist Józef Hofmann, whom he heard every year from age three to twelve, was a greater influence on him than Rosenthal. He recalls having played for Leopold Godowsky at age seven; Godowsky asked Rosen what he would like to be when he grew up, and, to Godowsky's amusement, Rosen answered, "I want to be a pianist like Józef Hofmann." Rosen has also named Arturo Toscanini as a great influence.

Following his training Rosen pursued a successful career as a concert pianist, appearing in numerous recitals and orchestral engagements around the world. He recorded a number of 20th century works at the invitation of their composers, including music by Stravinsky, Elliott Carter, and Pierre Boulez. His recordings also include earlier literature such as Debussy's Études, Schumann's works for solo piano, Beethoven's late sonatas and Diabelli Variations, and Bach's Art of Fugue and Goldberg Variations.

Rosen is also the author of many acclaimed books about music. Perhaps his most famous work is The Classical Style (1971), which analyzes the nature and evolution of the high classical style as it was developed by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. For it he won the U.S. National Book Award in category Arts and Letters. Sonata Forms (1980) is in some ways a follow-up on The Classical Style; it is an intensive analysis of the primary musical form used in the classical era. The Romantic Generation (1995) covers the work of the early generation of Romantic composers, including Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, and Mendelssohn.

Although Charles Rosen in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians is referred as one of the musicologist Oliver Strunk's students, he never formally studied musicology and he has not gained a degree in musicology. (As a graduate student in French, Rosen did room with fellow musicology graduate student Michael Steinberg, who also went on to become a classical-music critic and scholar of renown.)

The polymathic Rosen has published as well in other areas of the humanities: Romanticism and Realism: The Mythology of Nineteenth-Century Art and Romantic Poets, Critics, and Other Madmen.

Rosen has from time to time held positions as a university professor. He holds a Ph.D. in French Literature from Princeton University and has taught at Harvard University, Stony Brook University, University of Chicago, University of Oxford and the Royal Northern College of Music. He is a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books.