Background
Sisman, Elaine Rochelle was born on January 20, 1952 in New York City. Daughter of Irving and Margot (Weintraub) Sisman.
( In this first full-scale examination of the theme-and-...)
In this first full-scale examination of the theme-and-variations form in the Classical era, Elaine Sisman demonstrates persuasively that it was Haydn's prophetic innovationsplacing the variation in every position of a multi-movement cycle, broadening its array of theme types, and transforming its larger shapethat truly created the Classical variation. She elucidates the concept and technique of variation, traces Haydn's development and use of the form in symphonies, chamber music, and keyboard works, and then shows how Mozart and Beethoven in their individual ways built on his contributions. Throughout, Sisman's analysis reflects both musical thinking of the Classical period and today's critical interests. She discusses ornamentation and musical figures, explores the pervasive eighteenth-century notion of music as rhetoric, and relates the style of the variation to that of the other dominant form in this period: sonata form. Her book offers a revaluation of the nature of the variation form and a new approach to the music of Haydn. Haydn and the Classical Variation is addressed to students and scholars of music, but the author's unaffected style makes it accessible to nonprofessional music lovers as well.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067438315X/?tag=2022091-20
Sisman, Elaine Rochelle was born on January 20, 1952 in New York City. Daughter of Irving and Margot (Weintraub) Sisman.
Sisman studied piano at the Juilliard pre-college division. She graduated from in 1972, studying with Malcolm Bilson and received her doctorate in music history at Princeton University in 1978.
The author of Haydn and the Classical Variation, Mozart: The "Jupiter" Symphony, and editor of Haydn and His World, she specializes in music, rhetoric, and aesthetics of the 18th and 19th centuries, and has written on such topics as memory and invention in late Beethoven, ideas of pathétique and fantasia around 1800, Haydn"s theater symphonies, the sublime in Mozart"s music, and Brahms"s slow movements. Her monograph-length article on "variations" appears in the revised New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, and she is at work on studies of music and melancholy, of Don Giovanni, and of the opus-concept in the eighteenth century. Sisman has taught at the University of Michigan and Harvard University, as well as Columbia University where she currently teaches.
She serves on the board of directors of the Joseph Haydn-Institut in Cologne, the Akademie für Mozartforschung in Salzburg, and the American Brahms Society, and is an editor of Beethoven Forum and associate editor of The Musical Quarterly and 19th-Century Music.
She was President of the American Musicological Society in 2005-2006. Sisman"s work has been highly regarded almost universally.
Eugene K. Wolf of the University of Pennsylvania had these flattering remarks for one of Sisman"s works: "By far the most extensive, intelligent, and original treatment of the concept and technique of variation yet produced. Sisman employs a wide range of approaches, from classical and neoclassical rhetorical theory and the most recent techniques of literary analysis to sophisticated modern methods of dealing with the music itself." One review claims, "Elaine Sisman"s excellent book will be a major inspiration for younger scholars and for the vast majority of readers in and outside English-speaking countries." Widely recognized for her eloquence and the passion she possesses for the music she studies, Sisman has become a premiere voice on classical music
( In this first full-scale examination of the theme-and-...)
Member American Musicological Society (president Greater New York chapter 1982-1984, board directors 1992-1994, Einstein award 1983, member editorial Journal of American Mathematical Society), American Brahms Society (board directors since 1993), Society Fellows in Humanities Columbia University (chairman 1992-1994).
Married Martin Fridson, June 14, 1981. Children: Arielle, Daniel.