Background
Dean, Winton Basil was born on March 18, 1916 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England. Son of Basil Herbert Dean and Esther Van Gruisen.
(Written by the foremost British Handel scholar, these ess...)
Written by the foremost British Handel scholar, these essays encompass a variety of opera-related subjects, including shorter pieces for "The Listener" and substantial surveys, such as "Shakespeare in the Opera House" and "Beethoven and Opera." Scholarly articles containing the results of original research appear alongside essays intended for the general reader with an interest in opera. The collection spans thirty-five years of work. In light of recent information, each essay has been updated, annotated, and revised for this volume.
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Dean, Winton Basil was born on March 18, 1916 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England. Son of Basil Herbert Dean and Esther Van Gruisen.
Bachelor, King's College, Cambridge, England, 1938. Master of Arts, King's College, Cambridge, England, 1941. Doctor of Music, Cambridge University, 1996.
After World War II, he became notable as a writer on music, particularly when he published several articles about the compositions of Bizet, starting with La Coupe du roi de Thulé in Music & Letters in 1947. He considerably rewrote his 1948 book on Bizet in 1965 due to new material and music of the composer which had since emerged. From 1965 he wrote articles criticizing the Oeser edition of Carmen, listing many mistakes, describing it as "a musicological disaster of the first magnitude", and continued to point out its errors in reviews of subsequent performances and recordings. In the 1954 Grove he contributed an extended essay on 'criticism', ending with a long list of the necessary qualifications for a critic.
However, Handel became his main focus; and apart from the book already mentioned, he also published Handel and the Opera Seria (Berkeley, 1969), and a more general Essays on Opera (Oxford, 1990, 2/1993). His definitive two-volume work on Handel operas was published in 1987 and 2006, and set new standards in Handel scholarship and did much to help the revival of stagings of Handel's operas.
Dean contributed heavily to a number of musicological publications, including The Musical Times and Opera, as well as to The Listener and record sleeve notes. His writings include studies of French Opera, and also Italian Opera before the dominance of Verdi. His reputation rests principally upon his analyses of Handel's output, and Handel’s Dramatic Oratorios and Masques is widely acknowledged as a seminal work not only in Handel scholarship but also in musicology as a whole, thanks to its detailed discussion of original documents and thorough approach to the topic.
Member committee Handel Opera Society, London, 1955—1960. Member music panel Arts Council Great Britain, 1957—1960. Ernest Bloch professor music University California, Berkeley, 1965—1966, Regent's lecturer, 1977.
Matthew Vassar lecturer Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, 1979.
(Written by the foremost British Handel scholar, these ess...)
Member of American Musicol. Society (correspondent), Göttinger Händel Gesellschaft (honorary. Member kuratorium 1982-1997), G.F. Händel Gesellschaft Halle (honorary.
Member vorstand since 1980, vice president 1981-1999), Royal Musical Association (honorary. Council member 1965-1998, vice president 1970-1998).
Married Thalia Mary Shaw, September 4, 1939 (deceased December 2000). Children: Brigid(deceased), Stephen, Diana.