Two New Composer Biographies

[Greg K]

About to be published or perhaps already available are two new biographies of composers among my own favorites even if never given much attention by UC participants:

Ernest John Moeran: His Life and Music by Ian Maxwell, &

Nikolay Myaskovsky: A Composer and His Times by Patrick Zuk, -

both issued by Boydell Press in the UK (and not an inexpensive proposition to acquire).

Has anyone here had a look at these, or know where excerpts might be available?

On my level I dread Composer biographies overtaken by musicological technicalities and minutiae, but rather prefer a more personal and historical orientation, where any musical description and analysis is integrated into the story, not the center of focus in its own right.  Without a willingness to make potential costly mistakes in regards to these two volumes (whatever my enthusiasm for their subjects), I await reviews from others more impulsive and/or affluent.

[adriano]

I am hesitating on this new Myaskovsky biography, not only because of its high price, but also because I already have Gregor Tassie's excellent and well-documented Myaskovsky 400-page biography - which was published in 2014 - and which was praised by Oliver Knussen and Vladimir Jurowski. It was also an expensive affair...
It would be fair publishers could make cheaper paperback versions available first. People interested in such themes are generally not rich, and this way the book would be better sold and better promoted anyway.

Tassie's biography, incidentally, was available only as a hardcover edition. Fascicolos are not sewn, but the single pages are badly glued, a thing which will not last very long. One must be careful not to open the book too widely, otherwise everything could fall apart. And the book cannot remain open whthout holdig it down with both hands. In other words, it's but an (unprofessionally) glued "paperback with cardboard cover" edition. Many professionally glued bindings last quite a long time, but reports from librarians are all other than positive: many glued books have to be "reglued", an expensive procedure since the back of th page block has to be recut and re-bound to the cover. One has to pay some 40-50 Euros for such kind of "repair".

(The German hardcover edition of Stelios Galatopoulos' luxurious (linen-bound) biography of Maria Callas was also a "glued"- and a very badly glued - affair: after a week of using it, it fell apart. Fortunately enough, its English edition is "sewn").

That's today's publishers for you... I onlo hope one of them reads my posting...

[britishcomposer]

Greg,
thank you for bringing this to my attention.
Though I am not sure if Moeran is considered a proper subject for discussion here, I can tell you that I read Maxwell's thesis on Moeran a few years ago. This had very few samples of detailed analysis. I remember his discussion of the problematic chronology of the E-flat String Quartet. This was quite fascinating to read and not at all ,over the top'. But I also remember that his take on Moeran the man was quite analytical, not to say deconstructivist. He definitely wants to make an end with many established myths about Moeran. It seems the thesis is no longer accessible but a chapter of the book has been published earlier and can be read here:
https://www.musicologyireland.com/jsmi/index.php/journal/article/view/170

Hope this helps!

[eschiss1]

Self's book on Moeran was already extremely good.
I borrowed a copy of Tassie by interloan in 2019 or so. It may have been rebound by then?...

[britishcomposer]

Yes, I found Self's analyses very imaginative, too. Maxwell however does not agree with Self's concept of a germ cell determining a whole movement. I do not recall his argument in detail but his study proposes definitely different approaches.

[Greg K]

I read Maxwell's dissertation myself online some time ago, BC, and found it fascinating in the "deconstruction" you refer to, which discounts much of the standard lore about Moeran (aspects of his early life & the effects of the War, for example) brought together most accessibly by Geoffrey Self in his own book on the composer, which however focused more on musical analysis than biography.

In talking about his new volume Maxwell has said "after graduating with my doctorate in 2015, I continued my research into the life and work of Moeran, and was able to uncover substantial additional evidence that has both added to and superseded the conclusions reached in the PhD thesis - some of which is now obsolete.  I hope that the forthcoming book will clarify much of Moeran's life for those still clinging to the extensive mythology, and will interest others in a composer whose full significance in British music is only now beginning to be revealed."

I expect much of the dissertation will be reproduced in the book, then, but significantly restructured with elaborations and corrections, - and I hope better literary quality (the original thesis had a forensic tilt to it that reads like a court proceeding).

[britishcomposer]

Indeed, Greg, 'forensic tilt' is a good description of the original thesis and I too hope for an improvement. When I read the thesis I doubted that a publication might result from it.

[Greg K]

BTW Adriano, I've been told Tassie's Myaskovsky biography is shortly to be issued in a paperback version, which we can probably safely assume will be cheaper (for our successors).

[adriano]

Oh, that's great news, Greg. Thanks!
Still shameful that it needed 7 years...