Elaine Sisman
Encyclopedia
Elaine Rochelle Sisman is the Anne Parsons Bender Professor of Music at Columbia University
, where she has taught since 1982. 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.
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 2005-06.http://www.ams-net.org/AMSadmin.php#pp
in 1972, studying with Malcolm Bilson
and received her doctorate in music history at Princeton University
in 1978.http://music.columbia.edu/people/bios/user/esisman
and the American Council of Learned Societies
. She received the Alfred Einstein Award of the American Musicological Society for best article by a younger scholar. Columbia has honored her with its Great Teacher Award in 1992 and the Award for Distinguished Service to the Core Curriculum in 2000.
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.
"It was through the Core that I fell in love with Columbia." Columbia University Record vol. 25 no. 15 (February 25, 2000)
"Helvetius said 'Happy is the man who loves his work,' and, mutatis mutandis, I feel that way about the AMS (American Musicological Society) as well as MOW (my own work)." AMS Newsletter, Feb. 2005, p. 2
"Wowy zowy!"
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, where she has taught since 1982. 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
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, and of the opus-concept in the eighteenth century.
Career
Sisman has taught at the University of MichiganUniversity of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
and Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, as well as Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
where she currently teaches. She serves on the board of directors of the Joseph Haydn-Institut in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, the Akademie für Mozartforschung in Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
, 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
American Musicological Society
The American Musicological Society is a membership-based musicological organization founded in 1934 to advance scholarly research in the various fields of music as a branch of learning and scholarship; it grew out of a small contingent of the Music Teachers National Association and, more directly,...
in 2005-06.http://www.ams-net.org/AMSadmin.php#pp
Education
Sisman studied piano at the Juilliard pre-college division. She graduated from Cornell UniversityCornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
in 1972, studying with Malcolm Bilson
Malcolm Bilson
Malcolm Bilson is an American pianist specializing in performance on the fortepiano, which is the 18th century version of the piano. Bilson is the Frederick J...
and received her doctorate in music history at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in 1978.http://music.columbia.edu/people/bios/user/esisman
Awards
Sisman has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the HumanitiesNational Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
and the American Council of Learned Societies
American Council of Learned Societies
The American Council of Learned Societies , founded in 1919, is a private nonprofit federation of seventy scholarly organizations.ACLS is best known as a funder of humanities research through fellowships and grants awards. ACLS Fellowships are designed to permit scholars holding the Ph.D...
. She received the Alfred Einstein Award of the American Musicological Society for best article by a younger scholar. Columbia has honored her with its Great Teacher Award in 1992 and the Award for Distinguished Service to the Core Curriculum in 2000.
Criticism
Sisman's work has been highly regarded almost universally. Eugene K. Wolf of the University of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
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.
Quotations
"We are seeing that historical musicology is becoming more cultural, and ethnomusicology is becoming more historical," News."It was through the Core that I fell in love with Columbia." Columbia University Record vol. 25 no. 15 (February 25, 2000)
"Helvetius said 'Happy is the man who loves his work,' and, mutatis mutandis, I feel that way about the AMS (American Musicological Society) as well as MOW (my own work)." AMS Newsletter, Feb. 2005, p. 2
"Wowy zowy!"
Works by Sisman
- Haydn and His World (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997)
- Mozart: The "Jupiter" Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551 (Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press, 1993)
- Haydn and the Classical Variation (Cambridge: Harvard U. Press, 1993)
- "After the Heroic Style: Fantasia and Beethoven's 'Characteristic' Sonatas of 1809," Beethoven Forum 6 (1997)
- "Genre, Gesture, and Meaning in Mozart's 'Prague Symphony,'" in Mozart Studies 2 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997)
- "Pathos and Path?ique: Rhetorical Stance in Beethoven's Piano Sonata in C minor, Op.13," Beethoven Forum 3 (1994)
- "Brahms and the Variation Canon," 19th-Century Music 14 (1990), 132-53
- "Haydn's Theater Symphonies," Journal of the American Musicological Society 43 (1990)
- "Small and Expanded Forms: Koch's Model and Haydn's Music," The Musical Quarterly 68 (1982)
See also
- Autobiographical sketch (Haydn)Autobiographical sketch (Haydn)Joseph Haydn's Autobiographical sketch is the only autobiographical document ever prepared by this composer. Haydn wrote the sketch, which is about two pages long, at the request of Ignaz de Luca, who was preparing a volume of brief biographies of Austrian luminaries entitled Das gelehrte...
- Double variationDouble variationThe double variation is a musical form used in classical music. It is a type of theme and variations that employs two themes. In a double variation set, a first theme is followed by a second theme , followed by a variation on A, then a variation on B, and so on with alternating A and B...