The Musician in Literature in the Age of Bach

"Stephen Rose has taken it upon himself in this extraordinary book to ponder and report on some two dozen (for most modern tastes unreadable) German novels from the seventeenth century, works that describe, in often hilarious, often poignant detail, the musician’s life and world at the time. He does this in the service of a larger purpose … Rose maintains early on that 'to grasp how the lives of musicians such as Bach were embedded in the culture and society of their time, a broader range of texts must be investigated'; namely, the literary traditions he then diligently surveys. [He] suggests that many Bach anecdotes, and even some of Bach’s own statements, reflect those traditions. His conjectures are refreshingly bold and provocative and, often enough, plausible … This remarkable volume is replete with fascinating information and thought-provoking ideas."
Early Music America Magazine

"A well-presented, lively account of the social position of music and musicians in the later seventeenth century."
Modern Language Review

"Rose uncovers the frequently subversive and always compelling rhetorical energy of storytelling by and about German musicians, making their texts accessible and appealing … [He] has made these virtually forgotten novels engaging and instructive. His central questions should influence scholarship on aesthetics in general and on the relationship between sound and text in particular. Perhaps most tellingly, the reader finishes this well-written volume with the strong desire to read the novels Rose discusses."
German Quarterly