Michael Beckerman (musicologist)

Michael Beckerman (born 1951) is an American musicologist specializing in Czech and Eastern European music. He has served as Carroll and Milton Petrie Chair and Collegiate Professor of Music at New York University and as Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence at the New York Philharmonic.

Early life and education

Beckerman graduated from Hofstra University in 1973 and earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1982.

Career

Beckerman served as Distinguished Professor of History at Lancaster University in England.

Beckerman has written for the New York Times about subjects including Dvorak, Bach, Schubert, opera, and the dark sides of Christmas songs. The NYT quoted Beckerman's 'amusing' program notes about a musical suite based on a Gogol novella: "it is never useful to scold composers for their taste in literature".

Books

• Martinů's Mysterious Accident, Pendragon Press, 2007.
• Janáček and His World, Princeton University Press, 2003.
• New Worlds of Dvořák, W.W. Norton, 2003.
• Janáček and Czech Music (with Glen Bauer), Pendragon Press, 1995.
• Janáček the Theorist, Pendragon Press, 1994.
• Dvořák and His World, Princeton University Press, 1993.

Articles for The New York Times

• “Bach was a Musician’s Companion to Tragedy,” 2019.
• “The ‘Czech Lute,’ A Baroque Masterpiece, Gets Filled In,” 2015.
• “Exploring Bach for his Gypsy Side,“ 2009.
• “Electronica from the 1920’s; Ready for Sampling,“ 2005.
• “The Guitarist is Metal. No, Not Heavy Metal,” 2004.
• “Magic, Music, and Toys That Talk Back,” 2004.
• “Czech Music With Nary a Polka to Be Found,” 2004.
• “Don Quixote Adrift in Unreality Squared,” 2004.
• “The Cunning Little Video,” 2003.
• “An Experimental Composer on a Good Day,” 2003.
• “Polanski’s ‘Pianist’ and the Case of the Missing Nocturne, 2003.
• “Rattle Raps, and 12 Cellists Serenade,” 2002.
• “Dvořák and the American Soul,” 2002.
• “Their Stage is a Box, Their Music Exquisite,” 2002.
• “A Laggard Goes to the opera By a Circuitous Route,” 2002.
• “Music of Cold,” 2002.
• “High and Low Meet, and Mix With Drink,” 2001.
• “Pushing Gypsiness,” 2001.
• “Schubert Takes a Hand in a Clever Film Score,” 2000.
• “Ravelstein Knows Everything, Almost,” 1999.
• “Dreaming of a White Christmas,” 1998.
• “Tripping With Mr. Broucek,” 1996.
• “Dvořák Does Disney? If Anything the Opposite," 1996.
• “Making History Sound as Good as It Looks,” 1995.
• “The Tales Overtures Could Tell,” 1994.
• “The Odd Pull of ‘Jeopardy’ on 62 Flutes,” 1994.
• “Tonality is Dead--Long Live Tonality,” 1994.
• “Capturing the Pounding Pulse of New York City,” 1994.
• “All Right, So Maybe Haydn Didn’t Write Them. So What?,” 1994.
• “It’s Time to Play Ball, and Stretch and Sing,” 1994.
• “Claire Bloom Can’t Sing, So If Opera is Out, Melodrama Must Be In,” 1994.
• “In This Little Opera, of Sorts, the Piano is a Hero, of Sorts,” 1994.
• “Dvořák Loved Pigeons and Trains, Not Ideology,” 1994.
• “A Tradition, From Boom to Bust,” 1993.

External links

• New York University faculty page
• Curriculum Vitae