Roland John Wiley

Last updated April 26, 2020

Roland John Wiley is an American musicologist, instructor and consultant whose main area of focus is on 19th-century Russian music and ballet. He has written a biography and critical study on the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and contributed the entry on the composer in the 2001 edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. His current project is a study of choreographer Marius Petipa.

Career

A California native, Wiley was raised in Nevada before returning to California to attend Stanford University. A music major, he earned a Bachelor of Arts with departmental honors in choral conducting. He entered Harvard University in Massachusetts after a tour of military service. His dissertation at Harvard focused on Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake , and he earned a Doctorate in 1974. Later that year he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan, where he teaches presently.^[1]

Wiley, dubbed "ballet's super sleuth" in 1984 by Boston Globe ,^[2] was consulted by the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London for the Royal Ballet's revivals of Swan Lake and The Nutcracker . He has also done translation work for that theater, the Edinburgh Festival and the Dallas Opera. His research has taken him four times to Russia and the former USSR, under grant by the American Council of Learned Societies and in conjunction with the International Research and Exchanges Board. He has received other grants from the Guggenheim and Mellon Foundations and the National Endowment for the Humanities.^[1]

Wiley has published several books on Tchaikovsky, his colleagues and his work. Among them, 1997's The Life and Ballets of Lev Ivanov: Choreographer of 'The Nutcracker' and 'Swan Lake,' published through Oxford University Press, took the de la Torre Bueno Prize in 1998 for the best book in dance.^[3] 2009's Tchaikovsky, part of the Master Musicians series published by Oxford University Press, was critically well received. Michael Church of The Independent wrote, "Presenting life and art as parallel but separate strands, this coolly magisterial book scotches myths, accepts that some mysteries may never be solved, and builds up a picture of this profoundly conflicted man, and his wondrous music, which will probably never be bettered."^[4] The Washington Times , in its review, agreed that the book was "perhaps [the] definitive biography" of the composer, although reviewer John M. Taylor did qualify that the dense volume is a "fine book for the specialist, but not necessarily the best choice for your next air flight."^[5]

Publications

Books

Slavonic and Western Music: Essays for Gerald Abraham (Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1985 (reprint)). ISBN 0-8357-1594-9. (Editor, with Malcolm Hamrick)
Tchaikovsky’s Ballets (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1985). ISBN 0-19-816249-9.
The Life and Ballets of Lev Ivanov, Choreographer of The Nutcracker and Swan Lake (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1997). ISBN 0-19-816567-6.
A Century of Russian Ballet: Documents and Eyewitness Accounts, 1816-1916 (Alton, Hampshire, UK: Dance Books Ltd., 2008 (reprint)) ISBN 1-85273-120-6.
Master Musicians: Tchaikovsky (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009). ISBN 0-19-536892-4.

Articles

"The Tribulations of the Nationalist Composers: A Speculation Concerning Borrowed Music in Kovanschina." In Mussorgsky, in Memoriam, 1881-1981 (Volume 3 of Russian Music Studies) (Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1982). ISBN 0-8357-1295-8.
Title not given. In John Milton Ward Research Materials Concerning the Theatre (Harvard Theater Collection, 1985). ISBN n/a.
"Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich." In The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition (London: Macmillan, 2001), 29 vols., ed. Sadie, Stanley. ISBN 1-56159-239-0.

Related Research Articles

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally, bolstered by his appearances as a guest conductor in Europe and the United States. He was honored in 1884 by Tsar Alexander III, and awarded a lifetime pension.

<i>Swan Lake</i> Ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Swan Lake, Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failure, it is now one of the most popular ballets of all time.

<i>The Nutcracker</i> Tchaikovsky ballet

The Nutcracker is an 1892 two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto is adapted from E. T. A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King".

Ballet as a music form progressed from simply a complement to dance, to a concrete compositional form that often had as much value as the dance that went along with it. The dance form, originating in France during the 17th century, began as a theatrical dance. It was not until the 19th century that ballet gained status as a “classical” form. In ballet, the terms ‘classical’ and ‘romantic’ are chronologically reversed from musical usage. Thus, the 19th century Classical period in ballet coincided with the 19th century Romantic era in music. Ballet music composers from the 17th–20th centuries, including the likes of Jean-Baptiste Lully, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Igor Stravinsky, and Dmitri Shostakovich, were predominantly in France and Russia. Yet with the increased international notoriety seen in Tchaikovsky's and Stravinsky's lifetime, ballet music composition and ballet in general spread across the western world.

Flutter-tonguing is a wind instrument tonguing technique in which performers flutter their tongue to make a characteristic "FrrrrrFrrrrr" sound. The effect varies according to the instrument and at what volume it is played, ranging from cooing sounds on a recorder to an effect similar to the growls used by jazz musicians.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 3 in D major, Op. 29, was written in 1875. He began it at Vladimir Shilovsky's estate at Ussovo on 5 June and finished on 1 August at Verbovka. Dedicated to Shilovsky, the work is unique in Tchaikovsky's symphonic output in two ways: it is the only one of his seven symphonies in a major key ; and it is the only one to contain five movements.

San Francisco Ballet is a ballet company, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, under the direction of Helgi Tomasson. San Francisco Ballet was the first professional ballet company in the United States. It is among the world's leading dance companies, presenting more than 100 performances annually, with a repertoire that spans both classical and contemporary ballet. Along with American Ballet Theatre and the New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet has been described as part of the "triumvirate of great classical companies defining the American style on the world stage today".

Lev Ivanovich Ivanov was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer and later, Second Balletmaster of the Imperial Ballet. As a performer with the Imperial Ballet, he achieved prominence after performing as an understudy in a benefit performance of La Fille Mal Gardée. He is most famous as the choreographer of Acts II and IV of Swan Lake, which include the Dance of the Little Swans, Act II of Cinderella, and The Nutcracker, which he choreographed alongside Marius Petipa.

Ivan Alexandrovich Vsevolozhsky was the Director of the Imperial Theatres in Russia from 1881–98 and director of the Hermitage from 1899 to his death in 1909.

Sir Anthony James Dowell is a retired British ballet dancer and a former artistic director of the Royal Ballet. He is widely recognized as one of the great danseurs nobles of the twentieth century.

The Slave Girl is a ballet divertissement in one act, choreographed by the Balletmaster Marius Petipa to the music of Cesare Pugni, first presented by the Imperial Ballet for the Imperial Court at the Hermitage Theatre, on April 27/May 9, 1868 in St. Petersburg, Russia. It featured Lev Ivanov.

The 1895 Petipa/Ivanov/Drigo revival of Swan Lake is a famous version of the ballet Swan Lake,, . This is a ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky based on an ancient German legend, presented in either four acts, four scenes, three acts, four scenes or, more rarely, in two acts, four scenes. Originally choreographed by Julius Reisinger to the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, it was first presented as The Lake of the Swans by the Ballet of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre on 20 February/4 March 1877 in Moscow, Russia. Although the ballet is presented in many different versions, most ballet companies today base their stagings both choreographically and musically on this revival by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, staged for the Imperial Ballet, first presented on 15 January/27 January 1895, at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia instead of the original version.

Wayne Eagling is a Canadian ballet dancer, now retired. After more than twenty years as a popular member of The Royal Ballet in London, he became well known as an international choreographer and company director.

While the contributions of the Russian nationalistic group The Five were important in their own right in developing an independent Russian voice and consciousness in classical music, the compositions of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky became dominant in 19th century Russia, with Tchaikovsky becoming known both in and outside Russia as its greatest musical talent. His formal conservatory training allowed him to write works with Western-oriented attitudes and techniques, showcasing a wide range and breadth of technique from a poised "Classical" form simulating 18th century Rococo elegance to a style more characteristic of Russian nationalists or a musical idiom expressly to channel his own overwrought emotions.

Antonietta Dell'Era was an Italian prima ballerina best known for originating the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in Tchaikovsky's ballet, The Nutcracker (1892).

Moscow is a cantata composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1883 for the coronation of Alexander III of Russia, to a Russian libretto by Apollon Maykov. It is scored for mezzo-soprano, baritone, mixed chorus (SATB), 3 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, harp and strings.

Derek Rencher was a British ballet dancer. A commanding figure among Royal Ballet character dancers for more than four decades, he was probably the most prolific performer in the company's history.

Carlotta Brianza (1867–1930) was an Italian prima ballerina, dancing with La Scala in Milan and later with the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg.

References

University of Michigan faculty page. Retrieved 28 Feb 2012.

Oxford University Press page for Tchaikovsky's Ballets. Retrieved 28 Feb 2012.

1 2 University of Michigan faculty page. Retrieved 28 Feb 2012.
↑ Temin, Christine (12 August 1984). "Roland John Wiley: He's Ballet's Supersleuth". Boston Globe. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
↑ "A Dance Book Award". The New York Times . 14 October 1998. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
↑ Church, Michael (4 October 2009). "Tchaikovsky, By Roland John". The Independent. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
↑ Taylor, John M. (23 August 2009). "Tchaikovsky by Roland John Wiley". Washington Globe. Retrieved 29 February 2012.

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[wiley1-1] 1 2 University of Michigan faculty page. Retrieved 28 Feb 2012.

[2] Temin, Christine (12 August 1984). "Roland John Wiley: He's Ballet's Supersleuth". Boston Globe. Retrieved 29 February 2012.

[3] "A Dance Book Award". The New York Times . 14 October 1998. Retrieved 29 February 2012.

[4] Church, Michael (4 October 2009). "Tchaikovsky, By Roland John". The Independent. Retrieved 29 February 2012.

[5] Taylor, John M. (23 August 2009). "Tchaikovsky by Roland John Wiley". Washington Globe. Retrieved 29 February 2012.