Haydn's Ingenious Jesting With Art: Contexts of Musical Wit and Humor

Rating:
Summary: Wheelock's jesting with intelligence
Review: As a scholar of humour and wit in the instrumental music of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, I found this book to be of the highest standards. Wheelock writes with intelligence and charm and moves through the issue of Haydn's joviality with logic and with good pace. She examines the need to make jokes in music and coherently explains the 18th century view on humour and wit from a literary perspective. The musical examples are well presented and very clearly explained and the essay is completed with guts and style. She is never afraid to criticise and this is yet another feather in the cap of this fine musicoligist.

Rating:
Summary: Wheelock's jesting with intelligence
Review: As a scholar of humour and wit in the instrumental music of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, I found this book to be of the highest standards. Wheelock writes with intelligence and charm and moves through the issue of Haydn's joviality with logic and with good pace. She examines the need to make jokes in music and coherently explains the 18th century view on humour and wit from a literary perspective. The musical examples are well presented and very clearly explained and the essay is completed with guts and style. She is never afraid to criticise and this is yet another feather in the cap of this fine musicoligist.