Charles Rosen, the pianist, author (of “The Classical Style” and “The Romantic Generation,” among other books), critic and scholar of subjects ranging from French literature to architecture and art, has died at 85.
As a pianist, Rosen was celebrated for his mastery of an unusually wide range of repertory, from Bach and Beethoven to Pierre Boulez and Elliott Carter.
He last performed in Richmond in an October 2010 concert at Virginia Commonwealth University, in which he surveyed music of Robert Schumann during the composer’s bicentenary.
An obituary by Ivan Hewett in The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/dec/10/charles-rosen
And another, by The New York Times’ Margalit Fox:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/arts/music/charles-rosen-pianist-polymath-and-author-dies-at-85.html?hpw