Martin Jarvis OAM (born 17 September 1951,

Ebbw Vale Ebbw Vale (; ) is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River in Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough. The Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr conurbation has a ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

) is an Australian

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist and

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

player, founder of the

Darwin Symphony Orchestra The Darwin Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an orchestra based in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, founded by Martin Jarvis. The DSO gave its first concert in 1989. The Orchestra receives funding from the Northern Territory Government and su ...

, and professor and lecturer of music at

Charles Darwin University Charles Darwin University (CDU) is an Australian public university with two campuses in Darwin and six satellite campuses in metropolitan and regional areas of the Northern Territory. It was established in 2003 after the merger of Northern Ter ...

in Darwin, Northern Territory.

Personal and professional life

He won a scholarship to the Welsh College of Music, Cardiff, where he studied violin under Garfield Phillips,

concertmaster The concertmaster (from the German language, German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (UK) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (clarinet or oboe in a concert band). After the Conducting, conductor, the concertma ...

of the BBC Welsh Orchestra. He studied 197175 at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

, London, under Clarence Myerscough for violin and Winifred Copperwheat for viola. Jarvis founded the

, which gave its first concert in 1989 - he ended his term as its artistic director at the end of 2009. Jarvis is professor and lecturer of music at

(CDU) where he teaches viola, violin, and conducting, and is director of the CDU

Confucius Institute Confucius Institutes (CI; ) are public educational and cultural promotion programs of the state of China. The stated aim of the program is to promote Chinese language and culture, support local Chinese teaching internationally, and facilita ...

Awards

Jarvis was a recipient of the Medal of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(OAM) in the 2007

Australia Day Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet and raising of the Flag of Great Britain, Union Flag of Great Britain by Arthur Phillip at Sydney Cove, a ...

Honours.

Research into Anna Magdalena Bach

During his studies at the Royal Academy of Music, his viola teacher Winifred Copperwheat made him aware of problems with the published editions of the six suites for unaccompanied cello commonly attributed to

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

. After research of his own, Jarvis has controversially postulated, using handwriting analysis heuristics, that the suites were composed by Bach's wife

Anna Magdalena ''Anna Magdalena'' () is a 1998 Hong Kong romantic fantasy comedy film starring Aaron Kwok, Kelly Chen and Takeshi Kaneshiro. It was the directorial debut of production designer Yee Chung-Man. Title The title refers to the keyboard piece ...

. Other academics such as Stephen Rose have responded that, while Anna Magdalena may have contributed to the labours on his manuscripts, "there is not enough evidence to show that she single-handedly composed the Cello Suites." Jarvis was awarded a PhD from Charles Darwin University based on his research, and presented his findings at an October 2008 meeting of the International Symposium on the Forensic Sciences in Melbourne. Regarding the generally-accepted portrayal of Anna Magdalena Bach's role in music history and his own differing views, Jarvis himself has acknowledged, "My conclusions may not be wholly accurate, but the way in which tradition has put Anna Magdalena into this pathetic role s merely the copyist... is rubbish." Jarvis published the book ''Written by Mrs Bach'' in 2011; it was made into a documentary film in 2014.

References

External links

*
"Bogus Bach Theory Gets Media Singing"
by Tim Cavanaugh, ''

National Review Online ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief is Rich Lo ...

'', 29 October 2014
"The Search for Mrs. Bach"
by

Alex Ross Nelson Alexander Ross (born January 22, 1970) is an American comic book creator, comic book writer and artist known primarily for his painted interiors, covers, and design work. He first became known with the 1994 miniseries ''Marvels'', on which ...

, ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', 31 October 2014
Ruth Tatlow: "A Missed Opportunity. Reflections on ''Written by Mrs Bach''"
in ''Understanding Bach'', Bach Network UK, 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Jarvis, Martin 1951 births Living people People from Ebbw Vale Alumni of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Australian male classical violinists Australian classical violists Australian musicologists Academic staff of Charles Darwin University 21st-century Australian conductors (music) 21st-century Australian classical violinists 21st-century Australian male musicians