Wye Jamison "Wendy" Allanbrook (March 15, 1943 – July 15, 2010) was an American

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

whose writings demonstrated that much of the music of

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

and his contemporaries was influenced by the

social dance Social dances are dances that have social functions and context. Social dances are intended for participation rather than Concert dance, performance. They are often danced merely to socialise and for entertainment, though they may have Ceremoni ...

s of the time. Allanbrook was born on March 15, 1943, in

Hagerstown, Maryland Hagerstown is a city in Washington County, Maryland, United States, and its county seat. The population was 43,527 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Hagerstown ranks as Maryland's List of municipalities in Maryland, sixth-most popu ...

. She attended

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

where she earned her undergraduate degree in classics. She earned a Ph.D. from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1974, where her doctoral dissertation became the basis for her 1983 book ''Rhythmic Gesture in Mozart: 'Le Nozze di Figaro' and 'Don Giovanni published by the

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the university press of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It pu ...

, in which she demonstrated that Mozart's music integrated references to the social practices and dances of his period. Forms of music used by Mozart would demonstrate information about characters in his operas. For example, a

minuet A minuet (; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually written in time. The English word was adapted from the Italian ''minuetto'' and the French ''menuet''. The term also describes the musical form tha ...

would be characteristic of upper class status, while a

gigue The gigue ( , ) or giga () is a lively baroque dance originating from the English jig. It was imported into France in the mid-17th centuryBellingham, Jane"gigue."''The Oxford Companion to Music''. Ed. Alison Latham. Oxford Music Online. 6 July ...

was representative of peasants. Her research influenced the way in which directors and conductors, including Roger Norrington and

Peter Sellars Peter Sellars (born September 27, 1957) is an American theatre director, noted for his unique stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays. Sellars is a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he teaches ...

, have staged Mozart's operas.Oestreich, James R
"Wye Jamison Allanbrook, an Expert on Mozart, Dies at 67"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', July 26, 2010. Accessed July 26, 2010. In a review of works about Mozart on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the composer's death, music critic

Edward Rothstein Edward Benjamin Rothstein (born October 16, 1952) is an American critic. Rothstein wrote music criticism early in his career, but is best known for his critical analysis of museums and museum exhibitions. Rothstein holds a B.A. from Yale Univers ...

of ''

'' called Allanbrook's theories on the dances in ''

The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienn ...

'' and ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...

'' to be among "the most intriguing insights into the music itself" that he had found. She served on the faculty of St. John's College in Maryland from 1969 to 1995, when she moved to the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, where she served as Music Department chair from 1997 to 2003. She was recognized as a Guggenheim Fellow in 1996. Cancer forced her to resign in 2003 as president of the

American Musicological Society The American Musicological Society (AMS) is a musicological organization which researches, promotes and produces publications on music. Founded in 1934, the AMS was begun by leading American musicologists of the time, and was crucial in legiti ...

. Her book ''The Secular Commedia: Comic Mimesis in Late Eighteenth-Century Music'' was completed by her colleagues Mary Ann Smart and

Richard Taruskin Richard Filler Taruskin (April 2, 1945 – July 1, 2022) was an American musicologist and music critic who was among the leading and most prominent music historians of his generation. The breadth of his scrutiny into source material as well as ...

based on the content of her "Bloch lectures," delivered in fall 1994 at UC Berkeley, and was published in 2014 by the

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

. Allanbrook died of cancer at age 67 on July 15, 2010, at her home in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

. Her marriage to Douglas Allanbrook, a musician and composer who was a longtime professor at St. John's College, ended in divorce.Rasmussen, Frederick N
"Douglas Allanbrook, 81, musician, composer and St. John's College teacher for 50 years"
''

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local, regional, national, and international news. Founded in 1837, the newspaper was owned by Tribune Publi ...

'', February 3, 2003. Accessed July 26, 2010. "His marriages to Candida Curcio and Wye Jamison ended in divorce."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allanbrook, Wye Jamison 1943 births 2010 deaths American musicologists American women musicologists Deaths from cancer in California People from Oakland, California People from Hagerstown, Maryland Stanford University alumni University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty Vassar College alumni St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe) faculty 21st-century American women academics 21st-century American musicologists