Mooser, R(obert) Aloys

Mooser, R(obert) Aloys, Swiss writer on music, great-grandson of (Jean Pierre Joseph) Aloys Mooser; b. Geneva, Sept. 20, 1876; d. there, Aug. 24, 1969. His mother was a Russian, and he acquired the knowledge of the Russian language in childhood. He studied with his father and Otto Barblan in Geneva. In 1896 he went to St. Petersburg, where he served as organist at the French church, wrote music criticism for the Journal de St. Petersbourg, and made an extensive study of Russian music in the archives. He took courses with Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov. In 1909 he returned to Geneva and wrote music criticism for the periodical La Suisse (1909–62); was also founder, ed., and publisher of the periodical Dissonances (1923–46). His reviews were collected in the vols. Regards sur la musique contemporaine: 1921–1946 (Lausanne, 1946); Panorama de la musique contemporaine: 1947–1953 (Geneva, 1953); Aspects de la musique contemporaine: 1953–1957 (Geneva, 1957); and Visage de la musique contemporaine, 1957–1961 (Paris, 1962). He wrote the following books on Russian music:Contribution à l’histoire de la musique russe: L’Opéra comique française en Russie au XVIII^e siècle (Geneva, 1932; 2^nd ed., 1954); Violonistes-compositeurs italiens en Russie au XVIII^e siècle (Milan, 1938–50); Opéras, intermezzos, ballets, cantates, oratorios joués en Russie durant le XVIII^esiècle (Geneva, 1945; 3^rd ed., 1964); Annales de la musique et des musiciens en Russie au XVIII^e siècle (of prime importance; 3 vols., Geneva, 1948–51). He also wrote Deux violonistes genevois: Gaspard Fritz (1716–1783) and Christian Haensel (1766–1850) (Geneva, 1968).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis Mclntire