Mendel, Arthur
MENDEL, ARTHUR
MENDEL, ARTHUR (1905–1979), musicologist, critic, and conductor. Born in Boston, Mendel studied music theory and composition with Nadia Boulanger (1925–27) at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris. He was music critic of the Nation (1930–33), literary editor for G. Schirmer, Inc. (1930–38), editor of the American Musicological Society's journal (1940–43), associate editor of the Musical Quarterly, and editor of Associated Music Publishers (1941–47). From 1936 to 1953 he conducted the Cantata Singers, a small choir performing baroque music. He held lectureships at Columbia University (1949) and the University of California, Berkeley (1951), became chairman of the music department at Princeton (1952–67), and held the Henry Putnam University Professorship from 1969 to 1973. He was a member of the editorial boards of the Neue Bach-Ausgabe and of the new Josquin edition. His editions of the St John Passion brought him recognition as the foremost American Bach scholar of his generation. In his later years he investigated the possible applications of computer technology to musicological problems.
add. bibliography:
Grove online; R.L. Marshall (ed.), Studies in Renaissance and Baroque Music in Honor of Arthur Mendel (1974), incl. R.L. Marshall, "Arthur Mendel: A Portrait in Outline," 9–11; and list of writings, 377–84.
[Israela Stein (2nd ed.)]