George Stauffer, Dean of the Mason Gross School of the Arts and Distinguished Professor of Music History, will present two lectures on Bach. The lecture on the Clavierübung cycle will focus on Bach’s growing interest in creating encyclopedic compendia of keyboard music – collections that summarize the musical potential of specific genres, such as the keyboard suite, the keyboard transcription, the organ chorale, and the keyboard variation. In having the collections published, Bach introduced his music to a broad public for the first time. The lecture “Why Bach Matters” shows how Bach’s music continues to have universal appeal today because of its ability to tap fundamental human emotions and inspire optimism and confidence through its solid musical framework. It also touches on the widespread recycling of Bach’s music, from classical arrangements to pop and rock tunes.
George Stauffer, presenter
George B. Stauffer is Dean of the Mason Gross School of the Arts and Distinguished Professor of Music History. He is known internationally as a scholar, performer, and writer on the music and culture of the Baroque era and the life and works of J. S. Bach in particular.
Educated at Dartmouth College, Bryn Mawr College, and Columbia University, he has published eight books on Baroque music and Bach, including, most recently, Bach: The Mass in B Minor, The World of Baroque Music, and About Bach. He has also contributed to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Collier's Encyclopedia, Early Music, Bach-Jahrbuch, and many other American, European, and Asian publications. He has also written feature articles for The New York Times and The New York Review of Books.
As a speaker, Stauffer has lectured at Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, University of Leipzig, National Sun Yat-sen University, and many other colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. He has also given pre-concert talks at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, and many other concert venues.
He has written program or CD liner notes for Yo Yo Ma, Peter Serkin, Murray Perahia, Kathleen Battle, Nathalie Stutzmann, Giuliano Carmignola, and many other distinguished musicians.
As a performer, Stauffer studied organ with Robert Elmore, John Weaver, and Vernon de Tar, and from 1977 to 1999 served as University Organist and Chapel Music Director at Columbia University, where he appeared frequently in concert. His playing has been termed "fluent, four-square, and solidly musical" by The New York Times. He is a featured artist on the 4-CD album, The Great Organs of New York.
Stauffer has taught at Hunter College (where he served as Chair of the Music Department and Program in Dance) and the Graduate Center of CUNY, and at Yeshiva University. He has held IREX, Guggenheim, Fulbright, and ACLS fellowships and is a former President of the American Bach Society. Currently, as Dean of the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers, Stauffer oversees four departments - Dance, Music, Theater, and Visual Arts – and four divisions - Brodsky Print Center, Extension Division, Rutgers Arts Online, and Rutgers Filmmaking Center. He also facilitated the construction of Bettenbender Plaza, a 20,000 sq. ft. gathering and performance space, and Mortensen Hall, a 24,000 sq. ft. practice and performing facility. Both are part of the Mason Gross Performing Arts Center.
Stauffer introduced the highly successful performance initiative “Rutgers in New York”, which has taken Mason Gross students and faculty to perform or exhibit in New York, at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Majestic Theatre, Kaye Playhouse, Bill Maynes Gallery, The Joyce, Blue Note Jazz club, and other distinguished arts venues. He also started the “Mason Gross Presents” series, which brings eminent artists to campus to work with Mason Gross students. Guests have included actor Kevin Kline, choreographer Bill T. Jones, artist Martin Puryear, and pianist Richard Goode.