Reconfiguring Myth and Narrative in Contemporary Opera: Osvaldo Golijov, Kaija Saariaho, John Adams, Tan Dun by Yayoi Uno Everett (review)
which were already published in 2006) does not provide much in depth content but has a heart. The star of the essay is Marian MacDowell. Indeed, the book's abrupt ending with an essay centred on the MacDowell Colony may leave readers with the questionable conclusion that this is where the composer's main legacy lies. This project was born during the honouring of the composer's 150th birthday at the MacDowell Festival and Symposium at Elizabethtown College in 2010. Volumes consisting of independent essays, often following a conference, can resist cohesion and an overriding argument. In this book, all contributors unite in their unquestioning commendation of MacDowell. However, the large part of this admiration is directed at the person and his life, not the music. Further, the frequent mention of 'mights' 'it is probables' and 'we do not know ifs' sometimes relies on hypothesizing, hinting at a certain anxiety. In all, the music is unable to have the final word in the efforts (most notably by the editor) to do justice to the composer's lifework. Nevertheless, MacDowell's is a complex story, because words, such as the disputes at Columbia University, did contribute to his personal tragedy. Perhaps part of Bomberger's frustration stems from the lamentable fact that the world will never be able to hear the composer's full artistic potential. DENIZ ERTAN Independent scholar