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Mark Kroll's new biography of Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837) is a welcome contribution to the literature surrounding this unjustly neglected figure. As the first substantial biography of Hummel to appear in English, Kroll's book adds to a field that is currently small and conspicuously lacking in full-scale monographs. Karl Benyovszky's J. N. Hummel: Der Mensch und Künstler (Bratislava: Eos, 1934), of which Kroll makes extensive use, is now out of date, while Joel Sachs's more recent Kapellmeister Hummel in England and France (Detroit: Information Coordinators, 1977), though thoroughly researched, is limited in its coverage, as it focuses only on Hummel's later concert tours. Other significant studies include a chapter in David Branson's volume John Field and Chopin (New York: St Martin's, 1972, 146-167), Derek Carew's 'Hummel's Op. 81: A Paradigm for Brahms's Op. 2?' (in Ad Parnassum 3/6 (2005), 133-155) and Jarl Hulbert's 'The Pedagogical Legacy of Johann Nepomuk Hummel' (PhD dissertation, University of Maryland, 2006). Kroll himself has also contributed some important publications on Hummel in recent years, including the article 'Hummel the Romantic' ( Early Music America 13/2 (2007), 20-23) and two editions of Hummel's arrangements: Mozart's Haffner and Linz Symphonies, Arranged for Pianoforte, Flute, Violin and Violoncello (Recent Researches in the Music of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries 29; Madison: A-R Editions, 2000) and Twelve Select Overtures, Arranged for Pianoforte, Flute, Violin and Violoncello by J. N. Hummel (Recent Researches in the Music of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries 35; Middleton: A-R Editions, 2003).
Kroll's method of structuring the biography is unusual in that the chapter contents are determined by topic rather than by the chronological sequence of Hummel's life and career. The thirteen chapters fall into three categories: biographical accounts (including discussion of Hummel as a touring pianist, and as Kapellmeister at Eisenstadt, Stuttgart and Weimar), Hummel's interactions with contemporary composers, and miscellaneous topics such as his activities as a teacher and his legacy (artistic and pecuniary). The principal reason Kroll gives for organizing the biography in this way is the complexity of Hummel's multi-faceted existence (xii). This approach, however, leads to great disparity in the length of chapters - Chapter 5, for instance, is a mere sixteen pages, whereas the following...