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College Celebrates Professor Larry Bennett's Book

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'Larry Bennett is the best possible scholar to explore the breadth and depth of the Italian cantata in Vienna,' MIT Professor of Music Lowell Lindgren writes in a review of the Wabash Professor Emeritus of Music’s new  book, The Italian Cantata in Vienna: Entertainment in the Age of Absolutism, published by the Indiana University Press. On Tuesday, Bennett’s Wabash colleagues got their chance to add their congratulations to the mix during a reception in the College’s Caleb Mills House.

a man in a suit holding a book

Wabash President Greg Hess stopped by the Caleb Mills House to congratulate Professor Bennett and learn more about his research. The book has been an adventure and labor of love decades in the making. It began when Bennett was looking for a dissertation topic. 'I wanted something no one was working on, and two things drew me to this. It’s vocal chamber music, and as a singer [Bennett sang professionally with The Western Wind vocal ensemble for many years] I was attracted to that. And Vienna—the thought of doing my research there. ‘And then there was the detective work, and the hope of finding some new pieces.’  

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Professors Glen Helman and Joe Day take a closer look at the book. Bennett tells the story of sitting down in the Harvard Music Library and being approached by another scholar. 'He asked me what I was working on, and I said, ‘Bononcini [one of the composers of baroque Italian cantatas]. He said, ‘Really. I’m studying Bononcini, too.’ No one else was studying Bononcini, and the only two were right there in the same place! 'We made peace, and he took the oratorios, and I took the cantatas, and we’ve become good friends over the years.'

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Professors Helman and Cheryl Hughes congratulate Professor Bennett. 'The cantatas are all showy vocal pieces, so it was a natural fit for a singer,' Bennett says. 'I focused only on Italian secular cantatas composed for the imperial family in Vienna during the reigns of Leopold I and Joseph I. 'The music is utterly charming, and it was used to entertain the imperial family and their guests on a regular basis.'

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Professor of English and poet Marc Hudson reads the book's opening pages.

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Music Department Chair Peter Hulen praised Bennett's work, reading aloud a portion of the book's description and reviews to the guests. ‘I located some 162 cantatas that were performed by star singers and instrumentalists,' Bennett says. 'The texts deal with every aspect of love; there are a few moral cantatas and several that celebrated historic events and other special occasions. My book deals with the cultural background, the bios of the composers, the repertoire and sources, and of course the style of the music.'

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Professor of German Greg Redding ’88 talks music and Vienna with Bennett.

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Professor Bennett gets a hug from his daughter, Madeleine, during the reception.

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Professor of English Warren Rosenberg talks with Bennett.
 

a group of men looking at books

Fellow music professors Larry Bennett and James Makubuya talk shop.

a man holding a book

Bennett spent his sabbatical year [2001-2002] of his Wabash tenure with his family in Vienna, laying the groundwork for the book and singing in the choir of the Anglican Church of Vienna.

'Professor Raymond Williams said something to me once that turned around my way of looking at research,' Bennett said. “He said, ‘Research is great when it’s challenging, when it’s exciting, and when it’s rewarding, and I always remember that. And this research has been all of those.'

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