Occupation Musicologist Name David Buch | ||
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Subject Musicology, Mozart scholarship Notable works Der Stein der Weisen,
Magic Flutes and Enchanted Forests: The Supernatural in the Eighteenth-Century Musical Theater Notable awards Donald N. McKay Research Award Books Magic Flutes and Enchanted Forests: The Supernatural in Eighteenth-Century Musical Theater | ||
Education Northwestern University | ||
David J. Buch is an American musicologist.
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Life and career
David Joseph Buch (b. Detroit 1950) studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy. He received his PhD in Music History from Northwestern University.
He had been Professor of Music at Wayne State University and Professor of Music History at the University of Northern Iowa, where he is Professor Emeritus. Buch was a visiting professor at the University of Chicago 2008-2011. He has published numerous scholarly studies on a range of topics in music, having explored archives and libraries in many European cities: Berlin, Brno, Budapest, Český Krumlov, Dresden, Florence, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Kroměříž, Linz, Munich, Nová Říše, Paris, Prague and Vienna.
His research has received international attention owing to the discovery of new attributions to Mozart in Emanuel Schikaneder's collaborative opera Der Stein der Weisen oder Die Zauberinsel (Vienna, 1790). His thoroughgoing study of the theatrical tradition in which Mozart's The Magic Flute originated has led him to new interpretations of the libretto, notably skepticism to the widely held view that The Magic Flute is specifically a Masonic opera (see Libretto of The Magic Flute).
In 1998 he was named UNI Distinguished Scholar and received the Donald N. McKay Research Award.
Buch plays the lute, viola da gamba and guitar. He has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Claudio Abbado, and as guest soloist with the Eckstein String Quartet (principals, CSO).