Memorable criticism merges style and idea. Few writers on music have attainedthis elusive desideratum to anywhere near the same degree as Charles Rosen.This is why his 1971 book The Classical Style remains amongthe preeminent accounts of any artistic style in any age. Criticalsensibility seems to map onto the subject matter; both seem to speak withthe same transparency and the same stylistic authority. Rosen’s prosestyle is worth drawing out, for its most telling effects are never onparade; it is neither baroque nor purple. Moreover, an appreciation of thepoetic ethos of Rosen’s style can lead to an enhanced understandingof his critical modus intellegendi.

The general tone and heft of Rosen’s style? Sturdy rather thanprecious, yet buoyant rather than ponderous; relaxed rather than strained,yet commanding and assertive. In short, his prose breathes with easyauthority. This assuredness is established before we can become aware of it,for Rosen often opens a paragraph or section with a sweeping evaluation thatturns our attention toward the feeling that we are in for something special.In such instances, he deploys superlatives unencumbered by enervatingqualifications. Take the opening sentence of the chapter “StringQuintets” from The Classical Style:

The only qualification to this assertion is the clause “by generalconsent,” which minimizes Rosen’s direct role in the claimwhile strengthening the claim’s plausibility. (Note the difference intone if the initial clause is removed.) The word “consent”subliminally prompts the reader’s own consent, and the superlativegains authority without automatically raising the suspicion that it may be apresumption of the critic.

The assignment of a superlative can also come in the form of litotes, throughwhich the speaker states something by denying its negative:

This sentence goes down like water, but we can learn much from it. The levelof specificity captured in the word nuance marks theexperience as one of rarified particularity. (“There is no morebeautiful movement in all of Schumann” sayssomething decidedly less singular.) To isolate and value a nuance: here is aprecious token of the joy of connoisseurship.