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Roland John Wiley is an Americanmusicologist, instructor and consultant whose main area of focus is on 19th-century Russian music and ballet. He has written a biography and critical study on the music ofPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and contributed the entry on the composer in the 2001 edition of theNew Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. His ongoing project is a study ofchoreographerMarius Petipa.[citation needed]
A California native, Wiley was raised in Nevada before returning to California to attendStanford University. A music major, he earned aBachelor of Arts with departmental honors in choral conducting. He enteredHarvard University in Massachusetts after a tour of military service. Hisdissertation at Harvard focused on Tchaikovsky’s balletSwan Lake, and he earned a Doctorate in 1974. Later that year he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan, where he teaches presently.[1]
Wiley, dubbed "ballet's super sleuth" in 1984 byBoston Globe,[2] was consulted by theRoyal Opera House, Covent Garden, London for theRoyal Ballet's revivals ofSwan Lake andThe Nutcracker. He has also done translation work for that theater, theEdinburgh Festival and theDallas Opera. His research has taken him four times to Russia and the former USSR, under grant by the American Council of Learned Societies and in conjunction with the International Research and Exchanges Board. He has received other grants from the Guggenheim and Mellon Foundations and the National Endowment for the Humanities.[1]
Wiley has published several books on Tchaikovsky, his colleagues and his work. Among them, 1997'sThe Life and Ballets of Lev Ivanov: Choreographer of 'The Nutcracker' and 'Swan Lake,' published throughOxford University Press, took the de la Torre Bueno Prize in 1998 for the best book in dance.[3] 2009'sTchaikovsky, part of the Master Musicians series published byOxford University Press, was critically well received. Michael Church ofThe Independent wrote, "Presenting life and art as parallel but separate strands, this coolly magisterial book scotches myths, accepts that some mysteries may never be solved, and builds up a picture of this profoundly conflicted man, and his wondrous music, which will probably never be bettered."[4]The Washington Times, in its review, agreed that the book was "perhaps [the] definitive biography" of the composer, although reviewer John M. Taylor did qualify that the dense volume is a "fine book for the specialist, but not necessarily the best choice for your next air flight."[5]
University of Michigan faculty page. Retrieved 28 Feb 2012.
Oxford University Press page forTchaikovsky's Ballets. Retrieved 28 Feb 2012.
