Martin Jarvis (conductor)

Martin Jarvis OAM (born 17 September 1951, Ebbw Vale, Wales) is an Australian violinist and viola player, founder of the Darwin Symphony Orchestra, and professor and lecturer of music at Charles Darwin University.

Martin Jarvis
Born
Martin Jarvis

(1951-09-17) September 17, 1951
Ebbw Vale, Wales
Alma materWelsh College of Music
OccupationConductor
Spouse(s)Erna
Children5

Personal and professional life

Jarvis was the third of five children, and the only son, born to Dorothy and Bernard Jarvis. Bernard Jarvis was a police officer and eventually became a superintendent. Dorothy Jarvis had been an actress. He has been married three times; he and his third wife Erna have two children and he has three children from his previous marriages.

He won a scholarship to the Welsh College of Music, Cardiff, where he studied violin under Garfield Phillips, concertmaster of the BBC Welsh Orchestra. He studied 1971–75 at the Royal Academy of Music, London, under Clarence Myerscough for violin and Winifred Copperwheat for viola.[1]

Jarvis founded the Darwin Symphony Orchestra,[2] which gave its first concert in 1989 - he ended his term as its artistic director at the end of 2009. Jarvis is also a professor and lecturer of music at Charles Darwin University.

Awards

Jarvis was a recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the 2007 Australia Day Honours.[2]

Research into Anna Magdalena Bach

During his studies at the Royal Academy of Music, his viola teacher Winifred Copperwheat made him aware of problems with the published editions of the six suites for unaccompanied cello commonly attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach.[1] After research of his own, Jarvis has controversially postulated, using handwriting analysis heuristics, that the suites were composed by Bach's wife Anna Magdalena.[3][4] Other academics such as Stephen Rose have responded that, while Anna Magdalena may have contributed to the labours on his manuscripts, "there is not enough evidence to show that she single-handedly composed the Cello Suites."[4]

Jarvis was awarded a PhD from Charles Darwin University based on his research,[5] and presented his findings at an October 2008 meeting of the International Symposium on the Forensic Sciences in Melbourne.[6][7] Jarvis himself has acknowledged about his conclusions and about the general portrayal of Anna Magdalena Bach's role in music history, "My conclusions may not be wholly accurate, but the way in which tradition has put Anna Magdalena into this pathetic role [as merely the copyist] ... is rubbish."[6] Jarvis published the book Written by Mrs Bach in 2011; it was made into a documentary film in 2014.[8]

References
  1. Jarvis, Prof. Martin (March 2013). "Who wrote Bach's music?". Allegro. Associated Musicians of Greater New York. 113 (3). Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  2. "Full list of 2007 Australia Day Honours". The Australian. 26 January 2007. Archived from the original on 10 October 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  3. Lindy Kerin (28 April 2006). "Bach's wife believed to have penned cello works". The Australian. Retrieved 2008-09-16.
  4. Barbie Dutter and Roya Nikkha (23 April 2006). "Bach works were written by his second wife, claims academic". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-09-16.
  5. "Wife behind Bach's cello suites". The Australian. 31 October 2007. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  6. Anna Salleh (4 October 2008). "Bach's wife 'may have been composer'". ABC News (Australia). Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  7. Liz Porter (5 October 2008). "The missus was the maestro". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  8. Written by Mrs Bach at IMDb
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