ROBERT BAILEY Obituary

BAILEY--Robert. The Juilliard School mourns the death of Robert Bailey, member of the School's graduate faculty since 1986 and doctoral committee since 1994. A brilliant scholar and teacher, his presence at Juilliard brought together serious historical studies with performance activities; an approach that now stands as a model for how graduate students are taught at the School. Our condolences go to his family and his many friends. Joseph W. Polisi, President Ara Guzelimian, Provost and Dean Jane Gottlieb, Vice President for Library and Information Resources

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Published by New York Times on Jul. 9, 2012.

Memories and Condolences
for ROBERT BAILEY

12 Entries

Stephen Husarik

January 31, 2025

I owe a very special experience to Dr. Bailey. I was one twelve fortunate people in an NEH seminar on Wagner-held at both NYC and Bayreuth, Germany. Not only did we hear many of the Wagner operas that summer, but the experience of hearing them in the building designed for them was unique. In the darkness I distinctly remember hearing the opening low E flat that seemed to shake the whole wooden frame building at the beginning of the Ring Cycle.

david dunkle

July 21, 2012

Another fond memory of his NYU post-Wagnerian Symphonists course.
The lecture was on Bruckner's Fifth.
He pointed out the cut time in the opening movement.
Just so happened that Cleveland was in town that week, on their way to a European tour.
Their concert consisted of an astonishingly beautiful performance of Schönberg's Op. 16, and after Intermission, the Bruckner Fifth.
At the next Wednesday's seminar, I gleefully reported to Mr. Bailey and the class that Christoph von Dohnányi did NOT conduct that movement in cut time as he had said it should be, but rather in 4/4 time.
The response was dead silence, but deafening!

david dunkle

July 21, 2012

As much as I admired Rena Mueller's fabulous tribute on NYU's webpage, and agreeing w/ her on Robert's lecture on the Berg Concerto (which I heard that week with the Concertgebouw & Perlman at Fisher Hall), and all the other things she mentioned, also remembered like they were yesterday, I have to add my fondest memory of his lectures: the Adagio from Bruckner 8th, a work as monumental as the 186 story Burj in Dubai.
45 minutes of laying out a GPS with chalk on chalkboard of what we were about to hear. Then he put the record on. With Robert, you didn't need a score. His map on the board was all you required.
And he circled each tonal shift, harmonic milestone, as it occurred in real time. This was his method, and it worked, BIG TIME.
At the two (one false, to trick you!) climaxes near the end, he circled his notes furiously, as we listened to the fortissimo orchestra climax(es), and, as he did so, we wanted to jump out of our seats.
Then the slow, laborious descent into one of music's most poetic pianissimo declines, one of the greatest ever penned by a western composer.
I remember that day 40 years ago, like it was yesterday.
Robert, you made an enormous impression on us!

David Dunkle

July 18, 2012

I, too, was most fortunate to take all of his courses at Yale during the early 1970s. Never-to-be-forgotten presentations of his encyclopedic knowledge of the 19th c., most especially, of course, Wagner.
He invited me to audit his post-Wagnerian Symphonists graduate seminar at NYU in 1996, and I was again privileged to watch this man in action.
I am doubly sorry I couldn't get in touch with him recently, as I was in New York for a memorial concert for another dear friend and student of Robert Bailey.
I am very saddened to learn this news!

Chris McCormack

July 18, 2012

I was privileged to study with Robert Bailey as an undergraduate at Yale and a musicology grad student at Eastman. He was a charismatic teacher and inspiring scholar, but his insights into the structure of complex music were and are revelatory. Sad to hear of his passing.

Jane Ira Bloom

July 13, 2012

Prof Bailey was such an important part of the Yale music department in the 1970's. I was a student in his Twentieth Century undergraduate music course and was so fortunate to study under him. He was absolutely passionate about the music and shared that passion with all of his students.
He remains a lasting inspiration.

Joseph Kraus

July 13, 2012

As a doctoral student in music theory at the Eastman School of Music in the early 1980s, I enjoyed two seminars with Robert Bailey. A paper from one of those seminars was a starting point for an article on Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony--one of my first substantial publications. I am so grateful to Prof. Bailey for introducing me to Wagner scholarship with such great panache and verve. Let "Siegfried's Rhine Journey and Funeral March" ring out in tribute!

Steve Bruns

July 10, 2012

I was already in awe of Robert Bailey's scholarship before I had the great privilege to study Wagner in the NEH summer seminar he led at NYU in 1990. What a brilliant mind and peerless teacher! He was one of the wittiest and kindest people I will ever know, and it's hard to believe he has left us so soon. What a loss.

Matthew Wilson

July 10, 2012

Uncle Robert was a true gentleman. Over the years we enjoyed that wit of his which was so endearing. It's funny to read a students comments about my Uncle since I know him a little differently. Either way, he loved music passionately and loved playing the piano. Now he's upstairs tickling the ivories with the big guy. See you soon Uncle Robert...but not too soon!

Michael Tenzer

July 10, 2012

A memorable professor. I took 20th century music with him at Yale in spring 1976. Jazz saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom was in the class too. I developed an enduring love of Stravinsky through Bailey. He was witty and acerbic and passionate.

Michelle Gott

July 10, 2012

Dear Dr. Bailey was a true gentleman and a scholar of the highest form. I will greatly miss his brilliant teaching and sharp wit.

Evan Fein

July 9, 2012

Professor Bailey was one of the most brilliant educators I have had the pleasure of studying with. His lectures were intensely insightful and he exuded his passion for music. I will never forget the many wonderful and profound things I learned in his classes. He shall be sorely missed.

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