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Books > Arts & Architecture > Music > Western music, periods & styles > 20th century music
Drawing upon extensive archival research, interview material, and musical analysis, Female Composers, Conductors, Performers: Musiciennes of Interwar France, 1919-1939 presents an innovative study of women working as professional musicians in France between the two World Wars. Hamer positions the activities, achievements, and reception of women composers, conductors, and performers against a contemporary socio-political climate that was largely hostile to female professionalism. The musical styles and techniques of Marguerite Canal, Jeanne Leleu, Germaine Tailleferre, Yvonne Desportes, Elsa Barraine, and Claude Arrieu are discussed with reference to significant works dating from the interwar period. Hamer highlights the activities of Jane Evrard and her Orchestre feminin de Paris as well as the reception of the Orchestra of the Union des Femmes Professeurs et Compositeurs de Musique, a contemporary pro-suffrage organisation that was dedicated to defending the collective interests of musiciennes and campaigning for their employment rights. Beyond women composers and conductors, Hamer also sheds light on female performers and their contribution to the interwar early music revival.
First Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
The author of "New Musical Resources", Henry Cowell's works include innovative single movement vocal or instrumental pieces, 20 symphonies, five string quartets, and 8 suites of various kinds. He was also innovative in his use of instruments from different cultures (jalatarang, dragonmouths, Japanese wind glasses, the shakuhachi flute) and in this book, Nicholls brings together a symposium of articles and reminiscences dealing exclusively with Cowell.
It is impossible to contain Henry Cowell within the boundaries of
the consistencies of forms, styles, ensembles, and genres of
Western art music. John Cage once described Cowell as the "open
sesame for new music in America." Of the thousand or so works
catalogued by William Lichtenwanger, the majority are formally
innovative single movement vocal or instrumental pieces, although
there are 20 symphonies, five string quartets, and 8 suites of
various kinds. Cowell was also innovative in his use of instruments
from different cultures (jalatarang, dragonmouths, Japanese wind
glasses, the shakuhachi flute) and in this book, Lou Harrison
writes of Cowell's "adventurous promotion of automobile junkyards
for the finding of new sounds." In addition, Cowell was a tireless
advocate of new music in the West, and Musics from other cultures
worldwide, as a teacher, lecturer, publisher, and performer. He
founded "New Music Quarterly" in 1927, wrote the influential book
"Ne
The historic encounter around 1911 between the composer Arnold Schonberg and the painter Wassily Kandinsky occurred at a moment when the first wild revolts against traditional art - Dada and Futurism - had just manifested themselves. This volume is a collection of the papers presented at the conference on Schonberg and Kandinsky at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague in January 1993. The conference focused on the varying aspects of the avant-garde from 1910 to 1913, when both Schonberg and Kandinsky formulated their far-reaching views on the ways in which music and painting should develop, and discussed their common interest in new theatrical forms of presentation.
The historic encounter around 1911 between the composer Arnold
Schonberg and the painter Wassily Kandinsky occurred at a moment
when the first wild revolts against traditional art, Dada and
Futurism, had just manifested themselves. Independently of those
sometimes spectacular activities, both Schonberg and Kandinsky had
already concluded that the material and the compositional methods
they had relied on in the past were exhausted and did not satisfy
the development of their artistic ideas.
In the years 1917 to 1991, despite unfavorable prevailing
conditions, there were outstanding achievements in the music
created for the cinema in the Soviet Union. Perhaps in no other
country was film music associated with so many distinguished
composers: Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitry Shostakovich, Isaak Dunayevsky,
Georgy Sviridov, Aram Khachaturian, Alfred Schnittke, Nikolai
Karetnikov, Edward Artemyev, Edison Denisov, and Sofia
Gubaidulina.
First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Since 1945 the emphasis in new music has lain in a desire for progress, a concept challenged by postmodernist aesthetics. In this study, Alastair Williams identifies and explores the recurring issues and problems presented by post-war music. Part one examines the German philosopher, Theodor Adorno's portrayal of modernity and his understanding of modernism in music. This is followed by a survey of the developments in music from late Beethoven to Schoenberg, the two composers whose works provided the main anchor points for Adorno's philosophy of music. Parts two and three indicate the ways in which Adorno's aesthetics are pertinent to an understanding of new music. Part two comprises a close examination of the music of Pierre Boulez and John Cage, composers who represent extreme, though related, aspects of contemporary music thought: the primacy of structure versus dissolution. Williams' views the music of Ligeti as an exploration of the interface between these two extremes, personifying Adorno's advocation of an aesthetic which attempts to embrace all its dissimilar parts. In part three the consequences of modernism and the aesthetic approaches of Derrida and de Mann are considered, together with the music of Wolfgang Rihm. Williams concludes with a survey of contemporary music and the postmodernist desire to include a range of compositional references.
First Published in 1998. This book is a comprehensive annotated bibliography of writings about the life, times, and music of Jean Sibelius (1865-1957). Over 1,000 sources in 11 different languages are represented, from the earliest writings, which appeared in the 1890s, to studies published through 1994. Historical information and background are supplied together with an indication of the reliability of each source. Translations of studies into English, German, and French are noted, particularly important in a field where so many items are in Finnish and Swedish. Introductory essays to each section discuss Sibelius in different contexts: for example, vis--vis his contemporaries in Scandinavia, in relation to folk music, in reception history, and in the scholarly literature. Individual musical compositions have their own sections with bibliography. Comprehensive indexes cover the musical works, authors, and people and subjects mentioned.
James Manns presents a readable and entertaining examination of the most serious questions posed by the arts and our relation to them. In a clear and engaging fashion, he explores the central issues in aesthetics: aesthetic judgment, the nature and role of criticism, the elusiveness of the concept of art, and communication through art, and he critically (but sympathetically) considers that principal theories of art that focus on expression, form, and representation. Through the use of extensive, entertaining, and current examples (including film), Manns conveys the solid basics relating to the history and development of aesthetic theories, tries out these various theories against the art of the last half century, then outlines his own view revolving around the artist's intention and the act of communication.
James Manns presents a readable and entertaining examination of the most serious questions posed by the arts and our relation to them. In a clear and engaging fashion, he explores the central issues in aesthetics: aesthetic judgment, the nature and role of criticism, the elusiveness of the concept of art, and communication through art, and he critically (but sympathetically) considers that principal theories of art that focus on expression, form, and representation. Through the use of extensive, entertaining, and current examples (including film), Manns conveys the solid basics relating to the history and development of aesthetic theories, tries out these various theories against the art of the last half century, then outlines his own view revolving around the artist's intention and the act of communication.
The experimental composer John Cage (1912-1992) is best known for his works in percussion, prepared piano and electronic music, but he is also acknowledged to be one of the most significant figures in 20th century theatre. In Cage's theatre composition there is a blurring of the distinctions between music, dance, literature, art and everyday life. Here, William Fetterman examines the majority of those compositions by Cage which are audial as well as visual in content, beginning with his first work in this genre in 1952 and continuing through to 1992. Information for this study has come from material discovered among the unpublished scores and notes of Cage and his frequent collaborator David Tudor, as well as the author's interviews with Cage and individuals associated with his work, including Merce Cunningham, Bonnie Bird, Caroline Richards, and Ellsworth Snyder. The book also contains notation and illustrations of performances of Cage's work.
The authors examine the problems encountered by Denisov during
composition, and give precise details of all his musical and
literary works, his scientific studies, his notography and
discography (with a complete bibliography), numerous musical
examples, copies of documents and photographs. The book also
contains significant bibliographical information and discusses the
general trends in the development of modern music.
Alban Berg: A Research and Information Guide, Third Edition is an annotated bibliography highlighting both the nature of primary sources related to the composer and the scope and significance of the secondary sources that deal with Berg, his compositions, and his influence as a composer. It is a reliable, complete, and useful resource and a starting point for anyone-performer, teacher, student, or scholar-wanting to learn about Berg's life, works, and cultural milieu. The third edition has 162 additional citations since the publication of the second edition, many arising after the expiration of copyright of Berg's musical and archival works 2005. Many important new, primary sources of information have appeared, most notably the letter exchanges with his wife, recently published in a three-volume critical edition (in German), as well as letter exchanges with Alma Mahler and Erich Kleiber, and later correspondences with Anton Webern. There has also been a notable increase in the availability of commercial video recordings of Berg's operas, Wozzeck and Lulu.
Recomposing the Past is a book concerned with the complex but important ways in which we engage with the past in modern times. Contributors examine how media on stage and screen uses music, and in particular early music, to evoke and recompose a distant past. Culture, popular and otherwise, is awash with a stylise - sometimes contradictory - musical history. And yet for all its complexities, these representations of the past through music are integral to how our contemporary and collective imaginations understand history. More importantly, they offer a valuable insight into how we understand our musical present. Such representative strategies, the book argues, cross generic boundaries, and as such it brings together a range of multimedia discussion on the subjects of film (Lord of the Rings, Dangerous Liasions), television (Game of Thrones, The Borgias), videogame (Dragon Warrior, Gauntlet), and opera (Written on Skin, Taverner, English 'dramatick opera'). This collection constitutes a significant, and interdisciplinary, contribution to a growing literature which is unpacking our ongoing creative dialogue with the past. Divided into three complementary sections, grouped not by genre or media but by theme, it considers: 'Authenticity, Appropriateness, and Recomposing the Past', 'Music, Space, and Place: Geography as History', and 'Presentness and the Past: Dialogues between Old and New'. Like the musical collage that is our shared multimedia historical soundscape, it is hoped that this collection is, in its eclecticism, more than the sum of its parts.
Gustav Mahler thought of his symphonic writing as being based on personal experience, as autobiographical, and as an expression of his philosophy of life. Thus his symphonies deal with profound existential questions and with programmatic ideas that the composer was at first willing to reveal but later preferred to keep to himself. Important references to musical meaning in Mahler's symphonies can be found in numerous sources - sketches, drafts, autograph scores, and printers' proofs. These references take the form of programmatic titles, cues, and mottos, and include literary allusions, outcries of grief, and other emotional expressions; they demonstrate that his symphonies cannot be classified as absolute music but rather as music with personal, biographical, literary, and philosophical meanings. With this thesis in mind, Constantin Floros undertakes a precise and detailed exploration of each of Mahler's ten symphonies and Das Lied von der Erde, bringing to light for the first time various aspects of the works. Professor Floros examines their history and autobiographical origins and discusses the events that profoundly influenced the composer's symphonic writing. For example, Mahler's meeting with Alma Schindler (later to become Alma Mahler) in November 1901 and the tragic events of 1907 - the death of the composer's older daughter and the diagnosis of his heart trouble - profoundly changed Mahler's attitude toward life and subsequently his music. The compositional techniques employed by Mahler in each symphony are analyzed and related to stylistic and semantic aspects to decode the composer's symbolic musical language. The author is thus able to identify certain basic qualities ofthese works: tragic irony, the sense of the grotesque, and the affirmation of Mahler's belief both in life after death and in the power of love to transcend death. Understanding this language leads to a more profound understanding of Mahler the symphonist. Gustav Mahler: The Symphonies is the third book in Professor Floros' monumental study of Mahler, his spiritual world, and his position in relation to nineteenth-century symphonic writing in general. The first and second books have not yet been translated into English.
This annotated bibliography uncovers the wealth of resources available on the life and music of John Cage, one of the most influential and fascinating composers of the twentieth-century. The guide will focus on documentary studies, archival resources, scholarly research, and autobiographical materials, and place the composer and his work in a larger context of postmodern philosophy, art and theater movements, and contemporary politics. It will support emerging scholarship and inquiry for future research on Cage, with carefully selected sources and useful annotations.
Hodgson has done an excellent job of working with the many existing resources on Britten and making his volume a concise, clear, and reliable starting point for those studying or researching the composer. This volume should be in the reference divisions of college/university libraries and should be listed as an important bibliographic source. It is highly recommended -- American Reference Books Annual '97
Music abounds in twentieth- century Irish literature. Whether it be the "thought-tormented" music of Joyce's "The Dead", the folk tunes and opera that resound throughout Ulysses, or the four- part threnody in Beckett's Watt, it is clear that the influence of music on the written word in Ireland is deeply significant. Samuel Beckett arguably went further than any other writer in the incorporation of musical ideas into his work. Musical quotations inhabit his texts, and structural devices such as the da capo are metaphorically employed. Perhaps most striking is the erosion of explicit meaning in Beckett's later prose brought about through an extensive use of repetition, influenced by his reading of Schopenhauer's philosophy of music. Exploring this notion of "semantic fluidity", John McGrath discusses the ways in which Beckett utilised extreme repetition to create texts that operate and are received more like music. Beckett's writing has attracted the attention of numerous contemporary composers and an investigation into how this Beckettian "musicalized fiction" has been retranslated into contemporary music forms the second half of the book. Close analyses of the Beckett- inspired music of experimental composer Morton Feldman and the structured improvisations of avantjazz guitarist Scott Fields illustrate the cross- genre appeal of Beckett to musicians, but also demonstrate how repetition operates in diverse ways. Through the examination of the pivotal role of repetition in both music and literature of the twentieth century and beyond, John McGrath's book is a significant contribution to the field of Word and Music Studies.
In his 1985 book The Idea of Music: Schoenberg and Others, Peter Franklin set out a challenge for musicology: namely, how best to talk and write about the music of modern European culture that fell outside of the modernist mainstream typified by Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern? Thirty years on, this collected volume of essays by Franklin's students and colleagues returns to that challenge and the vibrant intellectual field that has since developed. Moving freely between insights into opera, Volksoper, film, festival, and choral movement, and from the very earliest years of the twentieth century up to the 1980s, its authors listen with a 'critical ear': they site these musical phenomena within a wider web of modern cultural practices - a perspective, in turn, that enables them to exercise a disciplinary self-awareness after Franklin's manner.
Leo Black, a pupil of Rubbra in the 1950s, presents a full-scale study of his symphonies (the first for twenty years). A biographical sketch throws light on legends about the BBC and Rubbra; there are full programme notes on eachsymphony, with accounts of important non-symphonic works. The music of Edmund Rubbra (1901-1986) has been unjustly neglected - arguably because its wide-ranging nature makes it difficult to categorise. He is perhaps best known as a symphonist; his eleven symphonies covered a period of musical and political upheaval [1934 - 1980], the first four reflecting the uneasy later 1930s, with a second global conflict no longer avoidable. The immediately-post-war ones document new emotional depths and his conversion, whilethe final symphonies show a man still in search of peace and reconciliation, overlooked by the world but certain he was on the right path. Leo Black, a pupil of Rubbra at Oxford in the 1950s, here presents a sympatheticfull-scale study of these works (the first for some twenty years). A succinct biographical sketch throws light on legends about the BBC and Rubbra; there are full programme notes on each symphony, with shorter accounts of important non-symphonic works, in particular a 'triptych' of concertos from the 1950s and major liturgical pieces composed around the time of the Second Vatican Council, after Rubbra's conversion to Catholicism. He also deals with the vexed question of Rubbra's mysticism. LEO BLACK is a former BBC chief producer for music and author of the highly-acclaimed Franz Schubert: Music and Belief [2003]. |
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