The substantial collection of notations of seventeenth-century Ottoman instrumental music made by Demetrius Cantemir is both a record of compositions of considerable intrinsic interest and a historical document of vital importance, representing as it does one of the most comprehensive accounts of any Middle Eastern repertoire before the widespread adoption of Western notation in the twentieth century. This volume contains a commentary to the edition of Cantemir's notations prepared by the same author. The introductory section provides a context for the collection, giving a biographical sketch of its compiler and relating it to the theoretical treatise it accompanies. This is followed by a substantial analysis of modal structures which examines each makam individually and then attempts to make progressively wider generalizations. The projection of melody onto the various rhythmic cycles is next examined, with particular attention being paid to the various formulaic elements which constitute much of the compositional language of the period. A final section shifts to a more diachronic perspective, surveying internal evidence for historical change and for the survival of earlier styles.

This collection of reprinted essays takes the trends of the author's Music, Patronage and Printing in Late Renaissance Florence (also in the 'Variorum' series) in a somewhat different direction. If the focus there was primarily on archival documents, here it is on the actual music. The starting-point is similar - the rise of the 'new music' for solo voice and basso continuo in late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century Florence, in particular the songs of Giulio Caccini. But it moves on to broader aesthetic issues crystallized in contemporary theoretical debate and musical practice - not least the rise of aria-based styles - and concludes with a series of studies of Claudio Monteverdi's works for the theatre, including the operas Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (1640) and the ever-problematic L'incoronazione di Poppea (1643).

This book contains sixteen essays on Venetian music in its last great period, stretching from the second half of the 17th century to the fall of the Republic in 1797. Two essays deal with musical institutions (academies and conservatories), nine with the life and works of Antonio Vivaldi, and five with contemporaries of Vivaldi active in Venice (Albinoni, Marcello, Vinaccesi). A substantial supplementary chapter updates, and where necessary revises, the facts and arguments of the original essays, which collectively date from the years 1973-1995. All the essays are written in English, but many originally appeared in Italian journals and conference proceedings that are hard for English-speaking readers to obtain. The volume is carefully indexed, enabling the reader easily to make connections between the essays.

This five-volume graded series of organ music by J. S. Bach (2 volumes for manuals only; 3 volumes for manuals and pedals) provides a wonderful selection of pieces for all players. The whole is an authoritative and fully practical introduction to this cornerstone of the organ repertoire, with pieces presented in highly practical form for teachers and students.

Series Information:
Giovanni Legrenzi

Evidence indicates that the concertos of Vivaldi, Bach, Haydn etc were performed as chamber music, not the full orchestral works commonly assumed. The concertos of Vivaldi, Bach, Handel and their contemporaries are some of the most popular, and the most frequently performed, pieces of classical music; and the assumption has always been they were full orchestral works. This book takes issue with this orthodox opinion to argue quite the reverse: that contemporaries regarded the concerto as chamber music. The author surveys the evidence, from surviving printed and manuscript performance material, from concerts throughout Europe between 1685 and 1750 (the heyday of the concerto), demonstrating that concertos were nearly always played one-to-a-part at that time. He makes a particularly close study of the scoring of the bass line,discussing the question of what instruments were most appropriate and what was used when. The late Dr RICHARD MAUNDER was Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge.

This volume is part of a series of 25 full-score volumes of 17th-century Italian sacred music, a repertoire that has largely been unavailable for study or performance. It includes a comprehensive historical and biographical introduction, focuses on composers significant in their own time, and offers modern notation for contemporary performers.

Pioneering work on the musical material from the archives of the English court was undertaken by Nagel (1894), Lafontaine (1909) and Stokes (in the Musical Antiquary 1903-1913). Records of English Court Music (a series of seven volumes covering the period 1485-1714) is the first attempt to compile a systematic calendar of such references. It aims to revise these earlier studies where necessary, adding significant details which researchers omitted, clarifying the context of documents and substituting current call-marks for defunct references. Volume V is primarily concerned with the post-Restoration years already partially covered in volumes I and II. The material from the Exchequer and Declared Accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber has been revised to include references to trumpeters and drummers. Other sections are devoted to material outside the Lord Chamberlain's papers: the Signet Office Docquet Books, Secret Service accounts and more from the Exchequer; the Corporation of Musick (controlled by the Court musicians) and to the range of music material from accounts of the Receivers General. Samples from the comprehensive records of the Lord Steward's department (including those of the Cofferer of the Household) are also provided. Andrew Ashbee was the winner of the Oldman Prize in 1987 for Volume II in the series of 'Records of English Court Music', awarded by the UK branch of the International Association of Music Libraries for the year's best book on music librarianship, bibliography and reference.

In the 1530s, five Bassano brothers, who were outstanding wind players and instrument makers, emigrated from Venice to England. Dr Lasocki's authoritative new book, the first to be devoted to the family, is a minutely researched account of these brothers, their sons (and a daughter) and their grandsons. The first half of the book discusses the everyday affairs of the family - their relationships, religion, property, law suits, finances, and standing in society. Two chapters, one written by Roger Prior, are devoted to Emilia Bassano, whose identification as the 'dark lady' of Shakespeare's sonnets is supported by a wealth of evidence. The second half of the book discusses the family's musical activities. At the English Court the Bassanos made up a recorder consort that lasted 90 years; they also played in the flute/cornett and shawm/sackbutt consorts. As instrument makers their fame was spread throughout Europe. The book's appendixes present information on the Venetian branch of the family and the musical activities of the English branch since 1665.

Demonstrating the range and popularity of Bach piano transcriptions during the early twentieth century, this volume brings together arrangements from notable British musical figures, including Myra Hess, Leonard Borwick, Harriet Cohen, and William H. Harris. The collection includes exuberant fantasias and fugues, gentle transcriptions from instrumental works, and popular chorales such as 'Jesu, joy of man's desiring' and 'Bist du bei mir'. With an introduction by David Owen Norris, Bach Transcriptions for Piano is the perfect resource for all intermediate to advanced pianists wishing to further explore Bach's music.

Pioneering work on the musical material from the archives of the English court was undertaken by Nagel (1894), Lafontaine (1909) and Stokes (in the Musical Antiquary 1903-1913). Records of English Court Music (a series of seven volumes covering the period 1485-1714) is the first attempt to compile a systematic calendar of such references. It aims to revise these earlier studies where necessary, adding significant details which researchers omitted, clarifying the context of documents and substituting current call-marks for defunct references. Volume V is primarily concerned with the post-Restoration years already partially covered in volumes I and II. The material from the Exchequer and Declared Accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber has been revised to include references to trumpeters and drummers. Other sections are devoted to material outside the Lord Chamberlain's papers: the Signet Office Docquet Books, Secret Service accounts and more from the Exchequer; the Corporation of Musick (controlled by the Court musicians) and to the range of music material from accounts of the Receivers General. Samples from the comprehensive records of the Lord Steward's department (including those of the Cofferer of the Household) are also provided. Andrew Ashbee was the winner of the Oldman Prize in 1987 for Volume II in the series of 'Records of English Court Music', awarded by the UK branch of the International Association of Music Libraries for the year's best book on music librarianship, bibliography and reference.

Lawrence Bennett provides a comprehensive study of the rich repertoire of accompanied vocal chamber music that entertained the imperial family in Vienna and their guests throughout the 17th and early 18th centuries. The cantata became a form of elite entertainment composed to amuse listeners during banquets or pay homage to members of the royal family during special occasions. Concentrating on Baroque cantatas composed in the Habsburg court, Bennett draws extensively on primary source material to explore the stylistic changes that occurred within the genre in the generations before Haydn and Mozart.The cantata became a form of elite entertainment composed to amuse listeners during banquets or pay homage to members of the royal family during special occasions. Concentrating on Baroque cantatas composed in the Habsburg court, Bennett draws extensively on primary source material to explore the stylistic changes that occurred within the genre in the generations before Haydn and Mozart.

Anthology for Music in the Baroque, part of the Western Music in Context series, is the ideal companion to Music in the Baroque. Twenty-six carefully chosen works including a lute song by John Dowland, a cantata by Barbara Strozzi, and selections from J. S. Bach s Art of Fugue offer representative examples of genres and composers of the period. Commentaries following each score present a careful analysis of the music, and online links to purchase and download recordings make listening easier than ever."

This anthology to accompany Gateways to Understanding Music is comprised of musical "texts." These broadly defined texts-primarily musical scores-facilitate the integration of score study and music theory into the ethno/musicology curriculum, a necessary focus in the training of the professional musician. As posed by the textbook, the last question in each modular "gateway" is "Where do I go from here?" This resource provides one more opportunity to go beyond the textbook to examine music scores and texts in even greater depth. This anthology is a combination of primary sources for study: musical scores and music transcriptions, along with a few primary source documents and musical exercises.

Sir Henry J. Wood (1869-1944), co-founder and chief conductor of the Proms, is often noted for his championing of the leading composers of the day, including Richard Strauss, Debussy, Rachmaninov, Ravel and Vaughan Williams. He also played pivotal role in advocating and performing the music of J.S. Bach. Sir Henry J. Wood (1869-1944), co-founder and chief conductor of the Proms for nearly half a century, is often noted for his championing of the leading composers of the day, including Richard Strauss, Debussy, Rachmaninoff, Ravel,Sibelius, and Vaughan Williams. Less known is the part Wood played in advocating and performing the music of J.S. Bach, much of which, incredibly, was unknown in England at the turn of the twentieth century. This book uncoversWood's pivotal role in the English Bach revival. Wood's performances of works such as the St Matthew Passion and B Minor Mass caused a stir; the Brandenburg Concertos and Orchestral Suites became staple fixtures in the musical calendar; and his orchestral arrangements of Bach's solo works and cantata arias were key to the popularisation of the composer in England. Largely untouched, the hundreds of Bach scores individually marked up by Wood, now preservedin his archive at the Royal Academy of Music, London, reveal the minutiae of his thoughts on performance and offer a fascinating parallel to his available recordings from the period. Illuminating a significant new aspect of the musical life of England before World War II, the book also demonstrates that Wood's advocacy continues to influence perceptions of Bach even today. DR HANNAH FRENCH is an academic, broadcaster, and Baroque flautist based in London. She broadcasts regularly on Radio 3 and has appeared as a TV presenter and commentator for the BBC Proms.

Originally entitled Musicology, in this work musicians are shown how to perform concertos by Vivaldi and his contemporaries in a way that would be recognized and encouraged by their composers. In addition, the key role of Sir Thomas Beecham as a pioneer in early music receives its proper credit and appreciation.

Bach and Tuning is strictly concerned with the identification of a historically accurate tuning paradigm that applies to the great majority of Johann Sebastian Bach's music. Once Bach has his personal tuning aesthetic acknowledged, a new dimension of meaning is invoked in performance through the intended interplay of diverse musical intervals. This new narrative lays bare Bach's mental calculations regarding his idealized intonation. Bach, the true chromatic composer of the Baroque, was the scion of a great music family. Likewise, Andreas Werckmeister was the bright star in a neighboring musical family, only a generation earlier. Bach and Tuning connects the valuable tuning contribution made by Werckmeister to Bach's musical masterpieces.

This book surveys North German church music from the period of one of the most well-known of J.S. Bach's immediate German predecessors, Dietrich Buxtehude (c.1637-1707). Particular emphasis is placed on composers whose work has suffered unjust neglect, and on the influence of contemporary Italian church music. As well as providing a detailed study of the music itself, Geoffrey Webber also examines the religious and social background, and aspects of performance practice.

This is the only thoroughgoing study of the Monteverdi Vespers, vastly expanding on the author's 1978 set of essays on the subject, long since out of print. The volume studies the Vespers from the standpoint of its musical and liturgical origins and context, contains analytical essays on the music, and examines 17th-century performance practice as it pertains to the Vespers. Appendices include bibliographies and an analytical discography.

This survey distils a wide range of documentary and musical evidence relating to a particularly rich period in the city of Oxford's history. Aspects discussed include concert life, the choral tradition, the gradual establishment of an honours school of music, visiting musicians such as Handel and Haydn, Liszt and Joachim, and the role of figures such as William Crotch, Frederick Ouseley and Hubert Parry in raising the status of music and the musical profession.

In 1741, in just 24 days, the German-born, British-naturalized composer George Frideric Handel wrote an oratorio rich in tuneful arias and choruses of robust grandeur. Coolly received in London at first, after Handel's death Messiah enjoyed an extraordinary surge in popularity: it was performed at festivals across England; other composers rushed to rearrange it; it would be commercially recorded on more than 100 occasions. Jonathan Keates tells the story of the composition and musical afterlife of Handel's masterpiece: he considers the first performances and its place in Handel's output; he looks at the oratorio itself and its relationship with spirituality in the age of the Enlightenment; and he examines why Messiah became such an essential element in the national culture of Britain. Illustrated with beautiful images, including the original score of the work, Messiah is a richly informative and affectionate celebration of a high-point of Britain's Georgian golden age.

This study investigates an almost unknown musical culture: that of cloistered nuns in one of the major cities of early modern Europe. These women were the most famous musicians of Milan, and the music composed for them opens up a hitherto unstudied musical repertory, which allows insight into the symbolic world of the city. Even more importantly, the music actually composed by four such nuns, Claudia Scossa, Claudia Rusca, Chiara Margarita Cozzollani, and Rosa Giacinta Badalla - reveals the musical expression of women's devotional life. The two centuries' worth of battles over nuns' singing of polyphony, studies here for the first time on the basis of massive archival documentation, also suggest that the implementation of reform in the major centre of post-Tridentine Catholic renewal was far more varied; incomplete, subject to local political pressure and individual interpretation, and short-lived than any religious historian has ever suggested. Other factors that marked nuns' musical lives and creative output - liturgical traditions of the religious orders, the problems of performance practice attendant upon all-female singing ensembles - are here addressed for the first time in the musicological literature.

During the years 1500-1800, European performing arts reveled in a kaleidoscope of Otherness: Middle-Eastern harem women, fortune-telling Spanish 'Gypsies', Incan priests, Barbary pirates, moresca dancers, and more. In this prequel to his 2009 book Musical Exoticism, Ralph P. Locke explores how exotic locales and their inhabitants were characterized in musical genres ranging from instrumental pieces and popular songs to oratorios, ballets, and operas. Locke's study offers new insights into much-loved masterworks by composers such as Cavalli, Lully, Purcell, Rameau, Handel, Vivaldi, Gluck, and Mozart. In these works, evocations of ethnic and cultural Otherness often mingle attraction with envy or fear, and some pieces were understood at the time as commenting on conditions in Europe itself. Locke's accessible study, which includes numerous musical examples and rare illustrations, will be of interest to anyone who is intrigued by the relationship between music and cultural history, and by the challenges of cross-cultural (mis)understanding.

This Catalogue provides scholars and performers with a survey of the breadth and variety of the repertoire of the composer whom Christoph Wolff describes as "one of the most seminal and influential musicians of the pre-Bach generation in Germany." Pachelbel composed the majority of his 527 works for keyboard instruments, as well as choral, vocal, and chamber music. The Catalogue presents incipits for each that can be identified. The list of works is intended to determine the totality of the corpus and knowledge about it, to determine the best means of identifying each work, and to settle problems of identity among similarly titled works. An essay on authorities examines the controversies of authenticity of Pachelbel manuscripts. Liberally footnoted and meticulously compiled, the Catalogue is invaluable to those familiar with Pachelbel's compositions and will create new interest.