Mozart's collaborations with the librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte led to the composition of three of the greatest masterpieces in all opera: Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte. This book sets the scene for these popular operas by describing the cultural and social context in which they were written, Mozart's hopes and expectations for his works, and the trends in his musical style that emerge in these compositions.

This collection of essays addresses a very broad range of E. T. A. Hoffmann's most significant works, examining them through the lens of "transgression." Transgression bears relevance to Hoffmann's life and professions in three ways. First, his official career path was that of jurisprudence; he was active as a lawyer, a judge and eventually as one of the most important magistrates in Berlin. Second, his personal life was marked by numerous conflicts with political and social authorities. Seemingly no matter where he went, he experienced much chaos, grief and impoverishment in leading his always precarious existence. Third, his works explore characters and concepts beyond the boundaries of what was considered aesthetically acceptable. "Normal" bourgeois existence was often juxtaposed to the lives of criminals, sinners, and other deviants, both within the spaces of the known world as well as in supernatural realms. He, perhaps more than any other author of the German Romantic movement, regularly portrayed the dark side of existence in his works, including unconscious psychological phenomena, nightmares, somnambulism, vampirism, mesmerism, Doppelganger, and other forms of transgressive behavior. It is the intention of this volume to provide a new look at Hoffmann's very diverse body of work from numerous perspectives, stimulating interest in Hoffmann in English language audiences.

Beethoven Symphonies Revisited guides the reader -- music student, concert goer, or general music lover -- through the movements in a way that renews the novelty and excitement that listeners must have felt at the first performances. Stylistic discussion concentrates on the unusual features of each symphony, placing each individual work in the context of Beethovens musical advancement and circumstances. His musical innovations are explored, and his contribution to the genre assessed. Thirty author-annotated musical pages elaborate and exemplify. The essential building blocks of key, tonality, metre, rhythm and instrumentation are discussed in detail. The authors purpose is twofold: to bring together major research findings and at the same time offer detailed descriptive analyses of all nine symphonies. The approach is singular in its emphasis on the symphonies in the context of performance practice of the time, especially musical direction; the importance of the wind instruments (especially horns) and kettle drums; how counterpoint features in various passages in all the symphonies except the Sixth and Eighth, and how this was influenced by Beethovens strict training in species counterpoint. New evaluations are offered, especially for the Second, Eighth and Ninth symphonies. The books multi-faceted approach will be invaluable not only for conductors and music students at all levels, but for all concert goers and music lovers who wish to gain insight into the musical intricacies developed and enhanced by Beethovens symphonic journey. Illustrations: 30 annotated musical score pages comprising 99 examples linked to text explanations; autographed manuscripts; performance venues; and instruments of the period.

The universally acclaimed and award-winning Oxford History of Western Music is a magisterial five-volume survey of the traditions of Western music by one of the most prominent and provocative musicologists of our time, Richard Taruskin.
Now this renowned work is available in paperback--both as a set and (for the first time) individually. This volume examines the music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, examining the music of such classical giants as Vivaldi, Handel, Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. Taking a critical perspective, Taruskin sets the details of music, the chronological sweep of figures, works, and musical ideas, within the larger context of world affairs and cultural history. He combines an emphasis on structure and form with a discussion of relevant theoretical concepts in each age, to illustrate how the music itself works, and how contemporaries heard and understood it. He also describes how the context of each stylistic period--key cultural, historical, social, economic, and scientific events--influenced and directed compositional choices.
Attractively illustrated and laced with brilliant observations, memorable musical analysis, and a panoramic sense of the interactions between history, culture, politics, art, literature, religion, and music, this volume is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand classical music.