Examines Joseph Joachim's vital legacy through a range of philological, philosophical and critical approaches. Joseph Joachim (1831-1907), violinist, composer, teacher, and founding director of Berlin's Royal Academy of Music, was one of the most eminent and influential musicians of the long nineteenth century. Born in a tiny Jewish community on the Austro-Hungarian border, he rose to a position of unsurpassed prominence in European cultural life. This timely collection of essays explores important yet little-known aspects of Joachim's life and art. Studies of his Jewish background, early assimilation into Christian society, Felix Mendelssohn's mentorship, and the influence of Hungarian vernacular music on the formation of his musical style elucidate the roots of Joachim's identity. The later chapters focus on his personal and creative responses to the contentious and rapidly evolving cultural milieu in which he lived: his choice of instruments as his musical "voice," his performances as sites of (re)enchantment in the modern age, his pathbreaking British career, his calling and sway as a quartet player, his pedagogical legacy, his influence on the establishment of the musical canon, and several of his most distinctive and original compositions. With a wide variety of approaches-analytical, philological, archival, philosophical, and critical-this collection will prove enlightening to scholars, performers, and others interested in this brilliant artist and the musical aesthetics, culture, and styles of his time.

2009 is a year of celebration marking five decades of the Searchers. From small beginnings the group has reached stratospheric heights. Frank Allen, front man and bass player has spent the last three years collating all his diaries and memory banks to produce this magnificent account of the history of the Searchers. It is a very full and definitive biography, but as Frank himself in his Introduction states The story can never be a complete one. Nevertheless, the 440 + pages are packed with epic stories, comedy and tragedy and little nuggets of information that could only have been experienced by someone who was there, covering in some detail both the earliest days of the embryonic Searchers and Franks formative musical years with Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers. In addition, there are 167 photographs many of which have never been published before. The Searchers and me is a testament to Frank Allen's enduring popularity both on and off the stage.

In the chaos of the English Civil War and Puritan Commonwealth, churches were defaced and organs broken, but the tradition of fine music survived. When Charles II returned from exile in 1660, one of the first things he demanded was music, sacred and profane, anthems and motets, pavannes and gavottes. In 1659 Henry Purcell was born, and his genius would give the period and nation an unforgettable voice. Jonathan Keates traces Purcell's development against the turbulent movements of his time - political, religious, theatrical and social. He shows him growing up in the shadow of Westminster Abbey and follows him as a chorister in the Chapel Royal, copying the innovative and colourful style of Matthew Locke; beginning to composer for the theatre, and for State occasions; writing his great settings of sacred music, his chamber sonatas, and his triumphant Dido and Aeneas, the first British opera. In the background are the heady politics of Restoration England, which expelled the Stuart James II and brought William and Mary to the throne. But almost more important is the rich musical history, the influence of French and Italian composers, blending with and modifying the native tradition. We know and love Purcell through his work; his songs were sung in taverns, his psalms in churches; he was urbane and witty, impassioned and profound. This engrossing biography is as remarkable for its sensitive critical appreciation of Purcell's music, in all its forms, as it is for its vivid portrait of the man, and the boisterous age in which he lived.

The Brian Jonestown Massacre are probably best known for their leader Anton Newcombe s incendiary persona, as captured in the controversial 2004 rockumentary Dig! - which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance - but what isn t known is the truth behind the making of the film, or the true story of the band since their formation in early 1990s San Francisco. Until now. Writer, actor, and musician Jesse Valencia spent ten years uncovering the mysteries of the band and the film, during which time he has traveled from San Francisco to Denver, Portland to Tucson, and beyond, gathering pieces of the band s history and putting them together, clue by clue, until he found it. Presented as a personal narrative and compiled from hundreds of sources and interviews with key members of The Brian Jonestown Massacre - including Joel Gion, Rick Maymi, Frankie Emerson, Jeff Davies, Dean Taylor, Miranda Lee Richards, and Peter Hayes - as well as members of The Dandy Warhols, Dig! director Ondi Timoner, and countless other figures from both the film and from the band s greater history, Keep Music Evil is the definitive work on the band and their enigmatic leader. Keep Music Evil also tells the stories of the creation of every album the band have released during their three-decade career, offering insight in Anton and his collaborators working methods, and provides an in-depth look at the making of Dig!, giving deeper context to the events as portrayed, correcting misinformation, and deconstructing the film as a whole. It also features rare, candid, and never-before-seen photographs of the band from throughout their career.

The music of Gerald Finzi, whose popularity has recently enjoyed a great resurgence, is rooted in the tradition of Elgar, Parry, Vaughan Williams and those composers of the early part of this century for whom song writing was a principal means of expression. While retaining a general picture of the modest, quintessentially English composer, Stephen Banfield's stylish, witty and acute biography reveals Finzi as a more complex and engaged figure than he is often given credit for. Finzi's ambiguous relationship with his craft, his affluent and intellectually stimulating family background and his Jewishness lend a mysterious and troubled quality to his life and work, and ultimately invite us to question the notions of Englishness he represents. 'In this outstanding study, Stephen Banfield remarks that although Finzi's output and influence were those of a minor composer, "something about his profile, the way he went about his job, the breadth of his thought, the depths of his personality and its impact on others, in short his individuality, always suggested something greater." Thus it is that Finzi, with a relatively small output, now receives a 571-page biography in which the author brings to bear the full weight and authority of analytical scholarship. Is he worth it? Banfield compels one to answer yes.' Michael Kennedy, BBC Music Magazine 'Stephen Banfield's long-needed and doubly welcome book does all that a good life-and-works study should do ... he earns the most heartfelt gratitude. So, it should be added, do his publishers.' Musical Times

Nicholas Lanier (1588-1666) was not only the first person to hold the office of Master of the Music to King Charles I, he was also a practising painter, a friend of Rubens, Van Dyck and many other artists of his time, and one of the very first great art collectors and connoisseurs. He is especially remembered for the part he played in acquiring, on behalf of Charles I, the famous collection of paintings belonging to the Gonzaga family of Mantua. Many of these paintings still form an important part of the Royal Collection today. In this book the different strands of Lanier's colourful life are for the first time drawn together and presented in a single compelling narrative.

Erik Tawaststjerna embarked on his authoritative study of Sibelius in 1960, and it occupied him for over a quarter of a century. His book differs from other work on the composer in one important respect: he had unrestricted access to the composer's papers, diaries and letters as well as the advantage of numerous conversations with the composer's widow and other members of the family. Thus his researches can justifiably claim to have thrown entirely fresh light on the great Finnish composer. Far from the remote personality of the Sibelius legend, Sibelius emerges as a highly colourful figure.

Translated by Robert Layton, himself a Sibelius specialist, this first volume (the first of three) takes us up to the period of the Second Symphony and the Violin Concerto, with perceptive and searching studies of the music including a number of early works, "The Burning of the Boat, "the "Kullervo Symphony" and the two versions of "En Saga."

'A remarkable and deeply impressive book. The English text unquestionably succeeds in giving a subtle and scholarly rendering of a profound study of Sibelius and his music.' "Economist"

Erik Tawaststjerna embarked on his monumental and acclaimed study of Jean Sibelius's life and music in 1960 and it occupied him for over a quarter of a century. His study differs from other work on the composer in one important respect: he had unrestricted access to the composer's papers, diaries and letters as well as the advantage of numerous conversations with the composer's widow and other members of the family. Thus his researches can justifiably claim to have thrown entirely fresh light on the great Finnish composer. Far from the remote personality of the Sibelius legend, Sibelius emerges as a highly colourful figure.

This second volume covers the crucial period from 1904 and the beginning of the Third Symphony through to the outbreak of the First World War ten years later. During this period Sibelius began keeping a diary which, together with his letters to his wife, Aino, and to his friend, Axel Carpelan, helped the author give us a day-by-day, intimate account of the turbulent years that saw the gestation and completion of many of his finest works, culminating in the Fourth Symphony.

Translated by Robert Layton, himself a Sibelius specialist, this is a compelling and insightful account of the music of one of the twentieth century's greatest composers.

Erik Tawaststjerna embarked on his monumental and acclaimed study of Jean Sibelius's life and music in 1960 and it occupied him for over a quarter of a century. His study differs from other work on the composer in one important respect: he had unrestricted access to the composer's papers, diaries and letters as well as the advantage of numerous conversations with the composer's widow and other members of the family. Thus his researches can justifiably claim to have thrown entirely fresh light on the great Finnish composer. Far from the remote personality of the Sibelius legend, Sibelius emerges as a highly colourful figure.

This third volume traces the composer's career from the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, which found him poised on the brink of the Fifth Symphony, through to his death in 1957. It traces the genesis of the Fifth Symphony and gives a vivid portrait of Finland during the early years of independence and civil war. Tawaststjerna relates in fascinating detail the composer's financial plight during these years and his struggles with his own psyche. We follow his career through to the Seventh Symphony and "Tapiola," and the increasingly corrosive streak of self-criticism which blighted Sibelius's last years and resulted in the destruction of the Eighth Symphony.

Translated by Robert Layton, himself a Sibelius specialist, this is a compelling and insightful account of the music of one of the twentieth century's greatest composers.

Shirley describes her family, and their early struggles, the trials and tribulations she went through during the Civil Rights movement, her early singing career, and her callilng to become a pastor and concert performer. With a combination of music, ministry, and the message in all of her performances, all who hear her know that she listens to God every step of the way. Shirley introduces each chapter of The Lady, the Melody, and the Word with just that: the melody (lyrics to her inspiring songs) and the word (Scriptures that have inspired her), and along the way she will introduce you to her own inspiring story.

Olivier Messiaen was one of the outstanding creative artists of his time. The strength of his appeal, to listeners as well as to composers, is a measure of the individuality of his music, which draws on a vast range of sources: rhythms of twentieth-century Europe and thirteenth-century India, ripe romantic harmony and brittle birdsong, the sounds of Indonesian percussion and modern electronic instruments. What binds all these together is, on one level, his unswerving devotion to praising God in his art, and on another, his independent view of how music is made. Messiaen's music offers a range of ways of experiencing time: time suspended in music of unparalleled changelessness, time racing in music of wild exuberance, time repeating itself in vast cycles of reiteration. In Olivier Messiaen and the Music of Time, leading writer and musicologist, Paul Griffiths, explores the problems of religious art, and includes searching analyses and discussions of all the major works, suggesting how they function as works of art and not only as theological symbols. This comprehensive and stimulating book covers the whole of Messiaen's output up to and including his opera, Saint Francoise d'Assise.

In this second volume of Igor Stravinsky's correspondence - selected and annotated by his friend and associate Robert Craft - we are given a wealth of material relating to the composer's association with dance, to his relationship with other composers and musicians, and to the daily, financial, and familial concerns of his life.

Of particular value is his correspondence with Serge Diaghilev, with Vaslav Nijinsky, with Leon Bakst, and with Emile Jaques-Dalcroze. There is a history in letters of "Firebird," Stravinsky's most popular ballet score, and of "Jeu de Cartes," his first Balanchine commission. Also included are letters to and from Pierre Monteux - a correspondence that began in 1912 (the year before the scandalous premiere of "Le Sacre du Printemps," with Monteux conducting) and lasted for forty-five years. A vivid picture of musical life in the emigre community in Hollywood during the 1950s and 1960s emerges from the correspondence with Ernst Krenek, while Stravinsky's letters to Nicolas Nabokov are an invaluable record of musical activities during the last thirty years of his life, including the premiere of his opera "The Rake's Progress."

Together with the accompanying two volumes, this book affords an extraordinary insight into the life and work of a complex, brilliant artist.

At the centre of this third and final volume of letters to and from Igor Stravinsky is four decades of the composer's correspondence with his publishers. Stravinsky's letters to Schotts cover the years 1928-39 and the publication of the Violin Concerto, the "Concerto per due pianoforte soli," "Jeu de Cartes," the Concerto in E flat, and the Symphony in C.

His letters to Associated Music Publishers span the years 1940-7, while twenty-two years of correspondence with Boosey & Hawkes reveals much about the development of Stravinsky's works in progress, the performances of his music, and his projects and plans. These letters offer fascinating glimpses into his daily life - musical and otherwise - clearly exhibiting his meticulousness, his immense vitality, and his unbounded creativity.

Here also is Stravinsky's correspondence with Debussy, Satie, Ravel and Poulenc, and with literary collaborators, C. F. Ramuz (Histoire du Soldat), and Andre Gide (Persephone). The correspondence with Charles-Albert Cingria, one of Stravinsky's closest friends, shows how the composer was influenced by Cingria's views on art, literature, and religion, while the letters from musicologist and organist, Jacques Handschin (the only Russian contemporary of Stravinsky's who was an influence on him in later life), contain the sole published reference to the possibility that before the Russian Revolution, Stravinsky may have been 'leftist-minded'.

A fascinating collection on its own, this volume joins the first two to form an essential document in the history of twentieth-century music.

This initial selection from the extraordinary lifetime of letters to and from Igor Stravinsky, annotated by his friend and associate Robert Craft, includes correspondence with W. H. Auden, Jean Cocteau, Lincoln Kirstein and other friends, as well as Stravinsky's letters to Nadia Boulanger, Ernest Ansermet, and Craft himself. The book presents a wealth of previously unpublished information about Stravinsky's relationships with other musicians, and about his methods of composition.

The opening section, based on letters to Stravinsky from his first wife Catherine, is among the most important material yet made available for an understanding of the composer's personal and family life. If the exchanges with Auden (The Rake's Progress) and Cocteau (Oedipus Rex) take first place for general interest, the letters to Ansermet - who conducted more performances of Stravinsky's music than anyone but the composer himself - give a remarkable view of the musical and ballet worlds, especially of the Diaghilev period, and of the great impresario himself.

This book, accompanied by two further volumes, is a major contribution to the Stravinsky canon and to the cultural history of the twentieth century.

Re-issued to coincide with the centenary of Messiaen's birth, The Messiaen Companion was the first major study to appear after the composer's death in April 1992. It was the first book to offer both a complete survey of Messiaen's extraordinary achievements and a comprehensive guide to his music, also examining in detail the enduring inspiration which Messiaen derived from his religious faith and from his lifelong passion for ornithology and the natural world. The contributors, all of whom have made a special study of the composer, include two biographers of Messiaen and a number of the foremost interpreters of his music. Messiaen's influential teaching is recalled in essays by three of his pupils (Pierre Boulez, George Benjamin, and Peter Hill), and the composer is also remembered in a remarkable and moving contribution from his widow and devoted musical companion, the pianist Yvonne Loriod.

Bob Dylan's 1983 album Infidels was a departure from his previous works in so many ways - lyrics, music, production and spirit. It is unique amongst Dylan albums, and while songs like 'Jokerman' and 'I and I' are well known, the album is less so. Surviving in a Ruthless World draws on previously unseen, and unheard resources in The Bob Dylan Archive(R) in Tulsa. It is the story of the writing and the recording of the album's eight songs and unreleased tracks from the Infidels project. Author Terry Gans was granted unique permission to write, research and quote from Dylan's personal notebooks, voluminous song drafts, 49 reels of master session tapes and from reference recordings and documents. Together with interviews with musicians, managers, video producers, and more Terry Gans creates a detailed picture of Bob Dylan creating his art with all of his usual mystery and magic..

The Beethoven symphonies form the core of the classical concert repertoire and remain among the defining works of the Western musical experience. As the heir to Haydn and Mozart, Beethoven possessed an artistic vision that found its most powerful expression in the symphonic form, which he revolutionised and bequeathed to posterity. Beethoven's Symphonies introduces each symphony and traces the background, set against the contemporary political upheavals, the growth of concert life and his other works. Lewis Lockwood uncovers a creative process of remarkable scope and originality, including reference to ideas sketched out but not realised. From the first symphonies to the monumental Ninth, his passion to compose works of transcendent value is brought to life.

The first insider's account of life inside The Fall, Steve Hanley's story unfolds like a novel; from 1979 when he joined his schoolmates Marc Riley and Craig Scanlon in The Fall, he puts us right in the heart of the action: on stage, on the tour bus, in the recording studio, and up close and personal with an eccentric cast of band mates. These vividly drawn scenes give unprecedented insight into the intense, highly-charged creative atmosphere within The Fall, and their relentless work ethic which has won them a dedicated cult following, high-art respectability and a unique place in popular music history.

Camille Saint-Saens was a child prodigy who grew to be acclaimed in his lifetime as the incarnation of French genius: a virtuoso pianist, also declared by Liszt to be the world's greatest organist. His best-known work was the witty Carnival of the Animals, but no less remarkable were the opera Samson et Delila and the Organ Symphony, while the Danse Macabre, Piano Concerto no. 2 and Cello Concerto no. 1 remain much loved. Saint-Saens championed up-and-coming French composers, notably Faure, and played a unique part in transforming his country's musical taste. His personal life was dramatic: a boy during the Revolution of 1848, he served as a National Guard in the War of 1870, eventually becoming something of an icon of the Third Republic. 'Lucid and thorough... Adroitly balancing varying opinions about Saint-Saens' life and work, Rees presents an even-handed assessment of his achievements, examining the music in detail and demonstrating that it is imbued with individuality.' Publishers Weekly

First published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The Prodigy have sold 25 million records and single-handedly reinvented the crossover between dance and rock music, with legendary songs such as 'Firestarter', 'Omen' and 'Breathe'. However, long before they became a stadium-filling rock monster, The Prodigy were prowling the underground of the UK rave scene, first as a blistering demo of tunes by the 'prodigious' teenage Liam Howlett, then latterly with their breakthrough masterpiece, Music for the Jilter Generation. Martin Roach was present throughout the band's early years and documented their rise to fame from the underground into the bright lights of music superstardom. Containing hours and hours of exclusive interviews, the book chronicles the band's early years in minute detail, speaking the each band member and all the key playes along the way. With a new introduction and fresh interview with band members putting these classic early phase in the context of their historically important career, this book is a must-buy for the millions for Prodigy fans eager to learn about the band's formative days.

Erik Satie (1866-1925) was a quirky, innovative and enigmatic composer whose impact has spread far beyond the musical world. As an artist active in several spheres - from cabaret to religion, from calligraphy to poetry and playwriting - and collaborator with some of the leading avant-garde figures of the day, including Cocteau, Picasso, Diaghilev and Rene Clair, he was one of few genuinely cross-disciplinary composers. His artistic activity, during a tumultuous time in the Parisian art world, situates him in an especially exciting period, and his friendships with Debussy, Stravinsky and others place him at the centre of French musical life. He was a unique figure whose art is immediately recognisable, whatever the medium he employed. Erik Satie: Music, Art and Literature explores many aspects of Satie's creativity to give a full picture of this most multifaceted of composers. The focus is on Satie's philosophy and psychology revealed through his music; Satie's interest in and participation in artistic media other than music, and Satie's collaborations with other artists. This book is therefore essential reading for anyone interested in the French musical and cultural scene of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Arnold Schoenberg's theory of music has been much discussed but his approach to music theory needs a new historical and theoretical assessment in order to provide a clearer understanding of his contributions to music theory and analysis. Norton Dudeque's achievement in this book involves the synthesis of Schoenberg's theoretical ideas from the whole of the composer's working life, including material only published well after his death. The book discusses Schoenberg's rejection of his German music theory heritage and past approaches to music-theory pedagogy, the need for looking at musical structures differently and to avoid aesthetic and stylistic issues. Dudeque provides a unique understanding of the systematization of Schoenberg's tonal-harmonic theory, thematic/motivic-development theory and the links with contemporary and past music theories. The book is complemented by a special section that explores the practical application of the theoretical material already discussed. The focus of this section is on Schoenberg's analytical practice, and the author's response to it. Norton Dudeque therefore provides a comprehensive understanding of Schoenberg's thinking on tonal harmony, motive and form that has hitherto not been attempted.

Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (1892-1988) was an unusual legend in his own lifetime: a Parsi composer and critic living in England whose compositions are of such length and difficulty that he felt compelled to ban public performances of them. This book, the first devoted to Sorabji, explores his life and character, his music, his articles and letters. It both presents the legend accurately and dispels its exaggerated aspects. The portrait which emerges is not of a crank or eccentric but of a highly original and accomplished musical thinker whom recent performances and recordings confirm as unique and important. Most of the contributors knew Sorabji personally. They have all written about or performed his music, gaining international recognition for their work. Generous quotation of Sorabji's published and unpublished music and prose assists in bringing him and his work strikingly to life. The book also contains the most complete and accurate register of his work ever published.

Deodat de Severac (1872-1921) is best known for his piano music but his compositions included orchestral and vocal works, including opera, cantata and incidental music. Claude Debussy described Severac's music as "exquisite and rich with ideas." The early works were influenced by Impressionist harmonies, church modes, cyclic techniques, folk-like melodies and Andalusian motives. Severac's style changed dramatically in 1907 when he left Paris and began to include Catalan elements in his compositions - a transition that has hitherto gone unrecognized. Robert Waters provides a much-needed study of the life and works of Severac, focusing on the composer's regionalist philosophy. Severac's engagement with folk music was not a patriotic gesture in the vein of nationalistic composers, but a way of expressing regional identity within France to counter the restrictive styles sanctioned by the Paris Conservatory. His musical philosophy mirrored larger social and political debates regarding anti-centralist positions on education, politics, art and culture in fin de siecle France. Such debates involved political and social leaders whom Severac knew and personally admired, including the writer Maurice Barres and the poet Frederic Mistral. The book will appeal to those specializing in French music, European ethnic musics, piano music and French music history.