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Books > Music > Composers & musicians
In the past five decades, Ulysses Kay has produced more than 135 compositions, representing divergent musical forms. His works include five operas, over 20 large orchestral works, more than 30 choral compositions, over 15 chamber works, a ballet suite, and numerous other compositions for voice, solo instruments, film, and television. His compositions, part of the mainstream concert repertory, have received extensive performances by major orchestras and ensembles throughout the world and have earned for him a prodigious number of awards, fellowships, grants, and commissions. This volume includes his biography, a chronological listing of his works, a complete discography to Spring 1994--each with selected performance notes--and an annotated bibliography, all of which will be of interest to music students and scholars, as well as the general reading public. Ulysses Kay, one of America's well-published and frequently performed composers, has worked closely with most of the renowned conductors of this century. In addition, he is probably the most published and most frequently commissioned composer living today: As Oliver Daniel descriptively stated, Kay has been heard from Kiev to Kennebunkport. The composer acknowledges that almost all of his compositions have been performed, more than half published, and a large number recorded. His quiet, soft-spoken demeanor reflects a deep reverence and humility which belies the intensity and drive he brings to his craft. Kay is a product of American institutions--a graduate of the University of Arizona and the Eastman School of Music, among others--and his long tenure at the Herbert H. Lehman College of the City University of New York was honorably recognized when he was named Distinguished Professor. This volume includes excerpts from a personal interview with Kay, which provides insight into the composer's musical views and memorable experiences.
The full, tragic story of Puccini's great rival, now available in English for the first time. Born in Lucca four years before Puccini, Alfredo Catalani (1854-93) was the main hope of Italian opera in the 1880s. Alarming conservative critics with the sophisticated modernism of his music, he nonetheless won steadily increasing popularity with the opera-going public. But Catalani's entire adult life was a grim and increasingly hopeless battle with tuberculosis; the year after his greatest triumph with La Wally (1892), he died at just 39, leaving the future of Italian opera to other men, all of whom had been influenced by his innovations. This is the story of the man and his music, as told by friends and contemporaries. Revised 2nd edition.
Ludwig van Beethoven: Eine Biographie appeared in Prague a few months after the composer's death, thirteen years before the next biography of Beethoven would appear. Virtually nothing is known about the author, Johann Aloys Schlosser, except that he was born in the small town of Lann, in Bohemia, around 1790 and was a partner in a publishing firm in Prague from 1827-28, at which time he published this first brief biography of Beethoven. Many writers have pointed out the flaws in Schlosser's "biography". The purpose of the present edition is not to provide a clear and vivid picture of Beethoven's life, but to enable English-speaking readers to judge Schlosser's book for themselves rather than relying on secondhand criticisms, and to illuminate what was known and believed in Vienna and Prague in 1827 - not only about Beethoven but about his relationship to Haydn and Mozart, and to the music of Bach and Handel. Copious annotations and an introductory essay by the eminent Beethoven scholar Barry Cooper put Schlosser's text into perspective and clarify inaccuracies in the original text. Available for the first time in English, Schlosser's first biography of Beethoven substantially enriches our understanding of the attitudes of Beethoven's contemporaries and fills an important gap in Beethoven scholarship.
Fanny Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1805-1847), like her younger brother Felix, demonstrated prodigious musical talent as a child. In their youth, Fanny and Felix were inseparable friends; they encouraged each other, collaborated in musical endeavors, and received the same education and training from distinguished tutors. But as an adolescent, Fanny was told by her father that her role as a woman was to concern herself with her home and that music could be only secondary, even though she had become a remarkable pianist and composer. She married Wilhelm Hensel, a respected portrait painter who encouraged her musical talents. Fulfilling her domestic role as wife and as mother of their son, Sebastian, she continued to compose - principally lieder - and to organize concerts in her home that became an integral part of the Berlin musical scene. Her talents were warmly received during a journey to Italy, particularly by Gounod, who heard her play from memory the music of Bach, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn. At forty years of age Fanny finally went against the orders of her father and of Felix and published her compositions. She had just begun to receive critical praise when she died suddenly at the age of forty-two. Her death was a devastating blow to Felix, who survived her by barely six months. This book, originally published in French in 1992, is the first and only authoritative biography of Fanny Mendelssohn and contains a complete list of her published compositions. Set against the backdrop of a privileged life in Berlin in the early nineteenth century, Francoise Tillard's vivid portrait describes an exceptional artist - she left behind four hundred works - who could have held her own among thegreatest if she had not been prohibited from venturing into the professional world.
This book (published in German by Bärenreiter in 1988 and now available in English translation for the first time) is a comprehensive guide to the genesis, transmission, structure, meaning, and performance considerations of Bach's St John Passion. One of Bach's most fascinating works, its text demonstrates a profound understanding of St John's Gospel. The musical design of the choruses with their numerous interrelationships is quite unique and demands some explanation. The fact that the Passion exists in four different versions leads Dürr to ask which changes were intentional and which were the result of practical constraints or of orders issued by church authorities.
Ulrich thinks he got the ultimate fan trip-to play, record, and tour with his favourite band, Dead Can Dance. His memoir details the early days, from signing with 4AD, recording their first album, then heading off on tour with the Cocteau Twins. There follow insights into the legendary period of the 4AD label of the 1980s; contributing to This Mortal Coil; guesting with Wolfgang Press, Pieter Nooten and Michael Brook, and Modern English; and touring the US for the first time in 1990. Following his departure from DCD, Ulrich remained close with Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard, and his memoir tracks their parallel paths over the following decades. A must for fans of Dead Can Dance and the 4AD label, and at the same time, a fascinating slalom through the ups and downs of trying to pursue a vision through the music industry.
Originally written in Danish in 1980, Pink Moon was the first biography of Nick Drake, and remains the only one to include exclusive interviews with the singer's parents, Rodney and Molly Drake. In this new, significantly updated edition, available in English for the first time, author and poet Gorm Henrik Rasmussen reveals more from his visits to the Drakes in their home Far Leys - the first, just five years after the death of their troubled son. Rasmussen includes new interviews with Nick's friends and collaborators plus extracts taken from his eight-year correspondence with the Drakes, and from telephone conversations he had with Rodney every month over four years. Full of intimate detail about the last three years of Nick's life spent at his childhood home, Pink Moon - A Story about Nick Drake is a personal, original, and moving retelling of the life, death, and posthumous rise of a poet and guitarist who was strangely unsuited for his own time, and is more popular now than he ever was in life. -- .
A biography of the conductor Mitropoulos. He was an advocate of difficult modern music and an early champion of Mahler; his performances brought the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra into the first rank of American orchestras.
In October, 1975, the International Haydn Conference was held in Washington, D.C., during the last eight days of the Haydn Festival at Kennedy Center. Scholars and musicians from all over the world were brought together for the conference, participating in panel discussions, round tables, and workshops. This collection of Haydn studies is the meticulously edited result of those activities.
Chris Sheridan presents a major discographical study of an American jazz giant, Cannonball Adderley, whose career had a significant impact on jazz's development. At the same time, Sheridan stretches the boundaries of discography in two important ways: In scope and in presentation. In scope, the session listings not only include every known commercially recorded issue--a factor neglected by growing numbers of discographers covering a single artist--but also all known recorded sessions, particularly from film, and broadcasts on radio and television. The latter are providing a quickly growing market for issues on independent record labels, especially by artists no longer alive. The main discographical text also includes a narrative aiming to place the recorded music in context, both in Adderley's own career and in the development of jazz. Sheridan also continues a unique section, pioneered in his earlier "Count Basie: A Bio-Discography"--the day-by-day diary of the musician's musical activities. This is not only significant in its own right, it also serves to authenticate the chronology of the sessions listed in the main discography. In terms of presentation, Sheridan aims to present a more stylish face by using a variety of related fonts to enhance clarity and by a radical rearrangement of the information given in each session listing. A definitive work essential for all researchers of jazz.
Olivier Messiaen: A Research and Information Guide, Second Edition presents researchers with the most significant and helpful resources on Olivier Messiaen, one of the twentieth century's greatest composers. With multiple indices, this annotated bibliography will serve as an excellent tool for librarians, researchers, and scholars sorting through the massive amount of material in the field. The second edition has been fully revised and updated.
'They are not for you but for a later age!' Ludwig van Beethoven, on the Opus 59 quartets Beethoven's sixteen string quartets are some of the most extraordinary and challenging pieces of music ever written. They have inspired artists of all kinds - not only musicians - and have been subject to endless reinterpretation. What does it feel like to be a musician taking on these iconic works? And how do the four string players who make up a quartet interact, both musically and personally? The Takács is one of the world's pre-eminent string quartets. Performances of Beethoven have shaped their work together for over forty years. Using the history of both the Takács Quartet and the Beethoven quartets as the backbone to his story, Edward Dusinberre, first violinist of the Takács since 1993, recounts the exhilarating challenge of tackling these pieces. Beethoven for a Later Age takes the reader inside the daily life of a quartet, vividly showing the necessary creative tension between individual and group expression and how four people can enjoy making music together over a long period of time. The key, the author argues, is in balancing continuity with change and experimentation - a theme that lies at the heart of Beethoven's remarkable compositions. No other composer has posed so many questions about the form and emotional content of a string quartet, and come up with so many different answers. In an accessible style, suitable for novices and chamber music enthusiasts alike, Dusinberre illuminates the variety and inherent contradictions of Beethoven's quartets, composed against the turbulent backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars and their aftermath, and shows that engaging with this radical music continues to be as invigorating now as it was for its first performers and audiences.
Contents Include: Childhood and Youth In Search of a Career The Teaching of Experience Marriage and Artistic Progress Growing Mastery Gradual Recognition and Fame Full Maturity Continued Creative Activity Fame at Home and Abroad The Elgar Festival and Knighthood Honours Continue Violin Concerto and Second Symphony 'Falstaff' and the War Music Chamber Music and Cello Concerto Music of the Last Phase Last Days and Unfinished Works Conclusion.'It is difficult to imagine that any one could draw a more intimate and helpful picture of a great man than Mr. Reed has done of Elgar. Even to those who knew Elgar's works well this book will be instructive and helpful' Manchester Evening NewsKeywords: Cello Music Music Chamber Chamber Music War Music Cello Concerto Violin Concerto Elgar Manchester Evening News Mr Reed Creative Activity Artistic Progress Knighthood Falstaff Great Man Mastery Maturity
Edward "Kid" Ory (1886-1973) was a trombonist, composer,
recording artist, and early New Orleans jazz band leader. Creole
Trombone tells his story from birth on a rural sugar cane
plantation in a French-speaking, ethnically mixed family, to his
emergence in New Orleans as the city's hottest band leader. The Ory
band featured such future jazz stars as Louis Armstrong and King
Oliver, and was widely considered New Orleans's top "hot" band.
Ory's career took him from New Orleans to California, where he and
his band created the first African American New Orleans jazz
recordings ever made. In 1925 he moved to Chicago where he made
records with Oliver, Armstrong, and Jelly Roll Morton and captured
the spirit of the jazz age. His most famous composition from that
period, "Muskrat Ramble," is a jazz standard. Retired from music
during the Depression, he returned in the 1940s and enjoyed a
reignited career. Drawing on oral history and Ory's unpublished autobiography, "Creole Trombone" is a story that is told in large measure by Ory himself. The author reveals Ory's personality to the reader and shares remarkable stories of incredible innovations of the jazz pioneer. The book also features unpublished Ory compositions, photographs, and a selected discography of his most significant recordings.
Howard Hanson details the career and works of a composer called by several critics "the most important figure in American music in the second quarter of the 20th century." Hanson's compositions elicited the broadest possible range of critical reaction. While early works from the 1920s were viewed as dissonant, avant-garde experimentations, within a decade his compositions in a similar style were viewed as solid, conservative works. Within this range, it was generally agreed that Hanson represented the best in solid compositional and orchestrational technique, and audiences greeted his new compositions with unquestioned approval throughout his 60-plus year career. As an important proponent of American music during his forty year tenure as Director of the Eastman School of Music, he conducted premieres of literally thousands of works by American composers and always encouraged young American composers.
Consisting of six studies that present hermeneutical analyses of Wagnerian dramas, this book discusses Wagner's mature single dramas from Hollander to Parsifal with reference to the concept of Romantic irony and the basic theoretical orientation of post-structuralism. Wagner is best known as a composer of mythological works, but these music-dramas contain basic problems that essentially contradict what is regarded as their mythological or legendary nature. They all self-referentially play out certain critical processes. Focusing on the very issue of interpretation, this work asks how Wagner's dramas use their legendary or mythological raw material in a specifically 19th-century Romantic way to create meaning. It is argued that by means of Romantic irony, internal self-reflection or self-consciousness, each work deconstructs its own mythological or legendary nature. Musicologists with an interest in Wagner's works, and literary scholars who are interested in interdisciplinary applications of literary-critical theory, will appreciate this unique application of literary, theoretical, and critical concepts to the understanding of his music-dramas. This work will also appeal to scholars of German literature and of German cultural history. It discusses Wagner's single dramas from Hollander to Parsifal.
The Grateful Dead are perhaps the most legendary American rock band of all time. For thirty years, beginning in the hippie scene of San Francisco in 1965, they were a musical institution, the original jam band that broke new ground in so many ways. From the music to their live concert sound systems and fan recordings, they were forward-thinking champions of artistic control and outlaw artists who marched to the beat of their own drums. In Deal, Bill Kreutzmann, one of their founding members and drummer for every one of their over 2,300 concerts has written an unflinching and wild account of playing in the greatest improvisational band of all time. Everything a rock music fan would expect is here, but what sets this apart is Bill's incredible life of adventure that was at the heart of the Grateful Dead experience. This was a band that knew no limits and Bill lived life to the fullest, pushing the boundaries of drugs, drums and high times, through devastating tragedy and remarkable triumph. But at this book's beating heart is the music--theirs and others. Some of the greatest musicians and concerts were a part of the Grateful Dead's career, from sharing the stage with Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, and The Who, to playing in the Acid Tests, The Monterey Pop Festival, Woodstock and Altamont. Bill's life is a chronicle of American music and pop culture history and his epic personal journey is one of sonic discovery and thrilling experiences.
‘Fascinating and authoritative’ The Daily Express Sunday Times bestselling author Sean Smith tells the extraordinary story of a modern cultural icon: Harry Styles. Harry Styles has grown up. The One Direction boy-band member so loved by millions has become a truly global superstar and genuine icon of our times. In this captivating biography for fans from day one as well as a whole new generation, bestselling author Sean Smith follows the journey of a thoroughly modern man with boundless charisma, who represents a better world devoid of prejudice. At 16, Harry’s life changed forever when he left his home in rural Cheshire to appear on The X Factor – and never went back. Harry Styles: The Making of a Modern Man paints a picture of a man who at times remains an enigma, while embracing the world he cares about – his family, his friends and lovers, his music, acting and the world of fashion. Harry is the only British male artist to have his first two albums debut at number one in the US; his movie career is flourishing with starring roles in Don’t Worry Darling and My Policeman, and he is the first man to appear solo on the cover of Vogue. A champion of gender-fluid fashion, he has proved himself to be an inspiring role model in a world where toxic masculinity has no place. In troubling and uncertain times, Harry Styles lives by his own mantra, which would benefit us all – ‘Treat People with Kindness’.
A compelling portrait of composer-performer Julius Eastman's enigmatic and intriguing life and music. Composer-performer Julius Eastman (1940-90) was an enigma, both comfortable and uncomfortable in the many worlds he inhabited: black, white, gay, straight, classical music, disco, academia, and downtown New York. His music, insistent and straightforward, resists labels and seethes with a tension that resonates with musicians, scholars, and audiences today. Eastman's provocative titles, including Gay Guerrilla, Evil Nigger, Crazy Nigger, and others, assault us with his obsessions. Eastman tested limits with his political aggressiveness, as reflected in legendary scandals like his June 1975 performance of John Cage's Song Books, which featured homoerotic interjections, and the uproar over his titles at Northwestern University. These episodes are examples of Eastman's persistence in pushing the limits of the acceptable in the highly charged arenas of sexual and civil rights. In addition to analyses of Eastman's music, the essays in Gay Guerrilla provide background on his remarkable life history and the era's social landscape. The book presents an authentic portrait of a notable American artist thatis compelling reading for the general reader as well as scholars interested in twentieth-century American music, American studies, gay rights, and civil rights. This Life of Sounds: Evenings for New Music inBuffalo received an ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for excellence. Mary Jane Leach is a composer and freelance writer, currently writing music and theatre criticism for the Albany Times-Union.
'Just be yourself, there is no one better.' From her girl squad to the Swifties to the world at large, Taylor's the BFF of the pop music world. As the go-to shoulder to cry on and chronicler of heartbreak, she relates her personal life and experiences in a 'dear diary' style in her music, but the artist is even more popular than her hit songs. One of the most followed on social media, she is a defender of the underdog, open about her feminist and pro-choice views and frequently speaks up against sexism and LGBTQ discrimination. This collection of Taylor's relatable, inspiring and hugely optimistic quotes and lyrics reveals a caring, generous personality who is all about 'the feels' and following your dreams. Sparkling with positivity and feel-good vibes, Taylor is always there to give you the best advice and lift you up when you're down – she's your own personal cheerleader. SAMPLE FACT: Swift has so far won a whopping 11 Grammys, smashing several records for the most wins as artist and as female artist.
John McCabe is a thoroughly documented bio-bibliography of one of Britain's leading composers. John McCabe has an international reputation, both as a composer and a pianist, whose compositions cover most of the established forms. The complete list of his works and performances have never before been presented in such detail. Articles and features by and about the composer contain annotations, often in the form of quotations from the material. National, academic, and public libraries, as well as specialized music libraries and archives, will find this work a valuable research tool. The work begins with a brief biography of John McCabe prepared with the composer's assistance and is followed by a complete list of works and performances classified by genre and arranged alphabetically by title of composition. Performance and publication information is provided for each work, including its first and other selected performances. A list of McCabe's publishers is followed by a discography of commercially produced sound recordings divided into sections on McCabe as a composer and as a performer. A bibliography of writings by and about McCabe includes gramaphone record reviews written by McCabe for the British journal Records and Recordings between 1967 and 1974. An alphabetical and a chronological list of compositions appear in appendices.
CLAUDE DEBUSSY- HIS LIFE AND WORKS Translated from the French by MAIRE and GRACE O BRIEN. Originally published in 1933. PREFACE: IN this book on Claude Debussy I have avoided all biographical details the publication of which, might be deemed premature and indiscreet. The secrets of his private life belong to those who shared it and who bear his name. For the purposes of this book I have made use only of such documents as were originally intended for publication or which have by chance become public property. To my mind, the really interesting points in the life of a musician are his works, his activities, and his influence on his contemporaries. The book which I published in 1928 under the title of The Theories of Claude Debussy, musicien franfais, supplements the present work, revealing as it does the composer s ideas on music given to the public between the years 1901 and 1916. I have made frequent use of Debussys published correspondence: his letters to Vasnier and Ernest Chausson ( Revue Musicale, December 1925 and May 1926) and to the publisher, Durand ( Paris, Durand, 1927). I have also drawn on the reminiscences published by the Revue Musicale, in May 1926 ( articles by: Raymond Bonheur, Paul Dukas, Robert Godet, Andre Messager, Gabriel Pierne, Henri de Regnier, Marguerite Vasnier, Paul Vidal). I have likewise utilized the recollections to which Maurice Emmanuel refers in his study on Telleas et Melisande ( Paris, Mellotte, 1926). Contents include: I. CHILDHOOD. THE CONSERVATOIRE ( 1862-83) . i II. THE PRIX DE ROME ( 1883-4) 22 III. THE VILLA MEDICI ( 1885-7); THE ENVOIS DE ROME ( 1885-90) 32 IV. RETURN TO PARIS ( 1887). INFLUENCES . . 49 V. THE FIRST COMPOSITIONS ( 1888-93) . .66 VI. BEFORE PELLfiAS: THE QUARTET AND THE PROSES LYRIQUES ( 1892-9) . . .80 VII. & amp; lt; L APRfiS-MIDI D UN FAUNE; THE NOCTURNES; CRITIQUES ( 1894-1901) . . . .101 VIII. PELLfiAS ET MfiLISANDE ( 1892-1902) DEBUS SYISM 121 IX. CHAMBER MUSIC. C LA MER ( 1902-7) . . 152 X. VARIOUS COMPOSITIONS. LE CAS DEBUSSY ( 1907-10) ...... 181 XL IMAGES FOR ORCHESTRA; PRELUDES AND SONGS ( 1910-13) . . . . - 195 XII. DRAMATIC MUSIC, VARIOUS PLANS. LE MAR TYRE DE SAINT-SfiBASTIEN ( 1911) . . 217 XIII. JEUX. LA BOlTE A JOUJOUX ( 1913) . . 235 XIV. THE WAR. LAST YEARS ( 1914-18) . . .251 APPENDIX A ....... 274 B 274 C . . . - . . - 275. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS: Achille-Claude Debussy ( in 1867) . . . facing p. 2 Achille-Claude Debussy, while at the Conservatoire ( about 1874) ........ 10 New Year s Greetings to Madame Vasnier ( on the music of Mandoline) . . . ., , 18 Music Facsimile ( from Le Gladiateur) . between pp. 24 and 25 Villa Medici ( 1885) ..... facing p. 32 Debussy at the house of Ernest Chausson, 1893 . ., , 62 A few pages from the note-book of Maurice Emmanuel .... between pp. 84 and 85 Claude Debussy ( about 1895) .... facing p. 90 Claude Debussy ( about 1895) . . . -, , 101 Letter to Pierre Louys . . . ., , no Debussy at the house of Pierre Louys ( about 1895) . 112 Debussy at the piano ( about 1898) . ., , 116 Claude Debussy ( about 1900) . . ., , 121 Debussy and his first wife, Rosalie Texier ( about 1902) ., , 124 At the time of Telleas et Melisande 138 Debussy, photographed by Pierre Louys ( about 1900) *,, 15 Debussy, by Jacques-fimile Blanche ( 1903) - * 54 Letter to Jacques Durand ( August 1903) . . -, , * 57 Debussy and his first wife, Rosalie Texier, at Bichain ( about 1902)..... 158 Debussy at Pourville ( September 1904) . . -, , 168 Debussy outside his home ( about 1910). . 212 Letter to Andr6 Halle& quot; ( 27 August 1913) - 240 One of the 363 themes in Roman de Tristan* Debussy s note for the Fourth of a projected Series of Six Sonatas ..... Opening of the Finale of the Violin Sonata. |
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