Few genres of the last 250 years have proved so crucial to the course of music history, or so vital to public musical experience, as the symphony. This Companion offers an accessible guide to the historical, analytical and interpretative issues surrounding this major genre of Western music, discussing an extensive variety of works from the eighteenth century to the present day. The book complements a detailed review of the symphony's history with focused analytical essays from leading scholars on the symphonic music of both mainstream composers, including Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven and lesser-known figures, including Carter, Berio and Maxwell Davies. With chapters on a comprehensive range of topics, from the symphony's origins to the politics of its reception in the twentieth century, this is an invaluable resource for anyone with an interest in the history, analysis and performance of the symphonic repertoire.

Renowned composer Jennifer Higdon is best known for her symphonic pieces "Blue Cathedral," "Concerto for Orchestra," "City Scape," "Concerto 4-3" and "Violin Concerto" (2010 Pulitzer Prize). These compositions illustrate her breadth of style and avant-garde technique, inspired by bluegrass and folk melodies. The author examines these works-with commentary by Higdon-as well as the music of her first opera, with a focus on compositional history, musical characteristics, formal analysis and critical reception.

First published in 1996, this volume counters the attitude of paying more attention to the performer than to the piece. Too often, Anthony Hopkins argues, music is simply regarded as a pleasant background noise to accompany our other activities, whereas Beethoven offers much more than that. Hopkins aim to promote hearing, rather than listening. He examines Beethoven's piano concertos numbers 1 through 5, along with the violin concerto in D Major, Op. 61, and the Triple Concerto, Op. 56.

The Lute in Britain is the first comprehensive account of the lute's history and music in Britain from medieval times to the present. Writing for the music student, the serious listener, the player, maker, and lute enthusiast, Spring makes available for the first time over forty years of musical scholarship that has previously been the preserve of academic journals.

Liszt's fourth entry in his revolutionary series of thirteen symphonic poems, "Orpheus" was penned to serve as an introduction to the Weimar premiere of Gluck's opera on the same story "Ofeo ed Euridice." Composed from 1853-54, it was given its premiere in Weimar 16 February 1854 with the composer conducting the Weimar Hofkapelle. This new study score is a digitally-restored reissue of the score edited by Otto Taubmann in the second volume of the Liszt-Stiftung edition, published in 1908. As with all PLP scores a percentage of each sale is donated to the amazing online archive of free music scores and recordings, IMSLP - Petrucci Music Library.

This work was once credited to Mozart but later discounted as being by him and attributed instead to the composer Jan Zach (1699-1773). Rcent Zach scholarship has largely discredited the idea of Zach being the composer. In any case, this work has remained quite popular for good reason regardless of who the actual composer may have been. This new, beautifully engraved vocal score edited by Richard Sargeant will be welcomed by choruses worldwide interested in performance or study of this delightful piece of Latin church music from Mozart's time.

With a huge reward on the line, the Stockwell Park Orchestra will need to play on a whole new scale to win big... After a brief and disastrous Resident Poet episode, Stockwell Park Orchestra is invited to take part in a TV competition for classical music. For a GBP50,000 prize some competitors are tempted to stretch the genre to 'crossover' and beyond. Can a full concert orchestra compete with jazz bands, horn quartets, harp ensembles, and Mrs Ford-Hughes singing in Portuguese with nine cellos? Or will the competition be derailed by the poet's return, this time sporting live Ambient Sounds? The TV producers aren't worried: they know a good fight means great ratings. What was supposed to be a quirky diversion threatens to take over the orchestra's rehearsals for their own concert, but discovering a voting scam means they must fix things in the TV studio first. What people are saying about Life, Death and Cellos: "I was charmed... a very enjoyable read." Marian Keyes "Life, Death and Cellos is a witty and irreverent musical romp, full of characters I'd love to go for a pint with. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the Stockwell Park Orchestra and can't wait for the next book in the series." Claire King, author of The Night Rainbow "Life, Death and Cellos is that rare thing - a funny music book. Rogers knows the world intimately, and portrays it with warmth, accuracy and a poetic turn of phrase. Sharp, witty and richly entertaining." Lev Parikian, author of Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear? "With its retro humour bordering on farce, this novel offers an escape into the turbulent (and bonkers) world of the orchestra." Isabel Costello, author of Paris Mon Amour "Dodgy post-rehearsal curries, friendly insults between musicians, sacrosanct coffee-and-biscuit breaks, tedious committee meetings: welcome to the world of the amateur orchestra. Throw in a stolen Stradivarius, an unexpected fatality and the odd illicit affair and you have Life, Death and Cellos, the first in a new series by Isabel Rogers." Rebecca Franks, BBC Music Magazine "...a very funny tale of musical shenanigans set in the febrile atmosphere of the Stockwell Park Orchestra" Ian Critchley

This top-rated collection of solo literature from the celebrated Rubank catalog is known by teachers and students everywhere. Each book offers a superb variety of solos customized for that instrument, and most state solo/ensemble contest lists include several solos from this collection. (Solo part sold separately.) Now available: Performance/Accompaniment CD (04002513) Solo Book with Performance/Accompaniment CD (04002514) Now students can perform these acclaimed solos with high quality recordings. Includes full performances by professional players, as well as piano accompaniment tracks.

What is a sonata? Literally translated, it simply means 'instrumental piece'. It is the epitome of instrumental music, and is certainly the oldest and most enduring form of 'pure' and independent instrumental composition, beginning around 1600 and lasting to the present day. Schmidt-Beste analyses key aspects of the genre including form, scoring and its social context - who composed, played and listened to sonatas? In giving a comprehensive overview of all forms of music which were called 'sonatas' at some point in musical history, this book is more about change than about consistency - an ensemble sonata by Gabrieli appears to share little with a Beethoven sonata, or a trio sonata by Corelli with one of Boulez's piano sonatas, apart from the generic designation. However, common features do emerge, and the look across the centuries - never before addressed in a single-volume survey - opens up new and significant perspectives.

Selected by piano teachers for piano teachers, EPTA Teachers' Choice Piano Collection 1 is a collection of the most popular pieces for Grade 1-4 level students, as voted for by members of the European Piano Teacher's Association (EPTA). Each piece is introduced with a comment from a teacher, providing first-hand insights, tips and technical advice.

Drawing on a range of contemporary performance documentation, including concert programmes, newspaper reviews and periodical reports, this book addresses what it refers to as the Philharmonic 'myth': the notion that London experienced a period of orchestral inactivity between the departure of Haydn in 1795 and the founding of the Philharmonic Society some eighteen years later. The book illustrates that, far from constituting a radical new departure in patterns of London concert life, the Philharmonic Society built on the growing interest in orchestral music evident over the preceding years. At the same time, it suggests that the deliberate adoption of orchestral repertory marked the first institutional articulation of a professional opposition to the traditional dominance of fashionable Italian opera, and that the Philharmonic might therefore be seen to reflect the emergence of important new strands in musical, artistic and cultural leadership.

This newly engraved vocal score for Mozart's popular youthful Mass has been carefully edited, complete with measure numbers, using Trexler's classic keyboard arrangement as a starting point. It is compatible with the orchestral material issued by both Kalmus and Breitkopf and with that of the Neue Mozart Ausgabe. The large A4 format is especially helpful for choruses, vocalists and accompanists.

La celebration du bicentenaire de la naissance de Cesar FRANCK (1822-1890), ne a Liege, fixe a Paris et naturalise francais, se veut d'etre a la hauteur de ce compositeur de premier plan. La restitution de sa place exacte dans le contexte historique et artistique de son epoque se revele passionnant: nous y decouvrirons nombre de paradoxes, images d'Epinal entourant la personnalite, l'oeuvre et la comprehension de Cesar Franck. Cet ouvrage s'attache a en eclairer plusieurs aspects contradictoires ou fausses en nous appuyant sur des temoignages, parfois inedits, de ses contemporains, de sa famille et de ses disciples. Attachant, presque mysterieux, Franck a de quoi seduire par une sensibilite romantique contredite par une vie discrete, presque effacee. Isole et mal compris de Saint-Saens, Gounod, Massenet, mais porte par ses disciples enthousiastes, il se revelera tardivement comme une figure marquante du renouveau de la musique francaise. La fulgurante serie de chefs-d'oeuvre de la fin de sa vie continue de fasciner, preuve du rayonnement d'une musique sincere, passionnee et hautement accomplie.

Vivaldi's Magnificat probably dates from shortly after the 1726 death of composer C.P. Grua, which resulted in his having to provide sacred music for the Venetian orphanage and convent he enjoyed a long-standing relation with: the Ospedale della Pieta. There are actually three versions of the work: 1) for single chorus and orchestra (RV 610); 2) for double chorus and two orchestras (RV 610a); and the final version (RV 611), which takes six movements from replaces the other three movements woth solos written for specific singers at the Pieta: Apollonia, la Bolognesa, Chiaretta, Ambrosina and Albetta.The present edition, originally published by E.F. Kalmus in 1969, retains the material from the original single-choris version (RV 610), while including the added solo material Vivaldi inserted for RV 611 as alternatives, making it eminently practical for today's choral groups. Now available in a digitally-enhanced reprint.

Before the French Revolution, making music was an activity that required permission. After the Revolution, music was an object that could be possessed. Everyone seemingly hoped to gain something from owning music. Musicians claimed it as their unalienable personal expression while the French nation sought to enhance imperial ambitions by appropriating it as the collective product of cultural heritage and national industry. Musicians capitalized on these changes to protect their professionalization within new laws and institutions, while excluding those without credentials from their elite echelon. From Servant to Savant demonstrates how the French Revolution set the stage for the emergence of so-called musical "Romanticism" and the legacies that continue to haunt musical institutions and industries. As musicians and the government negotiated the place of music in a reimagined French society, new epistemic and professional practices constituted three lasting values of musical production: the composer's sovereignty, the musical work's inviolability, and the nation's supremacy.

Choral Conducting: Philosophy and Practice, Second Edition is an updated resource for conductors and singers alike, a college-level text for students of choral conducting that considers conducting and singing from a holistic perspective. This singer-friendly and voice-healthy approach examines the rehearsal environment alongside its musical performance counterpart. The author explores what is involved in leading a choral group, examining theories of learning and human behavior to understand the impact choral conductors have on the act of singing. Divided into two main parts-Philosophy and Practice-the text begins with an historical look at conducting, exploring questions of why people sing and why they sing together, and ultimately presents the application of this philosophy, showing how a conductor's gestures and patterns can influence vocal outcomes. In addressing how singers learn and respond to choral music, as well as how conductors communicate with singers in rehearsal and performance, Choral Conducting turns an eye to learning how we learn and the role successful choral conductors play in motivating singers, developing healthy singing habits, and improving individual and ensemble vocal quality-all with the aims of enhancing musical understanding. New to this edition: Updated diagrams, photos, and musical examples Revised sample choral programs Increased consideration of the orchestral conductor A renewed focus on the intersections of learning, health and well-being, and the social perspective, supported by new and recent research

Engaging, clear and informative, this is the story of western music - of its great composers and also of its performers and listeners, of changing ideas of what music is and what it is for. Paul Griffiths shows how music has evolved through the centuries, and suggests how its evolution has mirrored developments in the human notion of time, from the eternity of heaven to the computer's microsecond. The book provides an enticing introduction for students and beginners, using the minimum of technical terms, all straightforwardly defined in the glossary. Its perspective and its insights will also make it illuminating for teachers, musicians and music lovers. Suggestions for further reading and recommended recordings are given for each of the 24 short chapters.

This is a new, digitally-enhanved reprint of the classic edition of Roger-Ducasse's vocal score of Faure's final version, first issued in 1900 by Huegel.

This is a new, digitally enhanced reprint of the vocal score originally issued by Breitkopf & Hrtel, Leipzig ca. 1910 to compliment the Bach Gesellschaft edition of the complete works. Composed in 1731 during Bach's tenure as kantor of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, this longtime favorite of the cantatas had its premiere on November 25th of that year.

A group of resourceful kids start "solution-seekers.com," a website where "cybervisitors" can get answers to questions that trouble them. But when one questioner asks the true meaning of Christmas, the kids seek to unravel the mystery by journeying back through the prophecies of the Old Testament. What they find is a series of "S" words that reveal a "spectacular story!" With creative characters, humorous dialogue and great music, The "S" Files is a children's Christmas musical your kids will love performing.

Hans Keller (1919-1985) was one of the most brilliant and stimulating writers on music of his day, and this is the first large selection of his essays. His work draws on his rich and diverse experience as a string-player, composer, teacher, analyst and critic, and also reflects a deep interest in psychoanalysis. The first part of the book addresses psychological issues relating to critics, listeners, players and composers; the second analyses music by a wide range of composers from Haydn to the present day; and the third propounds his new theory of music, with essays on unity and contrast, motifs, themes, keys, timbre and rhythm. There is also a 'wordless functional analysis' of a Mozart piano sonata published here for the first time. The volume concludes with a magisterial account of what Keller deemed to be 'the principles of composition'.