Artists today are at a crossroads. With funding for the arts and humanities endowments perpetually under attack, and school districts all over the United States scrapping their art curricula altogether, the place of the arts in our civic future is uncertain to say the least. At the same time, faced with the problems of the modern world--from water shortages and grave health concerns to global climate change and the now constant threat of terrorism--one might question the urgency of this waning support for the arts. In the politically fraught world we live in, is the "felt" experience even something worth fighting for? In this soul-searching collection of vignettes, Patrick Summers gives us an adamant, impassioned affirmative. Art, he argues, nurtures freedom of thought, and is more necessary now than ever before. As artistic director of the Houston Grand Opera, Summers is well positioned to take stock of the limitations of the professional arts world--a world where the conversation revolves almost entirely around financial questions and whose reputation tends toward elitism--and to remind us of art's fundamental relationship to joy and meaning. Offering a vehement defense of long-form arts in a world with a short attention span, Summers argues that art is spiritual, and that music in particular has the ability to ask spiritual questions, to inspire cathartic pathos, and to express spiritual truths. Summers guides us through his personal encounters with art and music in disparate places, from Houston's Rothko Chapel to a music classroom in rural China, and reflects on musical works he has conducted all over the world. Assessing the growing canon of new operas performed in American opera houses today, he calls for musical artists to be innovative and brave as opera continues to reinvent itself. This book is a moving credo elucidating Summers's belief that the arts, especially music, help us to understand our own humanity as intellectual, aesthetic, and ultimately spiritual.

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.

Why do we feel the need to perform music in a historically informed style? Is this need related to wider cultural concerns? In this challenging study, John Butt sums up recent debates on the nature of the early music movement, calling upon a seemingly inexhaustible fund of ideas gleaned from historical musicology, analytic philosophy, literary theory, historiography and theories of modernism and postmodernism. He develops the critical views of both supporters and detractors, claiming ultimately that it has more intellectual and artistic potential than its detractors may have assumed.

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.

In part a compendium of information currently available, in part a dialectical examination of musical causation and function, this book contains a wide-ranging survey of musics of the world, in historical and social contexts, from ancient times to the present day. It aims to lead students, teachers, and, in general, those who practise Western music towards a deeper understanding of the various musical traditions that contribute to the modern, multi-cultural environment. It is preceded by a thought-provoking essay on music and ethnomusicology by Laurence Picken.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Play Piazzolla is a unique collection of 13 tangos by the Argentinian master of tango nuevo arranged for easy solo guitar.

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.

(Ensemble Collection). A wonderful compilation of duets from Rubank, the two volumes presented here supplement musical development and provide a rich experience for growing musicians. Duet playing is often a student's first form of ensemble experience - technique, tone quality, intonation and balance are introduced as students do one of the things they enjoy most - making music with a friend. And duet playing leads easily and naturally to competent performance in larger ensembles. (Vol. I Easy to Medium, Vol. 2 Advanced)

Nostalgia for the Future is the first collection in English of the writings and interviews of Luigi Nono (1924-1990). One of the most prominent figures in the development of new music after World War II, he is renowned for both his compositions and his utopian views. His many essays and lectures reveal an artist at the center of the analytical, theoretical, critical, and political debates of the time. This selection of Nono's most significant essays, articles, and interviews covers his entire career (1948-1989), faithfully mirroring the interests, orientations, continuities, and fractures of a complex and unique personality. His writings illuminate his intensive involvements with theatre, painting, literature, politics, science, and even mysticism. Nono's words make vividly evident his restless quest for the transformative possibilities of a radical musical experience, one that is at the same time profoundly engaged with its performers and spaces, its audiences, and its human and social motivations and ramifications.

In the early seventeenth century, enthusiasm for the violin swept across Europe-this was an instrument capable of bewitching virtuosity, with the power to express emotions in a way only before achieved with the human voice. With this new guide to the Baroque violin, and its close cousin, the Baroque viola, distinguished performer and pedagogue Walter Reiter puts this power into the hands of today's players. Through fifty lessons based on the Reiter's own highly-renowned course at The Royal Conservatory of the Hague, The Baroque Violin & Viola, Volume II provides a comprehensive exploration of the period's rich and varied repertoire. The lessons in Volume II cover the early seventeenth-century Italian sonata, music of the French Baroque, the Galant style, and the sonatas of composers like Schmelzer, Biber, and Bach. Practical exercises are integrated into each lesson, and accompanied by rich video demonstrations on the book's companion website. Brought to life by Reiter's deep insight into key repertoire based on a lifetime of playing and teaching, The Baroque Violin & Viola, Volume II: A Fifty-Lesson Course will enhance performances of professional and amateur musicians alike.

The Educated Listener: A New Approach to Music Appreciation helps students develop the skills they need to creatively and intelligently discuss and listen to classical music. Readers will learn about the musical genres, forms, and techniques used by composers of classical music, which will help them become educated listeners. Section One of the text presents readers with basic information regarding the basic elements of music, including rhythm, tempo, and dynamics; the instruments and voice types used in music; and the most common ensembles of music, such as choirs, bands, and orchestras. The remaining sections focus on specific time periods and delve into the compositional and performance techniques, musical forms and genres, and composers that were important and influential. These sections explore the music of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque Era, Classical Era, Romantic Era, Twentieth Century, and Contemporary Era. The third edition features tables highlighting historical context, a much-expanded index, new images, and fresh material regarding contemporary music. With an accessible approach, The Educated Listener is an ideal textbook for courses in music appreciation or music history.

Gabriel Faure's melodies offer an inexhaustible variety of style and expression that have made them the foundation of the French art song repertoire. During the second half of his long career, Faure composed all but a handful of his songs within six carefully integrated cycles. Faure moved systematically through his poetic contemporaries, exhausting Baudelaire's Les fleurs du mal before immersing himself in the Parnassian poets. He would set nine poems by Armand Silvestre in swift succession (1878-84), seventeen by Paul Verlaine (1887-94), and eighteen by Charles Van Lerberghe (1906-14). As an artist deeply engaged with some of the most important cultural issues of the period, Faure reimagined his musical idiom with each new poet and school, and his song cycles show the same sensitivity to the poetic material. Far more than Debussy, Ravel, or Poulenc, he crafted his song cycles as integrated works, reordering poems freely and using narratives, key schemes, and even leitmotifs to unify the individual songs. The Faure Song Cycles explores the peculiar vision behind each synthesis of music and verse, revealing the astonishing imagination and insight of Faure's musical readings. This book offers not only close readings of Faure's musical works but an interdisciplinary study of how he responded to the changing schools and aesthetic currents of French poetry.