First published in 1998, this broad survey includes a large number of musical illustrations and provides an indispensable guide for both students and teachers. Hexachords and solmization syllables formed the foundations of musical language during the sixteenth century. Yet, owing to changes over time in music education and style, there no longer exists widespread general knowledge of hexachords. Without this awareness it is impossible to appreciate fully the music of the most important composers of the Renaissance such as Palestrina, Lasso and Monteverdi. This book is the first attempt to fill such a gap in our understanding of hexachords and how they were employed in late-Renaissance music. Lionel Pike's research covers the period from Willaert to Dowland (c. 1530-1600) and examines the ways in which the uses of hexachords developed in the hands of different composers. The book concludes with an investigation of English examples of hexachords in vocal and instrumental music.

A tale of passion and obsession from a philosophy professor who teaches himself to play Bach on the piano. Dan Moller grew up listening to heavy metal in the Boston suburbs. But something changed when he dug out his mother's record of The Art of the Fugue, inexplicably wedged between 16 ABBA Hits and Kenny Rogers. Moller became fixated on Bach and his music, but only learned to play it for himself as an adult. In The Way of Bach, Moller draws us into the strange and surprisingly funny world of the composer and his scene. Did you know The Goldberg Variations contain a song about having to eat too much cabbage? Or that Handel nearly died in a duel he fought while conducting an opera? Along the way, Moller takes up such questions as, just what is so special about Bach's music? What can Americans-steeped in pop culture-learn from European craftsmanship? And why do some people see a connection between Bach's music and God? By turns witty and thought-provoking, Moller infuses The Way of Bach with insights into music, culture, and philosophy alike.

In a music business amply buffered against surprise, Danny Gatton swam stubbornly, from country, to gospel, rockabilly, soul, and standards. "Redneck Jazz" became Gatton's calling card for playing whatever and whenever he wanted. Hailed as the best unknown guitar player by both Rolling Stone and Guitar player magazines, he was a players' player who never received the popular acclaim he deserved. The struggle to reach a wider audience while staying true to his own muse proved to much for him to bear, and in 1994 he took his own life. Gatton's legend has only grown since his untimely death, along with appreciation for his blinding speed, effortless genre-hopping, flawless technique, and never-ending appetitie for tinkering and problem-solving. Unfinished Business places Gatton's musical contributions into context, as well as his influence on those peers who admired him most, including Albert Lee, Vince Gill, Arlen Roth, and Lou Reed.

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.

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.