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(Amadeus). The subjects of this third volume range from survivors of the so-called Golden Age of the 1890s, such as the formidable Lotte Lehman, to those whom the 20th century has bequeathed to the 21st, such as Cecilia Bartoli and Ian Bostridge. This is a personal selection that includes many of the great names, including Melchior, heldentenor of the century, and Gigli, the most popular Italian singer of his generation. The entire series (for this is the final volume) ends with a chapter on Caruso, still widely regarded as the greatest of all.Steane's critical essays seek out the special qualities of each singer and relate them to wider concerns in music and in life. His eloquent descriptions of the nuances of the vocal art are wonderful examples of the best kind of music appreciation. HARDCOVER.

What did nuns sing? How did they learn about music? How did the music affect their piety? This book answers these and many other questions about the musical life in English nunneries in the later Middle Ages. Drawing upon a wide range of historical sources, Yardley pieces together a mosaic of nunnery musical life. Formal monastic rules, medieval liturgical manuscripts, records from bishops' visitations to nunneries and other medieval documents provide evidence that even the smallest convents sang the monastic offices on a daily basis and that many of the larger houses celebrated the late medieval liturgy in all of its complexity.

Popular music in the twenty-first century is increasingly divided into niche markets. How do fans, musicians, and music industry executives define their markets' boundaries? What happens when musicians cross those boundaries? What can Christian music teach us about commercial popular music? In God Rock, Inc., Andrew Mall considers the aesthetic, commercial, ethical, and social boundaries of Christian popular music, from the late 1960s, when it emerged, through the 2010s. Drawing on ethnographic research, historical archives, interviews with music industry executives, and critical analyses of recordings, concerts, and music festival performances, Mall explores the tensions that have shaped this evolving market and frames broader questions about commerce, ethics, resistance, and crossover in music that defines itself as outside the mainstream.

In Thresholds Marcel Cobussen rethinks the relationship between music and spirituality. The point of departure is the current movement within contemporary classical music known as New Spiritual Music, with as its main representatives Arvo PArt, John Tavener, and Giya Kancheli. In almost all respects, the musical principles of the new spiritual music seem to be diametrically opposed to those of modernism: repetition and rest versus development and progress, tradition and familiarity versus innovation and experiment, communication versus individualism and conceptualism, tonality versus atonality, and so on. As such, this movement is often considered as part of the much larger complex called postmodernism. Joining in with ideas on spirituality as presented by Michel de Certeau and Mark C. Taylor, Cobussen deconstructs the classification of the 'spiritual dimensions' of music as described above. Thresholds presents an idea of spirituality in and through music that counters strategies of exclusion and mastering of alterity and connects it to wandering, erring, and roving. Using the philosophy of Martin Heidegger, Georges Bataille, Jean-FranAois Lyotard, Jacques Derrida and others, and analysing the music of John Coltrane, the mythical Sirens, Arvo PArt, and The Eagles (to mention a few), Cobussen regards spirituality as a (non)concept that escapes categorization, classification, and linguistic descriptions. Spirituality is a-topological, non-discursive and a manifestation of 'otherness'. And it is precisely music (or better: listening to music) that induces these thoughts: by carefully encountering, analysing, and evaluating certain examples from classical, jazz, pop and world music it is possible to detach spirituality from concepts of otherworldliness and transcendentalism. Thresholds opens a space in which spirituality can be connected to music that is not commonly considered in this light, thereby enriching the ways of approaching and discussing music. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to show that spirituality is not an attribute of music, not a simple adjective providing extra information or used to categorize certain types of music. Instead, the spiritual can happen through listening to music, in a more or less personalized relationship with it. This relationship might be characterized as susceptible instead of controlling, open instead of excluding, groping instead of rigid.

Within is a masterful assembly of the most personal details and gorgeous minutiae of Frank Sinatra's way of living--matters of the heart and heartbreak, friendship and leadership, drinking and cavorting, brawling and wooing, tuxedos and snap-brims--all crafted from rare interviews with Sinatra himself as well as many other intimates, including Tony Bennett, Don Rickles, Angie Dickinson, Tony Curtis, and Robert Wagner, in addition to daughters Nancy and Tina Sinatra. Illustrated with scores of photos, The Way You Wear Your Hat captures the timeless romance and classic style of the fifties and the loose sixties and is a stunning exploration of the Sinatra mystique.

This survey of choral literature, written by American composers from 1760 through the 1990s, examines nearly 3,000 pieces of choral music written by over 300 composers. Along with a descriptive analysis, the literature is placed within a historical perspective. Familiar and less well-known composers and their music are examined. The study seeks to remedy the superficial treatment choral music is often given in standard textbooks on American music and to acknowledge and expose the varied richness of the literature.

Choral conductors and musicologists will appreciate the vast repertory of choral music literature examined. Organized chronologically, this study uniquely traces the development of choral music literature throughout the centuries. A select bibliography provides a useful guide for further research.

Let's give ourselves an A for effort. We keep our minds so preoccupied with work projects that we act and think on autopilot. We keep our kids so occupied with activities that they need day planners before grade school. We keep our schedules so full with church meetings and housekeeping and even entertaining that down-time sounds like a mortal sin. When we fail to rest we do more than burn ourselves out. We misunderstand the God who calls us to rest--who created us to be people of rest. Let's face it: our rest needs work. Sabbath recalls our creation, and with it God's satisfaction with us as he made us, without our hurried wrangling and harried worrying. It also recalls God's deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, and with it God's ability to do completely what we cannot complete in ourselves. Sabbath keeping reminds us that we are free to rest each week. Eighteen months in Tel Aviv, Israel, where a weekly sabbath is built into the culture, began Lynne M. Baab's twenty-five-year embrace of a rhythm of rest--as a stay-at-home mom, as a professional writer working out of her home and as a minister of the gospel. With collected insights from sabbath keepers of all ages and backgrounds, Sabbath Keeping offers a practical and hopeful guidebook that encourages all of us to slow down and enjoy our relationship with the God of the universe.

In 1714, the 29 year-old Johann Sebastian Bach was promoted to the position of concertmaster at the ducal court of Weimar. This post required him for the first time in his already established career to produce a regular stream of church cantatas-one cantata every four weeks. Among the most significant works of this period is Ich hatte viel Bekummernis in meinem Herzen (Cantata 21). Generally known in English as "I had much affliction," Cantata 21 draws from several psalms and the Book of Revelations and offers a depiction of the spiritual ascent of the soul from intense tribulation to joy and exaltation. Although widely performed and loved by musicians, Cantata 21 has endured much criticism from scholars and critics who claim that the piece lacks organizational clarity and stylistic coherence. In Tears into Wine, renowned Bach scholar Eric Chafe challenges the scholarly consensus, arguing that Cantata 21 is an exceptionally carefully designed work, and that it displays a convergence of musical structure and theological purpose that is paradigmatic of Bach's sacred work as a whole. Drawing on a wide range of Lutheran theological writing, Chafe shows that Cantata 21 reaches beyond the scope of the individual liturgical occasion to voice a breadth of meaning that encompasses much of the core of Lutheran thought. Chafe artfully demonstrates that instead of simply presenting a musical depiction of the soul's journey from sorrow to bliss, Cantata 21 expresses the various stages of God's revelation and their impact on the believing soul. As a result, Chafe reveals that Cantata 21 has a formal design that mirrors Lutheran belief in unfolding revelation, with the final movement representing the work's "crown"-the goal toward which all of the earlier movements are directed. Complete with full text translations of the cantata and the liturgical readings that would have accompanied it at the first performance, Tears into Wine is a monumental book that is ideally suited for Bach scholars and students, as well as those generally interested in the relationship between theology and music.

Although military music was among the most widespread forms of music making during the nineteenth-century, it has been almost totally overlooked by music historians. Music & the British Military in the Long Nineteenth Century however, shows that military bands reached far beyond the official ceremonial duties they are often primarily associated with and had a significant impact on wider spheres of musical and cultural life. Beginning with a discussion of the place of the military in civilian and social life, authors Trevor Herbert and Helen Barlow plot the story of military music from its sponsorship by military officers to its role as an expression of imperial force, which it took on by the end of the nineteenth century. Herbert and Barlow organize their study around three themes: the use of military status to extend musical patronage by the officer class; the influence of the military on the civilian music establishments; and an incremental movement towards central control of military music making by governments throughout the world. In so doing, they show that military music impacted everything from the configuration of the music profession in the major metropolitan centers, to the development of wind instruments throughout the century, to the emergence of organized amateur music making. A much needed addition to the scholarship on nineteenth century music, Music & the British Military in the Long Nineteenth Century is an essential reference for music, cultural and military historians, the social history of music and nineteenth century studies.

Twentieth-Century American Music for the Dance: A Bibliography provides a guide to one of the most important areas of modern music. The close and mutually beneficial relationship that has existed between dance and music from the early days of this century and the collaboration of Fokine or Nijinsky and Stravinsky to the later years and the partnership of Cunningham and Cage has yielded a formidably large repertoire of music-much of it, like its partner-art, in the vanguard of modern creativity. Dance commissions have brought into existence music that would otherwise not have been created; dance performance has in many cases afforded an audience for music that would otherwise have gone unheard. Dance has shown itself, especially in the United States, to be a nurturing theatre for modern music, while music has in turn proved to be extraordinary stimulus to the dance. This bibliography provides for the first time data about compositions, composers, and choreographers, including information about first performances, publishers, and location of scores. Composers and choreographers, students and historians, professional musicians and dancers, and aficionados of music and art will find this reference work extremely useful. The bibliography is arranged alphabetically by composer; indexes by composition and by choreographer provide ready access to each work. Lists of composer-choreographer and choreographer-composer partnerships are included.

A collection of essays by 20th-century American, English, and European composers in which each composer discusses a large choral work or works he has written, along with the principles that guided the composition.

In the late fifteenth century the newly built Sistine Chapel was home to a vigorous culture of musical composition and performance. Josquin des Prez stood at its center, singing and composing for the pope's private choir. Josquin's Rome offers a new reading of the composer's work in light of the repertory he and his fellow papal singers performed from the chapel's singers' box. Comprising the single largest surviving corpus of late fifteenth-century sacred music, these pieces served as a backdrop for elaborately choreographed liturgical ceremonies--a sonic analogue to the frescoes by Botticelli, Perugino, and their contemporaries that adorn the chapel's walls. Jesse Rodin uses a comparative approach to uncover this aesthetically and intellectually rich musical tradition. He confronts longstanding problems concerning the authenticity and chronology of Josquin's music while offering nuanced readings of scandalously understudied works by the composer's contemporaries. The book further contextualizes Josquin by locating intersections between his music and the wider soundscape of the Cappella Sistina. Central to Rodin's argument is the idea that these pieces lived in performance. The author puts his interpretations into practice through a series of exquisite recordings by his ensemble, Cut Circle (available both on the companion website and as a CD from Musique en Wallonie). Josquin's Rome is an essential resource for musicologists, scholars of the Italian Renaissance, and enthusiasts of early music.

Sweet Freedom's Song is a celebration and critical exploration of the complicated musical, cultural and political roles played by the song 'America' over the 250 years. Popularly known as 'My Country Tis of Thee' - and as 'God Save the King/Queen' before that - this song is arguably the most important political song in our national history. Branham and Hartnett chronicle the song's appropriation and adaption by colonial Americans, Southern slaveowners, abolitionalists, temperance campaigners and civil rights leaders. Because the song has been invoked by nearly every grassroots movement in our nation's history, the story of 'America' offers important insights on the story of democracy in the United States.

Described as the "life and soul of British contemporary music", Jane Manning is an internationally celebrated English concert and opera soprano. In this new follow-up to her highly regarded New Vocal Repertory, Volumes I and II, she provides a seasoned expert's guidance and insight into the vocal genre she calls home. Vocal Repertoire for the Twenty-First Century spans the late middle-20th century through the second decade of the 21st. Manning's comprehensive selection of contemporary art songs ranges from the avant-garde to the more easily accessible, including substantial song cycles, shorter encore pieces, and songs suitable for auditions and competitions. The two-volume guide presents expertly-informed selections tailored to particular voice types. Each of the 160 selections is accompanied by a highly detailed performance guide, music examples, levels of difficulty, and a brief encapsulation of vocal characteristics or challenges contained in the piece. A supplemental companion website provides composer biographies and an up-to-date list of recommended recordings. With a focus on younger composers in addition to prominent figures, Manning encourages singers to refresh and expand their recital repertoire into less familiar territory, and discover the rewards therein. Volume 2 features works written from 2000 onwards, including pieces from contemporary composers Mohammed Fairouz ("Annabel Lee"), Missy Mazzoli ("As Long as We Live"), Judith Weir ("The Voice of Desire"), and Raymond Yiu ("The Earth and Every Common Sight").

for SABar (with optional Bass) and piano, with optional percussion With a text by the composer, this is a beautiful piece about optimism, companionship, and the belief that 'all will be well'. Todd's gentle melodies are supported by a delicate, pulsing piano accompaniment, and an optional percussion part (snare drum, bass drum, and cymbal) that adds extra spark to the music. Originally published in The Oxford Book of Flexible Choral Songs, this piece is also available in a version for SA and piano.

Whether music's appeal to the senses detracts from or contributes to devotion is an important question for all religious traditions. This interdisciplinary, cross-cultural collection is intended as a first step towards a phenomenology of religious music. Topics range from the mystical strain in Jewish liturgical music to music in the Theravada Buddhist heritage. Contributors include Lois Ibsen al Faruqi, Bruce B. Lawrence, John Ross Carter, and Donna Marie Wulff.