A critical survey of Viennese treatises on harmony and their influence on the work of a number of 18th to 20th century composers.

The music of Johannes Brahms is deeply colored, Daniel Beller-McKenna shows, by nineteenth-century German nationalism and by Lutheran religion. Focusing on the composer's choral works, the author offers new insight on the cultural grounding for Brahms's music.

Music historians have been reluctant to address Brahms's Germanness, wary perhaps of fascist implications. Beller-McKenna counters this tendency; by giving an account of the intertwining of nationalism, politics, and religion that underlies major works, he restores Brahms to his place in nineteenth-century German culture. The author explores Brahms's interest in the folk element in old church music; the intense national pride expressed in works such as the Triumphlied; the ways Luther's Bible and Lutheranism are reflected in Brahms's music; and the composer's ideas about nation building. The final chapter looks at Brahms's nationalistic image as employed by the National Socialists, 1933-1945, and as witnessed earlier in the century (including the complication of rumors that Brahms was Jewish).

In comparison to the overtly nationalist element in Wagner's music, the German elements in Brahms's style have been easy to overlook. This nuanced study uncovers those nationalistic elements, enriching our understanding both of Brahms's art and of German culture.

Nearly one hundred years after the death of its composer, the music of Claude Debussy has lost none of its breadth of appeal. With the rare ability to entice listeners on many levels, at its heart lies an engaging simplicity-one which defies traditional analysis and lends mystery to what ultimately is an extremely refined and highly personal approach to composition. Equally fascinating is Debussy's often contradictory personality--at times elusive, but always centered on his devotion to music and his ambition to create a name for himself unlike any other.
Author Eric Frederick Jensen provides new insight to the man and the music in this authoritative biography. Although born into poverty, and a failure as a piano student at the Paris Conservatoire, Debussy became the most famous French composer of his day, known for his culture and refinement. His revolutionary music baffled critics but was embraced by audiences. Debussy's scandalous personal life stirred up as much controversy as his music, and his notoriety proved more harmful to his career than the unusual nature of his compositions.
Jensen also explores Debussy's relationship to the arts and his career as a music critic. Debussy drew on all of the arts in his development as a composer, including poetry and painting, and his fascination with the arts has often led to his being classified as an Impressionist or Symbolist, two claims which Jensen debunks. One of the finest music critics of his time, Debussy's reviews reveal a great deal not only about his musical taste, but also about what he felt the role and function of music should be.
Debussy brings together the most recent biographical research, including a revised catalogue of Debussy's compositions and the first complete edition of his correspondence. With separate, chronological sections on his life and music, Debussy is accessible to the general reader who wishes to focus on his life and personality, while providing detailed discussion of the music to musicians and students.

The most informed reference book on nineteenth-century music currently available, this comprehensive overview of music in the nineteenth century draws on the most recent scholarship in the field. Essays investigate the intellectual and socio-political history of the time, and examine topics such as nations and nationalism, the emergent concept of an avant garde, and musical styles and languages at the turn of the century. It contains a detailed chronology, and extensive glossaries.

This is an original scholarly monograph about the life and work of the Russian composer and critic Alexander Serov (1820-1871), studied through the lens of his understanding of modernity as it developed in Russia in the mid nineteenth century. This research monograph is first full-length biography of Alexander Serov in English utilizing original records and archive sand the first in any language since 1985. It will use the life of the composer/critic as a tool for understanding Russian conceptions and misconceptions of modernity. An introduction and conclusion will bracket five chapters defined by major periods in Alex. Serov's life. Chapter I focuses on his youth and education from 1820 to 1840. Chapter II studies his young adulthood as a judicial bureaucrat with artistic aspirations, from 1840 to 1850. Chapter III focuses on Serov's criticism, which he did from his departure from state service in 1850 until he turned to composition a decade later. A fourth chapter will examine the remaining 11 years of his life, from 1860 to 1871, during which he briefly reigned as Russia's leading composer while still contributing to the national cultural debate as a critic. The last chapter will present his legacy and contributions, which are much overlooked by Russian cultural historians and critics as well as by many Western researchers, with a view of stating a case for Serov's cultural importance in the silver age and in the revolutions to come.

In this third edition of the classic Verdi, renowned authority Julian Budden offers a comprehensive overview of Verdi the man and the artist, tracing his ascent from humble beginnings to the status of a cultural patriarch of the new Italy, whose cause he had done much to promote, and demonstrating the gradual enlargement over the years of his artistic vision. This concise study is an accessible, insightful, and engaging summation of Verdi scholarship, acquainting the non-specialist with the personal details Verdi's life, with the operatic world in which he worked, and with his political ideas, his intellectual vision, and his powerful means of communicating them through his music. In his survey of the music itself, Budden emphasizes the unique character of each work as well as the developing sophistication of Verdi's style. He covers all of the operas, the late religious works, the songs, and the string quartet. A glossary explains even the most obscure operatic terms current in Verdi's time.

Shattering longstanding myths, this new biography reveals the robust and positive life of one of the nineteenth century's greatest composers This candid, intimate, and compellingly written new biography offers a fresh account of Robert Schumann's life. It confronts the traditional perception of the doom-laden Romantic, forced by depression into a life of helpless, poignant sadness. John Worthen's scrupulous attention to the original sources reveals Schumann to have been an astute, witty, articulate, and immensely determined individual, who-with little support from his family and friends in provincial Saxony-painstakingly taught himself his craft as a musician, overcame problem after problem in his professional life, and married the woman he loved after a tremendous battle with her father. Schumann was neither manic depressive nor schizophrenic, although he struggled with mental illness. He worked prodigiously hard to develop his range of musical styles and to earn his living, only to be struck down, at the age of forty-four, by a vile and incurable disease. Worthen's biography effectively de-mystifies a figure frequently regarded as a Romantic enigma. It frees Schumann from 150 years of mythmaking and unjustified psychological speculation. It reveals him, for the first time, as a brilliant, passionate, resolute musician and a thoroughly creative human being, the composer of arguably the best music of his generation.

Great Shakespeareans offers a systematic account of those figures who have had the greatest influence on the interpretation, understanding and cultural reception of Shakespeare, both nationally and internationally. In this volume, leading scholars assess the contribution of Berlioz, Verdi, Wagner and Britten to the afterlife and reception of Shakespeare and his plays. Each substantial contribution assesses the double impact of Shakespeare on the figure covered and of the figure on the understanding, interpretation and appreciation of Shakespeare, provide a sketch of their subject's intellectual and professional biography and an account of the wider cultural context, including comparison with other figures or works within the same field.

William Kinderman's detailed study of Parsifal, described by the composer as his "last card," explores the evolution of the text and music of this inexhaustible yet highly controversial music drama across Wagner's entire career, and offers a reassessment of the ideological and political history of Parsifal, shedding new light on the connection of Wagner's legacy to the rise of National Socialism in Germany. The compositional genesis is traced through many unfamiliar manuscript sources, revealing unsuspected models and veiled connections to Wagner's earlier works. Fresh analytic perspectives are revealed, casting the dramatic meaning of Parsifal in a new light. Much debated aspects of the work, such as Kundry's death at the conclusion, are discussed in the context of its stage history. Path-breaking as well is Kinderman's analysis of the religious and ideological context of Parsifal. During the half-century after the composer's death, the Wagner family and the so-called Bayreuth circle sought to exploit Wagner's work for political purposes, thereby promoting racial nationalism and anti-Semitism. Hitherto unnoticed connections between Hitler and Wagner's legacy at Bayreuth are explored here, while differences between the composer's politics as an 1849 revolutionary and the later response of his family to National Socialism are weighed in a nuanced account. Kinderman combines new historical research, sensitive aesthetic criticism, and probing philosophical reflection in this most intensive examination of Wagner's culminating music drama.

The works of Claude Debussy (1862-1918) had a major impact on the music of the 20th century, influencing a range of figures from Ravel and Stravinsky to Henri Dutilleux and Toru Takemitsu. Less well known is Debussy's influence on the popular culture of the period. Matthew Brown shows how Debussy's music has surfaced in an array of contexts from the film music of the 1940s to the dance music of the 1990s. It is easy to see how Debussy's impressionist soundscapes for orchestra such as La Mer and Iberia could be perfect models for accompaniments to film scenes, but as Brown makes clear Debussy's music and influence cannot by reduced to dreamy imitations of Clair de Lune. As he traces the trajectory of Debussy's stylistic evolution, Brown shows how facets of this style were reinterpreted in a surprising variety of popular musical contexts.

Passionate and pioneering, Liszt's biography of Chopin flaunts its author's celebrity while straddling the divide between the scholarly and the popular. In this volume Meirion Hughes combines a new translation of the first edition with an introduction that places the work in its cultural and political context. In his introduction Hughes explores the complex relationship between the two composers, the highly charged political context in which the book was written, and the discourse of cultural nationalism and progressivism that dominates content. He argues that Chopin (put in italics) was more than a tribute to an erstwhile friend, but rather a polemic of national music rooted in the politics of that 'year of revolutions', 1848-9. Hughes remains faithful to the original while putting clarity before strict adherence to what is, by general agreement, a quirky text. Controversial in its approach, Liszt's 'Chopin' challenges the long-held view of the memoir is as lightweight, inaccurate portrait of its subject, but rather as one of the most important and daring musical biographies of the nineteenth century. -- .

This title contains book & 4 CDs. The three centuries covered in this series offer a broad range of artists and their works. Sometimes it is hard to find access and to maintain an overview. The "Masterpieces Series" offers an ideal package, which gives the reader a compact, comprehensible, and entertaining overview of the painting and the music of each century. This brand new concept is unique: each book presents and comments on the most important paintings of the respective century in chronological order. The Music: The four CDs offer the most important musical works of the accordant eras. An extensive preface presents and explains each century and its characteristics and provides explanations of the specific connections between the history of music and painting.

Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was a great harmonic innovator and one of the most original musical voices of the twentieth century. He created fresh, new tonal perspectives without abandoning tonality itself. With a revolutionary sense of instrumental colour and a fleeting, atmospheric sound world, he is often described, rightly or wrongly, as an 'Impressionist' composer. This book presents a clear narrative history of Debussy's life, work and cultural context along with essential reference material and striking illustrations, making it a vital purchase for anyone interested in the composer.

The musical dramas of Richard Wagner have, for the last 150 years, thrilled and amazed listeners everywhere. In "Wagner Moments", author J.K. Holman has assembled 100 such moments, from the living and dead, famous and not so famous, from Charles Baudelaire to Placido Domingo, musicians and non-musicians. Mr. Holman edits these stories and asides, placing them in their biographical and historical context to the certain enjoyment of Wagner aficionados everywhere.

Franz Xaver Hauser (1794-1870), born near Prague in Czechoslovakia, combined his career of singing and teaching with a consuming interest in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Hauser was a colleague of Felix Mendelssohn, Moritz Hauptmann, Robert Schumann, Jenny Lind, and Otto Jahn; author of a text on vocal pedagogy that stayed in print for more than a century; founder of the Munich Tonal Academy, which is still in existence; and the primary private contributor to the complete edition of Bach's works. In this remarkable biography, Dale A. Jorgenson discloses the existence of the great legacy left by Hauser. Although his achievements were many, Hauser's greatest contribution was his determined effort to catalogue all the known works of J. S. Bach, collect and share all the original manuscripts and authentic copies of Bach's work, and make his unpublished catalogue, the manuscripts, and his professional guidance available to the Bach Society, which was founded in Leipzig in 1850. This activity provided a meaningful dimension to Hauser's life apart from his stage career. He made a wide circle of significant friends who loved Bach's music or who were themselves leaders in literature and the arts--Ludwig Tieck, Schumann, the Grimm Brothers, and many others. This remarkable man had slipped into obscurity. Jorgenson's biography will enhance Hauser's reputation and remind the world of his achievements. Jorgenson's book also is an invaluable asset to scholars of nineteenth-century music, culture, and the arts, particularly to those who share Hauser's enduring interest in Bach.

Once tainted by association with Hitler and Nazism, Richard Wagner's work has experienced an international cultural renaissance in the last 25 years. His magnum opus, ""Der Ring des Nibelungen"", which took him over 20 years to finish, is a complex tale with themes of greed, corruption and loss, spun out in more than 16 hours of powerfully moving opera. This book, with provocative essays for both the uninitiated and the seasoned fan, examines Wagner's Ring cycle from a wide array of modern perspectives. Divided into six parts, this anthology first offers a foundation for the ""Ring"", with a chronology and an introduction, along with a look at Wagner as an enterprising marketer. Part Two explores different interpretations of the ""Ring"", with reference to politics, romanticism and international inspirations. Part Three studies the complex relationship between Wagner's ""Ring"" and Germany, with a summary of the opera's influence on German culture and a discussion of its Munich premiere. Part Four offers a production history, including studies of the ""Ring's"" effects in America and its influence on world literature. Part Five provides a technical examination of language in the ""Ring"", as well as an interview with the famous Wagnerian soprano Jane Eaglen. The book concludes with an essay on the trouble with Wagnerian opera and an overview of the recorded ""Ring"" on disc, video and print.

Jim Samson interweaves biographical and musical commentary to produce a well-rounded portrait of Chopin the man and the musician. Incorporating the most recent research, Samson addresses such questions as pedagogy, musical influences, and pianistic idiom. He examines the composer's mature musical style, considers his unique approach to the genres of nineteenth-century piano music, and investigates the nature of his compositional process as revealed through manuscripts and early printed scores. In reading the book we begin to understand why this frail and fastidious musician from Warsaw, whose music is so immensely refined and innovatory, has captured the imagination of generations of music lovers the world over.

To be successful, a musician often has to be an entrepreneur: someone who starts a performing venue, develops patrons, and promotes the project aggressively. Accomplishing this requires musicians to acquire social and business skills and to be highly opportunistic in what they do. In The Musician as Entrepreneur, 1700 1914, international scholars investigate cases of musical entrepreneurship between around 1700 and 1914 in Britain, France, Germany, and the United States. By uncovering the ways in which musicians such as Telemann, Beethoven, Paganini, and Liszt conducted their daily business, the authors reveal how musicians reshaped the frameworks of musical culture and, in the process, the nature of the music itself."

This engaging book discusses the colorful personalities Land beloved music of the French romantic organist-composers. Michael Murray draws vivid portraits of Aristide Cavaille-Coll (1811-1899), the greatest and most influential organ builder of his time, and of seven oilier musicians with connections to Cavaille-Coll and to onc another: Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921), Cesar Franck (1822-1890), Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937), Louis Vicine (1870-1937), Marcel Dupre' (1886-1971), Jean Langlais (1907-1991), and Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992).

The book offers to lovers of French music and culture -- and especially to student organists -- details of these composers' lives and times and of their styles and techniques. Drawing on his personal acquaintance with Messiaen, Langlais, Dupre', and other famous contemporaries, and on period documents, original accounts, early recordings, and other primary sources, Murray examines the relationship between organ building and musical composition, the nature of romanticism and classicism, and the ever-perplexing question of composer versus interpreter.

The Essays Before a Sonata was conceived by Ives as a preface of sorts to the composition. Ives's musings also explore the nature of music, discuss the source of a composer's impulses and inspiration, and offer some biting comments on celebrated masters. The writings in this collection now featuring a comprehensive index-allow readers entry into the brilliant mind that produced some of America's most innovative musical works."

The question whether the text, music, singers, or setting is the most important feature of an opera has long been debated. At one time, the courts of Vienna and Munich imported Italian opera before the German language gained acceptance. Once established, German opera, from Mozart to Schoenberg, reached the highest peak--as seen in the libretti of this volume.

This is a meticulously researched and superbly detailed biography of composer Jules Massenet, a musical prodigy who entered the Paris Conservatory at the age of ten in 1853 and was at the heart of Parisian musical life until his death in 1912. During his lifetime Massenet was one of the best known and most highly regarded musicians in all Europe. Although his works fell out of vogue for several decades after his death, the 1970s and 80s brought a renewal of interest in his work and a welcome series of new performances. Relying on primary sources for firsthand information, Irvine profiles the composer and draws a rich portrait of the fascinating era in which Massenet lived. The narrative begins in 1748 with the birth of Massenet's grandfather, details the composer's early years and family life, traces his educational career, and highlights important events in his life. This carefully documented biography of Massenet and his milieu is lively and readable, conveying a vivid sense of the life of a successful musician in the late nineteenth century. Along the way one meets numerous composers, conductors, singers, publishers, artists, writers, and critics - everyone who contributed to the exciting cultural ferment of the time. Massenet's Paris was the city of expositions, a magnet for artistic talent and innovative ideas. As Massenet composed his first operas, Cezanne, Degas, Monet, Renoir, and their compatriots were unveiling the new Impressionism; Bizet, Faure, Wagner, Offenbach, Debussy, and Saint-Saens were his musical contemporaries. Great operatic performers such as Sibyl Sanderson, Emma Calve, Mary Garden, Geraldine Farrar, and Feodor Chaliapin were eager to star in the premier of anynew work by Massenet. The composer had many eminent students, including Gustave Charpentier, Lucien Hillemacher, and Reynaldo Hahn. In this period of extraordinary artistic vitality, Massenet was applauded by his arch-rival Saint-Saens as a "sparkling diamond" of French music. Alfred Bruneau and Claude Debussy penned tributes upon his death, and Saint-Saens memorably commented, "Massenet has been much imitated; he imitated no one".