![]() |
![]() |
Your cart is empty |
||
Books > Arts & Architecture > Music > Other types of music > Sacred & religious music
Coronations are the grandest of all state occasions. This is the first comprehensive in-depth study of the music that was performed at British coronations from 1603 to the present, encompassing the sixteen coronations that have taken place in Westminster Abbey and the last two Scottish coronations. Range describes how music played a crucial role at the coronations and how the practical requirements of the ceremonial proceedings affected its structure and performance. The programme of music at each coronation is reconstructed, accompanied by a wealth of transcriptions of newly discovered primary source material, revealing findings that lead to fresh conclusions about performance practices. The coronation ceremonies are placed in their historical context, including the political background and the concept of invented traditions. The study is an invaluable resource not only for musicologists and historians, but also for performers, providing a fascinating insight into the greatest of all Royal events.
Presenting a fresh interpretation of Mozart's Requiem, Simon P. Keefe redresses a longstanding scholarly imbalance whereby narrow consideration of the text of this famously incomplete work has taken precedence over consideration of context in the widest sense. Keefe details the reception of the Requiem legend in general writings, fiction, theatre and film, as well as discussing criticism, scholarship and performance. Evaluation of Mozart's work on the Requiem turns attention to the autograph score, the document in which myths and musical realities collide. Franz Xaver Sussmayr's completion (1791-2) is also re-appraised and the ideological underpinnings of modern completions assessed. Overall, the book affirms that Mozart's Requiem, fascinating for interacting musical, biographical, circumstantial and psychological reasons, cannot be fully appreciated by studying only Mozart's activities. Broad-ranging hermeneutic approaches to the work, moreover, supersede traditionally limited discursive confines.
Providing a detailed analysis of Bach's Passions, this 2010 book represents an important contribution to the debate about the culture of 'classical music', its origins, priorities and survival. The angles from which each chapter proceeds differ from those of a traditional music guide, by examining the Passions in the light of the mindsets of modernity, and their interplay with earlier models of thought and belief. While the historical details of Bach's composition, performance and theological context remain crucial, the foremost concern of this study is to relate these works to a historical context that may, in some threads at least, still be relevant today. The central claim of the book is that the interplay of traditional imperatives and those of early modernity renders Bach's Passions particularly fascinating as artefacts that both reflect and constitute some of the priorities and conditions of the western world.
First published in 1914, this book provides information on the Canticles of the Eastern and Western Church in early and medieval times. The text is divided into two broad sections: the first covers Greek and Eastern Canticles; the second covers Latin and Western Canticles. Additional material includes illustrative plates and an index of manuscripts. This is a highly informative book that will be of value to anyone with an interest in religious music and the history of Christianity.
Zum 350-jahrigen Geburtsjubilaum von F. W. Zachow erscheint erstmals in Buchform diese innovative, provokative und auch uberraschende Forschungsarbeit. Zachow war Handels Lehrmeister. Die Arbeit erschliesst die Handschriften der Vokalwerke Zachows mit historisch-quellenkundlicher Methodik und stellt erstmals ein Quellenverzeichnis zusammen. Sie untersucht die gattungs- und stilbildenden Aspekte seiner Kompositionen und seine musik-historische Sonderbedeutung. Ausserdem eroertert sie die Bewerbung von J. S. Bach 1713 in Halle und seine Teilnahme am Orgelneubau, Bachs ideale, recht schoene und recht grosse Orgel. Diese Arbeit wendet sich an Kirchenmusiker, Chorleiter, Organisten und Sanger und alle, die die musica sacra des Halleschen Spatbarockkomponisten F. W. Zachow wiederentdecken moechten.
The first full-length study of how motets were used and performed in the fifteenth century, this book dispels the mystery surrounding these outstanding works of vocal polyphony. It covers four areas of intense compositional activity: England, the Veneto, Bruges and Cambrai, with reference to the works of Dunstaple, Forest, Ciconia, Grenon and Du Fay. In every documented instance, motets functioned as ceremonial vehicles, whether voiced in procession through the streets of a city or the chapel of a king, at the guild chapel of a parish church or the high altar of a cathedral. The motet was an entirely vocal genre that changed radically during the period from 1400 to 1475. Robert Nosow outlines the motet's social history, demonstrating how the incorporation of different texts, musical dialects, cantus firmus materials and melodic styles represents an important key to the evolution of the genre, and its adaptability to widely variant ritual circumstances.
A case study of the development of bell-ringing in one county, Norfolk, from the earliest records through to the present day, revealing much which is of general, as well as local, interest. A new era of scholarship in campanological research and writing.' RINGING WORLD The beginnings of scientific changeringing now seem most likely, from the considerable body of evidence which has emerged, to havetaken place in the eastern counties: and in this classic study Paul Cattermole examines the development of bell-ringing in one county, Norfolk, from the earliest records through to the present day. What he has to say is of general, rather than local, interest, but his information is necessarily drawn from local records. He explores bell-ringers' links with the church and with local communities, using documentary evidence dating back in some cases to the 14th century, and he studies in detail the technical development of church towers and bell frames, identifying and illustrating a number of early examples. PAUL CATTERMOLE, who died in 2009, was for many years Adviser onBells to the Diocese of Norwich.
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.
Providing a detailed analysis of Bach's Passions, this 2010 book represents an important contribution to the debate about the culture of 'classical music', its origins, priorities and survival. The angles from which each chapter proceeds differ from those of a traditional music guide, by examining the Passions in the light of the mindsets of modernity, and their interplay with earlier models of thought and belief. While the historical details of Bach's composition, performance and theological context remain crucial, the foremost concern of this study is to relate these works to a historical context that may, in some threads at least, still be relevant today. The central claim of the book is that the interplay of traditional imperatives and those of early modernity renders Bach's Passions particularly fascinating as artefacts that both reflect and constitute some of the priorities and conditions of the western world.
James Grier documents the musical activities of Ademar de Chabannes, eleventh-century monk, historian, homilist and tireless polemicist for the apostolic status of Saint Martial, patron saint of the abbey that bore his name in Limoges. Ademar left behind some 451 folios of music with notation in his autograph hand, a musical resource without equal before the seventeenth century. He introduced, at strategic moments, pieces familiar from the standard liturgy for an apostle and items of his own composition. These reveal Ademar to be a supremely able designer of liturgies and a highly original composer. This study analyses his accomplishments as a musical scribe, compiler of liturgies, editor of existing musical works and composer; it also offers a speculative consideration of his abilities as a singer; and finally, it places Ademar's musical activities in the context of liturgical, musical and political developments at the abbey of Saint Martial in Limoges.
Cori Spezzati deals with polychoral church music from its beginnings in the first few decades of the sixteenth century to its climax in the work of Giovanni Gabrieli and Heinrich Schutz. In polychoral music the singers, sometimes with instrumentalists also, were split into two (or more) groups that often engaged in lively dialogue and joined in majestic tutti climaxes. The book draws on contemporary descriptions of the idiom, especially from the writings of Vicentino and Zarlino, but concentrates in the main on musical analysis, showing how antiphonal chanting (such as that of the psalms), dialogue and canon influenced the phenomenon. Polychoral music has often been considered synonymous not only with Venetian music, but with impressive pomp. Anthony Carver's study shows that it was cultivated by many composers outside Venice - in Rome, all over northern Italy, in Catholic and Protestant areas of Germany, in Spain and the New World - and that it was as capable of quiet devotion or mannerist expressionism as of outgoing pomp. Perhaps most important, music by several major composers about which there is still surprisingly little in the literature is treated in depth: the Gabrielis, Lasso, Palestrina, Victoria, and several German masters. The book is illustrated with many musical examples. A companion volume offers an anthology of seventeen complete pieces, most of which are analysed in the text of Volume I.
Cori Spezzati deals with polychoral church music from its beginnings in the first few decades of the sixteenth century to its climax in the work of Giovanni Gabrieli and Heinrich Schiitz. In polychoral music the singers, sometimes with instrumentalists also, were split into two (or more) groups which often engaged in lively dialogue and joined in majestic tutti climaxes. The first volume draws on contemporary descriptions of the idiom, especially from the writings of Vicentino and Zarlino, but concentrates in the main on musical analysis, showing how antiphonal chanting (such as that of the psalms), dialogue and canon influenced the phenomenon. Polychoral music often has been considered synonymous not only with Venetian music but with impressive pomp. Anthony Carver's study shows that it was cultivated by many composers outside Venice - in Rome, all over northern Italy, in Catholic and Protestant areas of Germany, in Spain and the New World - and that it was as capable of quiet devotion or mannerist expressionism as of outgoing pomp. Perhaps most important, music by several major composers about which there is still surprisingly little in the literature is treated in depth: the Gabrielis, Lasso, Palestrina, Victoria, and several German masters. Volume I is illustrated with many musical examples. This companion volume offers an anthology of seventeen complete pieces, most of which are analysed in the text of volume I.
Survey of an important period in the development of the choral tradition in the Anglican church. When Bernarr Rainbow was director of music at the College of St Mark and St John, Chelsea, he came across the 1849 diary of service music of Thomas Helmore. Astonished at its breadth of repertoire, he was inspired to investigate the circumstances of the document. His findings are recorded in this book, which sets Thomas Helmore's contribution in perspective against the background of the Choral Revival as a whole. In tracing the history of the remarkable revival of care for the music of the liturgy, the author produced a socio-musical history of a period vital in the evolution of the Anglican Church, and made clear, probably for the first time, how music in the Anglican Churchcame to follow lines which are unique in Christendom. His book was originally published at a time of important changes in ecclesiastical thinking; his presentation of the decisions taken in the past which led to the existing relationship between choirs and congregations, interesting in itself, is also valuable in the continuing debate.
Joni Mitchell is one of the foremost singer-songwriters of the late
twentieth century. Yet despite her reputation, influence, and
cultural importance, a detailed appraisal of her musical
achievement is still lacking. Whitesell presents a through
exploration of Mitchell's musical style, sound, and structure in
order to evaluate her songs from a musicological perspective. His
analyses are conceived within a holistic framework that takes
account of poetic nuance, cultural reference, and stylistic
evolution over a long, adventurous career.
The fourth-century Christian thinker, Gregory of Nyssa, has been the subject of a huge variety of interpretations over the past fifty years, from historians, theologians, philosophers, and others. In this highly original study, Morwenna Ludlow analyses these recent readings of Gregory of Nyssa and asks: What do they reveal about modern and postmodern interpretations of the Christian past? What do they say about the nature of Gregory's writing? Working thematically through studies of recent Trinitarian theology, Christology, spirituality, feminism, and postmodern hermeneutics, Ludlow develops an approach to reading the Church Fathers which combines the benefits of traditional scholarship on the early Church with reception-history and theology.
What is Gregorian chant, and where does it come from? What purpose does it serve, and how did it take on the form and features which make it instantly recognizable? Designed to guide students through this key topic, this book answers these questions and many more. David Hiley describes the church services in which chant is performed, takes the reader through the church year, explains what Latin texts were used, and, taking Worcester Cathedral as an example, describes the buildings in which it was sung. The history of chant is traced from its beginnings in the early centuries of Christianity, through the Middle Ages, the revisions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the restoration in the nineteenth and twentieth. Using numerous music examples, the book shows how chants are made and how they were notated. An indispensable guide for all those interested in the fascinating world of Gregorian chant.
James Grier documents the musical activities of Ademar de Chabannes, eleventh-century monk, historian, homilist and tireless polemicist for the apostolic status of Saint Martial, patron saint of the abbey that bore his name in Limoges. Ademar left behind some 451 folios of music with notation in his autograph hand, a musical resource without equal before the seventeenth century. He introduced, at strategic moments, pieces familiar from the standard liturgy for an apostle and items of his own composition. These reveal Ademar to be a supremely able designer of liturgies and a highly original composer. This study analyzes his accomplishments as a musical scribe, compiler of liturgies, editor of existing musical works and composer; it also offers a speculative consideration of his abilities as a singer; and finally, it places Ademar's musical activities in the context of liturgical, musical and political developments at the abbey of Saint Martial in Limoges.
A historical and theological re-evaluation of the polemical writings of Athanasius of Alexandria (bishop 328-73), who would become known to later Christian generations as a saint and a champion of orthodoxy, and as the defender of the original Nicene Creed of 325 against the `Arian heresy'. For much of his own lifetime, however, Athanasius was an extremely controversial figure, and his writings, although highly influential on modern interpretations of the fourth-century Church and the so-called `Arian Controversy', display bias and distortion. David M. Gwynn examines Athanasius' polemic in detail, and in particular his construction of those he condemns as `Arian' as a single `heretical party', 'the Eusebians'. Gwynn argues that Athanasius' image of the Church polarized between his own `orthodoxy' and the `Arianism' of the `Eusebians' is a polemical construct, which has seriously impaired our knowledge of the development of Christianity in the crucial period in which the Later Roman Empire became ever increasingly a Christian empire.
Leading historian of the early church, Bart Ehrman offers the first comprehensive account of the newly discovered Gospel of Judas, revealing what this legendary lost gospel contains and why it is so important for our understanding of Christianity. Ehrman describes how he first saw the Gospel of Judas-surprisingly, in a small room above a pizza parlor in a Swiss town near Lake Geneva-and he recounts the fascinating story of where and how this ancient papyrus document was discovered, how it moved around among antiquities dealers in Egypt, the United States, and Switzerland, and how it came to be restored and translated. More important, Ehrman gives the reader a complete and clear account of what the book teaches and he shows how it relates to other Gospel texts-both those inside the New Testament and those outside of it, most notably, the Gnostic texts of early Christianity. Finally, he describes what we now can say about the historical Judas himself as well as his relationship with Jesus, suggesting that one needs to read between the lines of the early Gospels to see exactly what Judas did and why he did it. The Gospel of Judas presents an entirely new view of Jesus, his disciples, and the man who allegedly betrayed him. It raises many questions and Bart Ehrman provides illuminating and authoritative answers, in a book that will interest anyone curious about the New Testament, the life of Jesus, and the history of Christianity after his death.
Can humans know God? Can created beings approach the Uncreated? The concept of God and questions about our ability to know him are central to this book. Eastern Orthodox theology distinguishes between knowing God as he is (his divine essence) and as he presents himself (through his energies), and thus it both negates and affirms the basic question: man cannot know God in his essence, but may know him through his energies. Henny Fiska Hagg investigates this earliest stage of Christian negative (apophatic) theology, as well as the beginnings of the distinction between essence and energies, focusing on Clement of Alexandria in the late second century. Clement's theological, social, religious, and philosophical milieu is also considered, as is his indebtedness to Middle Platonism and its concept of God.
Professor Temperley suggests that the Elizabethan metrical psalm tunes were survivors of a mode of popular music that preceded the familiar corpus of ballad tunes. Passed on by oral transmission through several generations of unregulated singing, these once lively tunes changed gradually into very slow, quavering chants. Temperley guides the reader through the complex social, theological and aesthetic movements that played their part in the formation of the late Victorian ideal of the surpliced choir in every chancel, and he makes a fresh assessment of that old bugbear, the Victorian hymn tune. His findings show that the radical liturgical experiments of the last few years have not dislodged the Victorian model for the music of the English parish church. This volume provides an anthology of parish church music of all kinds from the fifteenth century to the twentieth, newly edited from primary sources for study or for performance.
In this wide-ranging and challenging book, Ruth Smith shows that the words to Handel's oratorios reflect the events and ideas of their time and have far greater meaning than has hitherto been realized. She explores literature, music, aesthetics, politics and religion to reveal Handel's works as conduits for eighteenth-century thought and sensibility. She provides a full picure of Handel's librettists and shows how their oratorio texts express key moral-political preoccupations and engage with contemporary ideological debate. British identity, the need for national unity, the conduct of war, the role of government, the authority of the Bible, the purpose of literature, the effect of art - these and many more concerns are addressed in the librettos. The book thus enriches our understanding of Handel, his times, and the relationships between music and its intellectual contexts.
The motets of J. S. Bach are probably the most sophisticated works ever composed in the genre. Nevertheless, Daniel Melamed maintains, the view that they constitute a body of work quite separate from the German motet tradition is mistaken. He starts by considering the eighteenth-century understanding of the term itself and finds that Bach's own use does indeed agree with his contemporaries and that his motets are rooted in the conventions of the time, particularly in matters of musical construction, performing forces, and type of text. A fresh look at the repertory shows that Bach composed motets all through his career and an appreciation of the contemporary conception of the motet sheds light on questions of how and why Bach himself used the form. Professor Melamed also finds plenty of evidence that motets and motet style played an important role in Bach's exploration of the musical past. |
![]() ![]() You may like...
Water Scarcity and Sustainable…
Ivan Francisco Garcia-Tejero, Victor Hugo Duran-Zuazo
Paperback
|