This wonderful collection brings together seven well-loved carols, all newly arranged by Mack Wilberg for high voice and piano. Featuring a range of Christmas texts, including 'Bring a torch, Jeannette, Isabella', 'Deck the hall', and 'The Twelve Days of Christmas', it also offers two carols with alternative, original foreign-language options (French and Catalan). With a delightful variety of musical styles and moods, this volume is perfect for recitals, services, and concerts at Christmas time. Also available in a volume for low voice.

Janet K. Page explores the interaction of music and piety, court and church, as seen through the relationship between the Habsburg court and Vienna's convents. For a period of some twenty-five years, encompassing the end of the reign of Emperor Leopold I and that of his elder son, Joseph I, the court's emphasis on piety and music meshed perfectly with the musical practices of Viennese convents. This mutually beneficial association disintegrated during the eighteenth century, and the changing relationship of court and convents reveals something of the complex connections among the Habsburg court, the Roman Catholic Church, and Viennese society. Identifying and discussing many musical works performed in convents, including oratorios, plays with music, feste teatrali, sepolcri, and other church music, Page reveals a golden age of convent music in Vienna and sheds light on the convents' surprising engagement with contemporary politics.

for SATB and organ This uplifting anthem combines two well-known texts that are commonly read at weddings: 1 Corinthians 13:13 ('And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.') and Song of Solomon 8:6-7 ('For love is strong as death. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.'). The music perfectly mirrors the message of the texts, with flowing solo organ passages and melodic vocal lines building to full homophonic textures at the climax. Portraying a theme that is both personal and eternal, Faith, hope, and love remain is suitable for use not only as part of a wedding ceremony but also for general services and concerts.

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.

for SATB and piano, organ, or orchestra First published in a two-part version in The Oxford Book of Flexible Carols, Alan Smith's In the Beginning is presented separately here in a mixed-voice arrangement. Kevin Carey's text is set to gently lilting music, perfect for choirs and settings at Christmas. Orchestral material is available on hire/rental.

Singing God's Words is the first in-depth study of the experience and meaning of chanting or "reading" Torah among contemporary American Jews. This experience has been transformed dramatically in recent years by the impact of digital technology, feminism, the empowerment of lay people and a search for self-fulfillment through involvement with community. At a time when worshippers seek deeper spiritual experience, many Jews have found new meaning in the experience of reading Torah, an act that is broadly accessible to Jewish adults even as it requires intensive immersion with the text of the Bible in Hebrew. This book examines why and how growing numbers of American Jews in all denominations see the public chanting of Biblical texts during the synagogue service as one of the most authentic and personal expressions of their religious identity. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with men and women, both professionals and congregants, Jeffrey A. Summit describes how the reading of Torah embodies their understanding of historical religious practice, even as it is shaped by contemporary views of spiritual experience. Through this act, holiness becomes manifest at the intersection of Biblical chant, sacred text, the individual, and the community.

Johann Sebastian Bach's two surviving passions-St. John and St. Matthew-are an essential part of the modern repertory, performed regularly both by professional ensembles and amateur groups. These large, complex pieces are well loved, but due to our distance from the original context in which they were performed, questions and problems emerge. Bach scholar Daniel Melamed examines the issues we encounter when we hear the passions performed today, and offers unique insight into Bach's passion settings. Rather than providing a movement-by-movement analysis, Melamed uses the Bach repertory to introduce readers to some of the intriguing issues in the study and performance of older music, and explores what it means to listen to this music today. For instance, Bach wrote the passions for a particular liturgical event at a specific time and place; we hear them hundreds of years later, often a world away and usually in concert performances. They were performed with vocal and instrumental forces deployed according to early 18th-century conceptions; we usually hear them now as the pinnacle of the choral/orchestral repertory, adapted to modern forces and conventions. In Bach's time, passion settings were revised, altered, and tampered with both by their composers and by other musicians who used them; today we tend to regard them as having fixed texts to be treated mith respect. Their music was sometimes recycled from other compositions or reused itself for other purposes; we have trouble imagining the familiar material of Bach's passion settings in any other guise. Melamed takes on these issues, exploring everything from the sources that transmit Bach's passion settings today to the issues surrounding performance practice (including the question of the size of Bach's ensemble). He delves into the passions as dramatic music, examines the problem of multiple versions of a work and the reconstruction of lost pieces, explores the other passions in Bach's performing repertory, and sifts through the puzzle of authorship. Highly accessible to the non-specialist, the book assumes no technical musical knowledge and does not rely on printed musical examples. Based on the most recent scholarship and using lucid prose, the book opens up the debates surrounding this repertory to music lovers, choral singers, church musicians, and students of Bach's music.

Die Musik ist im Judentum unendlich wichtig. In diesem Zusammenhang steht uber den Satz der Tora "Hoere auf das Lied und das Gebet" (1. Buch der Koenige 8,28) im Talmud: "Nur dort, wo ein Lied ist, gibt es auch Gebet" (b.Berachot. 6a). Deshalb stellte das Lied auch im grossen Tempel von Jerusalem einen unverzichtbaren Teil der taglichen Opfer dar und kam von dort mit bestimmten Melodien fur das Gebet und die Toralesung in die Synagoge. Der Chassidismus bediente sich eines der wichtigsten Instrumente, der Musik fur den Gottesdienst, dessen Ziel es ist, den Menschen zu wecken und zu erfreuen, um die Traurigkeit, den "Ursprung des Boesen", zu verscheuchen. Denn durch Freude kann man die hoechsten Stufen erreichen und alle physischen Probleme vermeiden, genau so wie Rabbi Ezekil von Kuzmir sagt: "Denn mit Freude sollt ihr herausziehen" (Jesaja 55,12), was bedeutet, dass man sich durch Freude von allen Schwierigkeiten befreien kann. In diesem Buch fuhrt uns der Autor durch die Hoefe der Chassidim in die Welt der Melodie, uber die Musik ohne Worte (die vielleicht wichtiger ist, als jene mit Worten), die Bedeutung des Tanzes, die Schabbat-Tischgebete bis hin zur kabbalistischen Musik. Er schreibt uber die verschiedenen Rabbiner, die bei den verschiedensten Gelegenheiten sangen und komponierten, wie z.B. in der Synagoge oder beim "Tisch", wo sich alle Chassidim versammeln, um die Erklarungen und Deutungen der Tora zu vernehmen.

This oratorio by a youthful Camille Saint-Saens was first performed by soloists, chorus and small string orchestra for the 1858 Christmas service at the glise de la Madeleine in Paris. The composer's colleague Eugene Gigout arranged the vocal score, which is presented here in a digitally-enhanced reprint of the one issued by G. Schirmer early in the 20th century. As with the other titles in this series, measure numbers have been added and rehearsal systems have been checked for compliance with the widely available orchestral parts sold by Kalmus. The large A4 size is quite convenient for soloists, choruses, and directors alike.

Diese Arbeit, die in aktualisierter Neuauflage vorgelegt wird, zeichnet zunachst den UEberlieferungsweg der freien Orgelwerke Buxtehudes nach, von den verschollenen Autographen bis zu den erhaltenen, vielfach mangelhaften Abschriften. Besonderes Interesse gilt der Frage, welchen Anteil die beruhmten Zeitgenossen Pachelbel und Bach an der Verbreitungsgeschichte dieser Werke hatten. Im zweiten Hauptteil werden Probleme von Stil und Form, Authentizitat und Chronologie behandelt; auch Aspekte der Spielpraxis werden berucksichtigt. Damit stellt die Arbeit eine Erganzung zur kritischen Edition der Orgelwerke Buxtehudes dar.

This book gives an account of the individual works of one of the greatest composers. The first volume of a two-volume study of the music of J. S. Bach covers the earlier part of his composing career, 1695-1717. By studying the music chronologically a coherent picture of the composer's creative development emerges, drawing together all the strands of the individual repertoires (e.g. the cantatas, the organ music, the keyboard music). The volume is divided into two parts, covering the early works and the mature Weimar compositions respectively. Each part deals with four categories of composition in turn: large-scale keyboard works; preludes, fantasias, and fugues; organ chorales; and cantatas. Within each category, the discussion is prefaced by a list of the works to be considered, together with details of their original titles, catalogue numbers, and earliest sources. The study is thus usable as a handbook on Bach's works as well as a connected study of his creative development. As indicated by the subtitle Music to Delight the Spirit,, borrowed from Bach's own title-pages, Richard Jones draws attention to another important aspect of the book: not only is it a study of style and technique but a work of criticism, an analytical evaluation of Bach's music and an appreciation of its extraordinary qualities. It also takes account of the remarkable advances in Bach scholarship that have been made over the last 50 years, including the many studies that have appeared relating to various aspects of Bach's early music, such as the varied influences to which he was subjected and the problematic issues of dating and authenticity that arise. In doing so, it attempts to build up a coherent picture of his development as a creative artist, helping us to understand what distinguishes Bach's mature music from his early works and from the music of his predecessors and contemporaries. Hence we learn why it is that his later works are instantly recognizable as 'Bachian'.

Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, whose life and mystical poetry provided the inspiration for the Mevlevi Sufi order, is one of the world's best-known poets, yet the centuries-long musical tradition cultivated by the Mevleviye remains much less known. In this deeply researched book, renowned scholar Walter Feldman traces the historical development of Mevlevi music and brings to light the remarkable musical and mystical aesthetics of the Mevlevi ayin the instrumental and vocal accompaniment to the sublime ceremony of the 'Whirling' Dervishes.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1857. Excerpt: ... APPENDIX. A COLLECTION OF ODES ON ST. CECILIA'S DAY. r APPENDIX. ODE FOE ST. CECILIA'S DAY, 1683, BY CHRISTOPHEB FI8HBURN. Set to Music by Henry Purcell. ELCOME to all the pleasures that delight Of ev'ry sense the grateful appetite Hail, great assembly of Apollo's race Hail to this happy place, This Musical assembly, that seems to be The ark of universal harmony Here the deities approve (The God of Music and of Love, ) All the talents they have lent you, All the blessings they have sent you; Pleas'd to see what they bestow Live and thrive so well below; While joys celestial their bright souls invade, To find what great improvement you have made. Then lift up your voices, those organs of nature, Those charms to the troubled and amorous creature: The Power shall divert us a pleasanter way; For Sorrow and Grief Find from Music relief, And Love its soft charms must obey. Beauty, thou source of love, And Virtue, thou innocent fire, Made by the Powers above To temper the heat of desire; Music, that fancy employs In raptures of innocent flame, We offer with lute and with voice To Cecilia, Cecilia's bright name: In a concert of voices, while instruments play, With Music we'll celebrate this holiday; In a concert of voices we'll sing, 16 Cecilia ODE FOE ST. CECILIA'S DAY, 1683, Author unknown. Composed by Henry Purcell. RAISE, raise the voice, all instruments obey, Let the sweet lute its softest notes display, For this is sacred Music's holiday. The God himself says, he'll be present here, Dress'd in his brightest beams he will appear, Not to the eye, but to the ravish'd ear. Hark I hear Apollo cry, "Crown the day with harmony "And let ev'ry gen'rous heart "In the chorus bear a part." Mark, mark, how readily each pliant string Prepares itself, and as an offer...

Neelima Shukla-Bhatt offers an illuminating study of Narsinha Mehta, one of the most renowned saint-poets of medieval India and the most celebrated bhakti (devotion) poet from Gujarat, whose songs and sacred biography formed a vital source of moral inspiration for Gandhi. Exploring manuscripts, medieval texts, Gandhi's more obscure writings, and performances in multiple religious and non-religious contexts, including modern popular media, Shukla-Bhatt shows that the songs and sacred narratives associated with the saint-poet have been sculpted by performers and audiences into a popular source of moral inspiration.
Drawing on the Indian concept of bhakti-rasa (devotion as nectar), Narasinha Mehta of Gujarat reveals that the sustained popularity of the songs and narratives over five centuries, often across religious boundaries and now beyond devotional contexts in modern media, is the result of their combination of inclusive religious messages and aesthetic appeal in performance. Taking as an example Gandhi's perception of the songs and stories as vital cultural resources for social reconstruction, the book suggests that when religion acquires the form of popular culture, it becomes a widely accessible platform for communication among diverse groups. Shukla-Bhatt expands upon the scholarship on the embodied and public dimension of bhakti through detailed analysis of multiple public venues of performance and commentary, including YouTube videos.
This study provides a vivid picture of the Narasinha tradition, and will be a crucial resource for anyone seeking to understand the power of religious performative traditions in popular media.

One of the finest achievements of Western culture is its brilliant heritage of classical music. A Gift of Music looks at the lives of the greatest composers who have given us this heritage, and especially at how their music was shaped by their beliefs.

The result is a remarkable and inspiring book, showing the importance of Christian faith for many composers, and the effect of this upon their music. But it also shows how the lack of faith has brought profound change in the meaning and form of contemporary music.

Thus A Gift of Music seeks to open up a whole new world of music--to encourage listening to the finest compositions with new understanding and pleasure, and to stretch our ears and imaginations. It is a book which will be greatly appreciated by those who already love classical music, and by others who want to explore this delightful world for the first time.

Sourindro Mohan Tagore (1840-1914), musicologist, educationist and patron of Indian music, was a member of a highly influential family in nineteenth-century Calcutta that was renowned for its support of the arts. His work to generate understanding in the West of music's role in Indian culture and heritage was recognised worldwide and he is remembered today through his extensive writings, donations of musical instruments to leading institutions, and the Royal College of Music's prestigious Tagore gold medal. His valuable compilation of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English writings on Indian music by learned Europeans was first printed for private circulation in 1875. It includes a catalogue of Indian musical instruments, illustrated notes by the orientalist William Ouseley (1767-1842), and a pioneering essay by Sir William Jones (1746-94), the Enlightenment polymath whose collected works are also reissued in this series.

Why was the partridge in the pear tree? Who was Good King Wenceslas? And what are the pagan origins behind 'The Holly and the Ivy'? Discover the hidden stories behind our best-loved Christmas carols, from their earliest incarnations in the Middle Ages and their banning under the Puritans to the wassailing traditions of the nineteenth century and the carols that united soldiers on the Western Front during the First World War. This fascinating book charts the history of one of Christmas' longest-running traditions and is sure to appeal to all those who love the festive season.

The Faber Music Christmas Piano Anthology is an essential collection of the greatest Christmas songs and carols, specially arranged for solo piano, for the intermediate pianist. The perfect gift for Christmas, this beautiful anthology includes favourites such as O Holy Night, Sleigh Ride and It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas alongside arrangements of Winter (from the Four Seasons), Troika (from Lieutenant Kije), and more.

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.

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.

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.