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Books > Music > Other types of music > Vocal music
The Sixteen have become a household name. They are the Voices of
Classic FM, and stars of the BBC Four series Sacred Music,
presented by Simon Russell Beale. Every year since the millennium,
they have undertaken a Choral Pilgrimage, bringing a programme of a
cappella vocal music to around thirty cathedrals the length and
breadth of the country. They are prolific recording artists, and
perform at festivals and venues all over the world. Harry
Christophers is a unique figure in music. With The Sixteen,
Christophers has succeeded in nurturing a choir of exceptional
calibre, establishing a business model that includes a record label
and extensive tours to capacity audiences, mining a rich variety of
repertoire, and combining enormous popular appeal with the stamp of
approval from experts. This book will be accessible to everyone,
regardless of musical experience or knowledge. It will appeal to
anyone interested in classical music, to those who sing in amateur
or professional choirs, and those who love the sound of the human
voice.
Marvelous Rise of Superheroes in Cinema: Evolution of the Genre
from Sequels to Universes addresses the superhero movie genre's
transformation between 1978 and 2019. To emphasize and illustrate
the conceptual and thematic transformation, the main conventions of
the genre are scanned through several periods, focusing on the
developmental age of the genre, including the dominant period of DC
Comics-based superhero movies (1978-1997) and the Marvel "boom"
(2000-2007), and the contemporary age. For this purpose, the book
traces the fundamentals of superheroes from the first appearance of
Superman in Action Comics #1 (1938) to the final installment of the
MCU's Phase 3, Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). The transformation
has two significant points. First, the genre's main conventions
have been in a change. Second, the genre's focus has changed from
sequel filmmaking to the universe concept. The study investigates
the Marvel Cinematic Universe's dominant, leading, and major role
in the genre's evolutionary process. Besides, the future of the
superhero movie genre is questioned through the multiverse concept
to broaden an understanding of the genre's following directions.
Unconditional Love is Howard Goodall's heartfelt cantata of
gratitude and remembrance, a poignant reflection upon the COVID-19
crisis. It seeks both to give thanks to those who sacrificed their
lives in the aid of others and to offer solace to the grieving. Yet
unifying each of its seven movements is a call to hope and to
moving forward in a world rebuilt. The cantata commemorates the
selflessness and togetherness felt by communities across the world
during the pandemic, communities that offer their thanksgiving in
many different ways. It is hoped that Unconditional Love's
universal messages will resonate with choirs of all kinds and in
all places, for many years to come. The front cover features the
iconic painting, 'The Hug', by the artist Charlie Mackesy. Written
for soprano solo, SATB choir, piano, organ and brass ensemble, this
vocal score includes a piano rehearsal part.
A ground-breaking study of the rise of the catch and glee in
Georgian England. The rise of the catch and glee in Georgian
England represents a rare example of indigenous forms establishing
themselves within a wide musical and social context. This study
examines a phenomenon that has to date been largely overlooked by
historians. Taking the 17th-century background as a starting point,
it moves on to a detailed account of the clubs formed to propagate
the two genres, placing them within the ambiance of the thriving
club life of Londonand the provinces. The success of the London
Catch Club and its emulators in encouraging the creation of a large
and popular repertoire that would come to assume nationalistic
significance is reflected by the incursion of the catch and glee
into mainstream concert life and the theatre. The volume concludes
with a discussion of the glee in relation to the aesthetics of the
period and a brief survey of its subsequent reputation among
musicians and historians.
Christ Church cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in a catholic
country. Musical and archival sources (the most extensive for any
Irish cathedral) provide a unique perspective on the history of
music in Ireland. Christ Church has had a complex and varied
history as the cathedral church of Dublin, one of two Anglican
cathedrals in the capital of a predominantly Catholic country and
the church of the British administration in Ireland before1922. An
Irish cathedral within the English tradition, yet through much of
its history it was essentially an English cathedral in a foreign
land. With close musical links to cathedrals in England, to St
Patrick's cathedral in Dublin, and to the city's wider political
and cultural life, Christ Church has the longest documented music
history of any Irish institution, providing a unique perspective on
the history of music in Ireland. Barra Boydell, a leading authority
on Irish music history, has written a detailed study drawing on the
most extensive musical and archival sources existing for any Irish
cathedral. The choir, its composers and musicians, repertoire and
organs are discussed within the wider context of city and state,
and of the religious and political dynamics which have shaped
Anglo-Irish relationships since medieval times. More than just a
history of music at one cathedral, this book makesan important
contribution to English cathedral music studies as well as to Irish
musical and cultural history. BARRA BOYDELL is Senior Lecturer in
Music, National University of Ireland, Maynooth.
The Cotswold Male Voice Choir, formed in 1949, has become a
well-known part of the music scene in the Midlands and the South
West. In addition to many local events including concerts at
Tewkesbury Abbey and Gloucester Cathedral, in the past year the
Choir has performed in the French Alps at Annecy, in Wales with
three Welsh choirs, in York's Guildhall at the invitation of the
Mayor of York, and twice at the Malvern Music Festivals. The choir
sings a broad repertoire including male voice choir favorites,
classic and operatic, big show numbers, and popular music. The
majority of Cotswold Male Voice Choir concerts support good causes.
Over the years, this has accounted for many thousands of pounds
raised for charities. This heartwarming history follows the
progress of hundreds of singers, their piano accompanists and guest
artistes as well as the company's travels at home and abroad.
'Erudite, original and surprisingly moving ... This Christmas, as
at every Christmas, millions of listeners will have relished the
ethereal King's choir ... Day's meticulous history of a special
choral sound investigates the creation of a style, and the
evolution of a tradition, that now feels as anciently English as
the stonework of King's chapel itself' Boyd Tonkin The sound of the
choir of King's College, Cambridge - its voices perfectly blended,
its emotions restrained, its impact sublime - has become famous all
over the world, and for many, the distillation of a particular kind
of Englishness. This is especially so at Christmas time, with the
broadcast of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, whose
centenary is celebrated this year. How did this small band of men
and boys in a famous fenland town in England come to sing in the
extraordinary way they did in the twentieth and early twenty-first
centuries? It has been widely assumed that the King's style
essentially continues an English choral tradition inherited
directly from the Middle Ages. In this original and illuminating
book, Timothy Day shows that this could hardly be further from the
truth. Until the 1930s, the singing at King's was full of high
Victorian emotionalism, like that at many other English choral
foundations well into the twentieth century. The choir's modern
sound was brought about by two intertwined revolutions, one social
and one musical. From 1928, singing with the trebles in place of
the old lay clerks, the choir was fully made up of choral scholars
- college men, reading for a degree. Under two exceptional
directors of music - Boris Ord from 1929 and David Willcocks from
1958 - the style was transformed and the choir broadcast and
recorded until it became the epitome of English choral singing,
setting the benchmark for all other choral foundations either to
imitate or to react against. Its style has now been taken over and
adapted by classical performers who sing both sacred and secular
music in secular settings all over the world with a precision
inspired by the King's tradition. I Saw Eternity the Other Night
investigates the timbres of voices, the enunciation of words, the
use of vibrato. But the singing of all human beings, in whatever
style, always reflects in profound and subtle ways their
preoccupations and attitudes to life. These are the underlying
themes explored by this book.
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 1 features works written before 2000,
including pieces from such renowned composers as John Cage ("The
Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs", "A Flower"), Andre Previn
("Five Songs"), and Igor Stravinsky ("The Owl and the Pussycat").
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