Tchaikovsky not only composed, he also wrote about music. This substantial anthology of Russian writing on Russian music features the most influential critics of music in nineteenth-century Russia. They wrote on the first two generations of Russian composers from Glinka to Musorgsky, Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov. The volume reveals through contemporary Russian eyes how the foundations of the hugely popular Russian classical repertory were laid, providing a vivid picture of the musical life of the opera house and the concert hall from which this repertory sprang. Featuring most extensively the critical writing of Odoyevsky, Serov, Cui and Laroche, the volume contains the first authoritative review of key works, such as Musorgsky's Boris Godunov, Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet and Rimsky-Korsakov's First Symphony.

When we speak of "classical music" it often refers rather loosely to serious "art" music but at the core is really the music of the classical period running from about 1730 to 1800, give or take. This was truly one of the most glorious periods for both composition and performance and it is this classical music which is still at the core of today's repertoire. Obvious names connected with this period are Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, but there were many more still reasonably well known like Gluck and C.P.E Bach, and dozens more who are regrettably little known today. This Historical Dictionary of Music of the Classical Period includes not only these composers, but also eminent conductors and performers, patrons, and publishers. There are also dictionary entries on major centers of music-making, typical instruments, important technical terms, and emerging musical forms, including the symphony and opera. Indeed, with a 1,000 cross-referenced entries, there is information on most matters of interest. This is prefaced by an extensive chronology, tracing the course of this period from year to year, and an introduction taking a careful look at the period as a whole. Finally, there is a substantial bibliography. Surely, this is a book which will appeal not only to students and researchers but all music-lovers.

In this wide-ranging and challenging book, Ruth Smith shows that the words of Handel's oratorios reflect the events and ideas of their time and have far greater meaning than has hitherto been realized. She sheds new light on the oratorio librettists and explores literature, music, aesthetics, politics and religion to reveal Handel's texts as conduits for eighteenth-century thought and sensibility. This book enriches our understanding of Handel, his times, and the relationships between music and its intellectual contexts.

Belle-epoque Paris witnessed the emergence of a vibrant and diverse dance scene, one that crystallized around the Ballets Russes, the Russian dance company formed by impresario Sergey Diaghilev. The company has long served as a convenient turning point in the history of dance, celebrated for its revolutionary choreography and innovative productions. This book presents a fresh slant on this much-told history. Focusing on the relation between music and dance, Davinia Caddy approaches the Ballets Russes with a wide-angled lens that embraces not just the choreographic, but also the cultural, political, theatrical and aesthetic contexts in which the company made its name. In addition, Caddy examines and interprets contemporary French dance practices, throwing new light on some of the most important debates and discourses of the day.

Designed to serve music students at the college level, this informal approach to music theory relates the technical aspects of music with the expressive character of the art. The approach is holistic in the sense that it focuses on the interrelationships between the piece as heard by a socially conditioned listener and the notated, performed score: it aims to bridge the gap between the technical and expressive aspects of music. The composers addressed are: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, Wagner, Debussy, and Schoenberg. There are separate chapters on the problems of meaning in music and on the interdependence of aesthetic and ethical value-judgments. This novel and exciting approach to music theory will be a welcome addition to the musical analysis literature.

A symbol of Trinidadian culture, the steelband has made an extraordinary transformation since its origins-from junk metal to steel orchestra, and from disparaged underclass pastime to Trinidad and Tobago's national instrument. Now, Shannon Dudley gives the first discerning look at the musical thinking that ignited this transformation, and the way it articulates with Afro-Trinidadian tradition, carnival, colonial authority, and nationalist politics. Music from behind the Bridge tells the story of the steelband from the point of view of musicians who overcame disadvantages of poverty and prejudice with their extraordinary ambition. Literally referring to the poor neighborhoods nestled in the hills bordering Port of Spain to the East, "Behind the Bridge" is also a metaphor for conditions of social disadvantage and cultural resistance that shaped the steelband movement in the various Afro-Trinidadian communities where it first took root.
The book further explores the implications of the steelband's "nationalization" in post-independence Trinidad and Tobago, and contemporary steelband musicians' preoccupation with the formally adjudicated annual Panorama competition. In discussing the intersection of musical thinking, festivity, and politics, this book connects important questions about the history of the steelband to general questions about the relation between popular culture and nationalism.

(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.

While acknowledging that Pierre Boulez is not a philosopher, and that he is wary of the potential misuse of philosophy with regard to music, this study investigates a series of philosophically charged terms and concepts which he uses in discussion of his music. Campbell examines significant encounters which link Boulez to the work of a number of important philosophers and thinkers, including Adorno, Levi-Strauss, Eco and Deleuze. Relating Boulez's music and ideas to broader currents of thought, the book illuminates a number of affinities linking music and philosophy, and also literature and visual art. These connections facilitate enhanced understanding of post-war modernist music and Boulez's distinctive approach to composition. Drawing on a wide range of previously unpublished documentary sources and providing musical analysis of a number of key scores, the book traces the changing musical, philosophical and intellectual currents which inform Boulez's work."

Mordechai Gebirtig was one of the most influential and popular writers of Yiddish songs and poems. Born in 1877, he became a prolific poet and song writer, using everything he saw, heard and knew about people. His legacy, therefore, is not only one of melodies and lyrics, but also a treatise on Jewish life in Poland under the benign neglect of the Austrians, the ever growing hostility of the Poles, and finally, the terror of the Germans, who destroyed the people, their culture, and, to a great measure, their memory. Schneider's book for the first time brings his work to an English-speaking audience, offering a collection of all of his major works, complete with the scores, transliterated Yiddish text, and English translation. Her book offers a rare insight into the world of Eastern European Jews, their culture, and their music.

Gebirtig's most famous song Es Brent--It's Burning--was written in response to a 1936 pogrom. It became a stirring hymn for the survivors of the Holocaust, who felt that the words suited their own situation very well. Gebirtig himself was shot in the Cracow Ghetto in June 1942. Neither he nor any of his close family survived the war. However, as this volume shows, his songs and poems remain an enduring voice for a Jewish community nearly lost to the Nazis. They constitute a precious legacy for anyone interested in the world of Eastern Europe Jews, their culture, and their music.

William Howard Schuman, a celebrated figure in 20th-century music, was a composer and a copious writer on music and music education. Early on, as a composer, he received the attention of several musicians and writers such as Nathan Broder, Elliott Carter, and Leonard Bernstein. He was the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the New York Music Critics Circle Award. After teaching at Sarah Lawrence College from 1935 to 1945 and serving as president of the Juilliard School from 1945 to 1962, Schuman assumed the presidency of Lincoln Center, where he successfully implemented that institution's artistic programs. Schuman, who composed in several genres, is perhaps best known for his orchestral compositions and choral music. This reference work provides a biography and a thorough catalog and guide to Schuman's writings and compositions and to the current research available on this gifted and multi-talented musician. An invaluable resource to music scholars interested in William Schuman's career, five sections provide accessible detailed information: a biography, works and performances, discography, bibliography, and bibliography of writings by Schuman. The biography traces Schuman's life and career with an emphasis on illustrating his compositional activity. The bibliography includes books, dissertations, articles, and reviews that chronicle Schuman's activities from his days as a young composer to his death in 1992. An author index, index of compositions, and general index complete this in-depth reference on William Schuman.

Metric Manipulations in Haydn and Mozart makes a significant contribution to music theory and to the growing conversation on metric perception and musical composition. Focusing on the chamber music of Haydn and Mozart produced during the years 1787 to 1791, the period of most intense metric experimentation in the output of both composers, author Danuta Mirka presents a systematic discussion of metric manipulations in music of the late 18th-century. By bringing together historical and present-day theoretical approaches to rhythm and meter on the basis of their shared cognitive orientations, the book places the ideas of 18th-century theorists such as Riepe, Sulzer, Kirnberger and Koch into dialogue with modern concepts in cognitive musicology, particularly those of Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff, David Temperley, and Justin London. In addition, the book puts considerations of subtle and complex meter found in 18th-century musical handbooks and lexicons into point-by-point contact with Harald Krebs's recent theory of metrical dissonance. The result is an innovative and illuminating reinterpretation of late 18th-century music and music perception which will have resonance in scholarship and in analytical teaching and practice. Metric Manipulations in Haydn and Mozart will appeal to students and scholars in music theory and cognition/perception, and will also have appeal to musicologists studying Haydn and Mozart.

The tenth-century Old English lament and twentieth-century blues song each speak the language of a distinct poetic tradition, yet the voices are remarkably similar in their emotive expression of loneliness. This innovative study juxtaposes the texts of each corpus to explore the features that characterize their vocal poetics. McGeachy examines how the texts evoke the dynamic of performance and explores the role of recording--in manuscript and on 78 rpm record--in establishing the distinctive formulas of each genre. Featured are a study of blues artist Robert Johnson's work and a comparison of two anthologies: the Exeter Book and the Folkways "Anthology of American Folk Music."

Chronologically following Nicholas Tawa's The Coming of Age of American Art Music, this new study stands on its own in examining the music of the most prominent American composers active in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Among them are Edgar Stillman Kelley, Frederick Shepherd Converse, Daniel Gregory Mason, Edgar Burlingame Hill, Mabel Daniels, Henry Hadley, Deems Taylor, Charles Wakefield Cadman, Henry Gilbert, Arthur Farwell, John Powell, Arthur Shepherd, Scott Joplin, Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Marion Bauer, and John Alden Carpenter. Unjustly neglected by a later generation of critics interested in the avant-garde, this music deserves a hearing today and, in fact, increasingly is the subject of new recordings. Professor Tawa puts his exemplary research and analytical skills to work to determine what these composers accomplished, not what latter-day critics felt they should have accomplished. The attitudes, styles, and compositions are analyzed in cultural context. The period of 1900-1930 witnessed an intense debate on what constituted an American identity in music. Was it Anglo-Celtic, Amerindian, African-American, jazz, or the individual unconsciously expressing the American society he or she lived in? The changing world of music, the clash of beliefs and values, and the attempts at a musical reconciliation between old and new approaches to composition figure prominently in the discussion. Tawa concludes that if the present-day listener does not reject romantic music out of hand, he or she will find delight in much of this large body of skillful, meaningful compositions.

A provocative re-examination of a major romantic composer, Rethinking Schumann provides fresh approaches to Schumann's oeuvre and its reception from the perspectives of literature, visual arts, cultural history, performance studies, dance, and film. Traditionally, research has focused on biographical links between the composer and his music, encouraging the assumption that Schumann was solitary, divorced from reality, and frequently associated with "untimeliness." These eighteen new essays argue from a multitude of perspectives that Schumann was in fact very much a man of his time, informed not only by music but also the culture and society around him. The book further reveals that the composer's reputation has been shaped significantly by, for example, changes in attitudes towards German romanticism and its history, and recent developments in musical scholarship and performance. Rethinking Schumann takes into account cultural and social-institutional frameworks, engages with ongoing and new issues of reception and historiography, and offers fresh music-analytical insights. As a whole, the essays assemble a portrait of the artist that reflects the different ways in which Schumann has been understood and misunderstood over the past two hundred years. The volume is, in short, a timely reassessment of this ultimately non-untimely figure's legacy.
While the essays consider some of Schumann's most famous music (Dichterliebe, Kinderszenen and the Piano Quintet), they also provide crucial adjustment to judgments against the composer's later works by explaining their musical features not as the result of diminishing creative capacity but as reflections of the political and social situations of mid-nineteenth-century German culture and technological developments. Schumann is revealed to have been a musician engaged by and responsive to his surroundings, whose reputation was formed to a great extent by popular culture, both in his own lifetime as he responded to particular poets and painters, and later, as his life and works were responded to by subsequent generations.

This collection is a tribute to the talent, teaching, and humanism of Alfred Einstein, whose scholarship and criticisms affirm his position as one of the foremost musicologists of the twentieth century. Written by a former student of Einstein's, this portrait draws on the influences and events that shaped his life and work as a Jewish scholar in pre-Nazi Germany and that necessitated his emigration to the United States. Dower provides more than one hundred examples of his criticisms that document the music of Germany and the United States in the second quarter of this century and that demonstrate the art of music criticism at its best. Included is a chronology that is based on information provided by Einstein's daughter, Eva. Her insight into her father's personal life is combined with Catherine Dower's careful chronological documentation of Einstein's professional endeavors, provide a unique evaluation of a critic whose research produced valuable musical discoveries and whose writings always recognized the important relationship between music and its cultural background. The study affords further access to Einstein's writings by identifying the locations of Einstein collections in numerous libraries throughout the United States.

This book (hardcover) is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS. It contains classical literature works from over two thousand years. Most of these titles have been out of print and off the bookstore shelves for decades. The book series is intended to preserve the cultural legacy and to promote the timeless works of classical literature. Readers of a TREDITION CLASSICS book support the mission to save many of the amazing works of world literature from oblivion. With this series, tredition intends to make thousands of international literature classics available in printed format again - worldwide.

This generously illustrated selection of fifty reviews and essays, written between 1914 and 1962 by thirty American critics, draws together some of the best, most influential, and most interesting writing on Montemezzi, revealing for the first time the full depth of his impact in the United States, the country to which he moved in 1939.

This annotated chronology of western music is the third in a series of outlines on the history of music in western civilization. It contains a 120-page annotated bibliography, followed by a detailed, documented outline that is divided into ten chapters. Each chapter is written in chronological order with every line being documented by means of abbreviations that refer to the annotated bibliography. There are short biographies of the theorists and detailed discussions of their works. The information on music is organized by classes of music rather than by composer. Also included are lists of manuscripts with descriptions of their contents and notations as to where they may be found. The material for the outline has been taken from primary and secondary sources along with articles from periodicals. Like the other two volumes in this series, Music History from the Late Roman through the Gothic Periods, 313-1425 and Music History During the Renaissance Period, 1425-1520, this volume will be an important research tool for anyone interested in music history.

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.

The Divine Office--or, the cycle of daily worship services other than the Mass--constitutes the most important body of liturgical texts and music for medieval studies. It is a collection of spiritual works that is central to the culture of the Middle Ages. This volume addresses the Office from a variety of points of view, allowing the reader to grasp the current state of research and to make connections.

"Francis Poulenc: A Bio-Bibliography" is a thorough presentation of the works of this often performed and critically appreciated 20th-century composer. George R. Keck traces events in Poulenc's life and offers a list of works and performances with the primary focus on those facts and influences which contributed to the development of the composer's distinctive musical style. Included in the text is a substantial discography as well as annotated entries by and about the composer which cover every phase of his career and affirm Poulenc's place in 20th-century music.

The highly selective annotated bibliography comprises the major portion of the text. Since Keck's documentation of the development of Poulenc's style covers only representative works, he includes a list of all of Poulenc's compositions, arranged both alphabetically and chronologically, in the two appendixes. A complete index of names, places, and titles concludes the book.

Schubert's late music has proved pivotal for the development of diverse fields of musical scholarship, from biography and music history to the theory of harmony. This collection addresses current issues in Schubert studies including compositional technique, the topical issue of 'late' style, tonal strategy and form in the composer's instrumental music, and musical readings of the 'postmodern' Schubert. Offering fresh approaches to Schubert's instrumental and vocal works and their reception, this book argues that the music that the composer produced from 1822-8 is central to a paradigm shift in the history of music during the nineteenth century. The contributors provide a timely reassessment of Schubert's legacy, assembling a portrait of the composer that is very different from the sentimental Schubert permeating nineteenth-century culture and the postmodern Schubert of more recent literature.