Many of the most famous composers in classical music spent considerable periods in spa towns, whether taking in the waters, or searching for patrons among the rich and influential clientele who frequented these pioneer resorts, or soaking up the relaxing and decadent ambience of these enchanted and magical places. At Baden bei Wein, Mozart wrote his Ave Verum Corpus, and Beethoven sketched out his Ninth Symphony. Johannes Brahms spent 17 summers in Baden-Baden, where he stayed in his own specially-built composing cavern and consorted with Clara Schumann. Berlioz came to conduct in Baden-Baden for nine seasons, writing his last major work, Beatrice and Benedict, for the town's casino manager. Chopin, Liszt, and Dvorak were each regular visitors to Carlsbad and Marienbad. And it was in Carlsbad that Beethoven met Goethe. Concerts, recitals, and resident orchestras have themselves played a major role in the therapeutic regimes and the social and cultural life of European and North American watering places since the late eighteenth century. To this day, these spa towns continue to host major music festivals of the highest caliber, drawing musicians and loyal audiences on both local and international levels.
This book explores the music making that went on in the spas and watering places in Europe and the United States during their heyday between the early-eighteenth and the mid-twentieth centuries. Music was a hugely important part of the experience of taking a spa cure. Bands played during the early morning and late afternoon while people took the waters and bathed. Spa orchestras and ensembles entertained those gathering socially or resting in assembly rooms, pump rooms and in gardens and parks. In the evenings spa guests enjoyed concerts, visits to the theatre, balls, dances and gambling sessions at the casino, at all of which music played a major role.
Expert author Ian Bradley draws on original archival material and the diaries and letters of composers. His book ranges chronologically and geographically, beginning with Bath and Baden near Vienna, which both flourished in the eighteenth century, continuing through Baden-Baden, the Bohemian spas and Bad Ischl in the nineteenth century and on to Buxton and Saratoga Springs which saw their glory days in the early twentieth century. A concluding chapter brings the subject up to date with a review of the musical activities taking place in spa towns today and of the music that accompanies treatments in modern spas, now so ubiquitous and so important and growing a feature in the booming world of leisure, tourism, health and well-being.

One of the most fascinating figures of seventeenth-century music, composer and singer Antonia Padoani Bembo (c.1640 - c.1720) was active in both Venice and Paris. Her work provides a unique cross-cultural window into the rich musical cultures of these cities, yet owing to her clandestine existence in France, for almost three centuries Bembo's life was shrouded in mystery. In this first-ever biography, Clare Fontijn unveils the enthralling and surprising story of a remarkable woman who moved in the musical, literary, and artistic circles of these European cultural centers. Rebuffed in the attempt to divorce her abusive husband, Bembo fled to Paris, leaving her children in Venice. Joining ranks with composers glorifying Louis XIV, her song charmed the Sun King and won over his court's sympathy to the cause of women. She obtained his sponsorship to live in a semi-cloistered community in Paris, where she wrote music for the spiritual and worldly needs of the royal family. Offering fine examples of sacred and secular vocal repertory for chamber settings and large ensembles, Bembo's oeuvre reveals her preoccupation with female agency through dynamic portrayals of such powerful figures as the Virgin Mary and the Duchess of Burgundy. The genres in which she worked-love song, opera, motet, cantata, trio sonata, and air-testify to the magic of her voice and to her place alongside Strozzi, Jacquet de La Guerre, and other major women composers of her time. Expertly engaging with musicology, history, and gender studies, Claire Fontijn tells the story of a brave and daring woman while providing a valuable key to a long-hidden treasure trove of music. A groundbreaking biography, Desperate Measures details the compelling life and music of a woman with courage, determination, and talent who thrived within the dictates of society and culture.

This anthology of writings about the American experimental composer Harry Partch is the most comprehensive collection of commentaries about the composer and his work ever assembled. Eleven major figures of contemporary music voice their views on Partch (1901-1974) and his radical contributions to twentieth-century music. These include composers and theorists who worked closely with him and important comments from his contemporaries and musical inheritors.

Norway's Ole Bull led one of the most remarkable and celebrated lives of the nineteenth century. Colorful and charismatic, he was a composer and virtuoso violinist who won acclaim from Moscow to Cairo and from Canada to Cuba, associated with the cultural elite of his day, and promoted himself and the culture of Norway with a flair that rivaled P.T. Barnum's. A child prodigy, Bull was admitted to the Bergen orchestra as first violin at the age of eight. He soon was playing to admiring audiences across Europe and in North America, idolized on both sides of the Atlantic for his superb technical skill in improvisation and his ability to play the violin polyphonically. His success was marked by controversy, however. Though he was hailed as "the Paganini of the North", some critics labeled him a charlatan for his seemingly magic tricks on the violin. Ole Bull counted among his friends and admirers many of the great names of his era: Schumann and Liszt, Emerson and Wagner. Longfellow found in Bull a model for the musician in his Tales of a Wayside Inn. Hans Christian Andersen portrayed Bull as a veritable fairy prince in his "Episode of Ole Bull's Life", a characterization that in part inspired Ibsen's Peer Gynt. Although he spent most of his adult life abroad, Bull's love for and pride in his native land were always manifest. He was a staunch Norwegian nationalist, a tireless promoter of its native art and culture. Some of the concert improvisations for which he was celebrated were rooted in his native slatter (folkdance tunes). He modified his own instrument, flattening the bridge and making the bow longer and heavier, using the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle as a model. By mid-century, Bull wasable to realize his dream of establishing a national theater in Bergen. He gave Henrik Ibsen a start in theater management, employed the poet Bjornstjerne Bjornson, and promoted the music of Edvard Grieg. His attempt to establish a Norwegian colony in the United States, however, was unsuccessful. "Oleana", for which Bull purchased a land grant in Pennsylvania, failed in little more than a year because of his ineptitude in selecting land and managing financial enterprises. He made his home base, finally, in Norway, buying an island south of Bergen where he built for himself a fantastic palace of music. He never retired from the concert stage. Indeed, he performed in Chicago just three months before his death in 1880. The words of the poet Aasmund Vinje, "That surely would be a man to write a book about", have been taken to heart by authors Einar Haugen and his daughter Camilla Cai. In addition to giving life once again to a fascinating and flamboyant figure, this biography provides the first comprehensive listing of Bull's works (with full descriptions of all known sources), analyses of his compositions and their influences, and reviews of his performances.

In the last decades of the 17th century, the feast of Christmas in Lutheran Germany underwent a major transformation when theologians and local governments waged an early modern "war on Christmas," discouraging riotous pageants and carnivalesque rituals in favor of more personal and internalized expressions of piety. Christmas rituals, such as the "Heilig Christ" plays and the rocking of the child (Kindelwiegen) were abolished, and Christian devotion focused increasingly on the metaphor of a birth of Christ in the human heart. John Sebastian Bach's Christmas Oratorio, composed in 1734, both reflects this new piety and conveys the composer's experience living through this tumult during his own childhood and early career. Markus Rathey's book is the first thorough study of this popular masterpiece in English. While giving a comprehensive overview of the Christmas Oratorio as a whole, the book focuses on two themes in particular: the cultural and theological understanding of Christmas in Bach's time and the compositional process that led Bach from the earliest concepts to the completed piece. The cultural and religious context of the oratorio provides the backdrop for Rathey's detailed analysis of the composition, in which he explores Bach's compositional practices, for example, his reuse and parodies of movements that had originally been composed for secular cantatas. The book analyzes Bach's original score and sheds new light on the way Bach wrote the piece, how he shaped musical themes, and how he revised his initial ideas into the final composition.

Heinrich Schenker ranks among the most important figures in the development of western music theory in the twentieth century. His approach to the analysis of music permeates nearly every aspect of the field and continues to this day to be a topic of great interest among music theorists, historians, composers and performers. In his four volume work, Die letzen Sonaten von Beethoven: Kritische Ausgabe mit Einfuhrung und Erlauterung (The Last Piano Sonatas by Beethoven: Critical edition with Introduction and Commentary) Schenker presented editions of Beethoven's Opp. 109, 110, 111 and 101 that were, at the time, unprecedented in their faithfulness to such authoritative sources as Beethoven's autograph manuscripts. He included a movement-by-movement and section-by-section discussion of form and content that grew increasingly penetrating from one volume to the next as the musical theory for which he is now known was developed, alongside inspired and detailed suggestions for the performance of each section of each work. In Beethoven's Last Piano Sonatas: An Edition, with Elucidation, noted Schenker scholar John Rothgeb presents the first English language edition and translation of these important works. Rothgeb builds upon Schenker's text, adding explanations of certain points in the commentary, references to corrections and other remarks entered by Schenker in his personal copies of the volumes, and graphic presentations of several passages (a practice that became standard in Schenker's own analytical work later in his career). Making these seminal works accessible to English speaking scholars and students for the first time, Beethoven's Last Piano Sonatas is an essential reference for music theorists, historians, performers, and composers alike.

This engaging work was composed in 1929 and premiered the following year by its dedicatee, the legendary Spanish cellist Pablo Casals. The five folk songs on which the work is founded are 'Salisbury Plain', 'The Long Whip', 'Low down in the broom', 'Bristol Town', and 'I've been to France'. This arrangement for solo viola and orchestra is compatible with the original orchestral accompaniment, materials for which are available on hire.

This is an alphabetical reference work for all aspects of music in the 20th century. It covers the major musical genres Concert, Jazz, Pop, Rock, and World; and also examines key styles such as opera, orchestral, bebop, blues, reggae, and country. Articles on individuals provide biographical information and explore contributions they have made in their respective fields. This encyclopedia also gives advice on suggested listening and further reading, and is fully cross-referenced.

This book is the first comprehensive account of classical music on all British radio stations, BBC and commercial, between 1945 and 1995. It narrates the shifting development of those services, from before the launch of the Third Programme until after the start of Classic FM, examining the output from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives, as well as recounting some of the stories and anecdotes which enliven the tale. During these fifty years, British classical music radio featured spells of broad, multi-channel classical music radio, with aspirational and mainstream culture enjoying positive interactions, followed by periods of more restricted and exclusive output, in a paradigm of the place of high culture in UK society as a whole. The history was characterised by the recurring tensions between elite and popular provision, and the interplay of demands for highbrow and middlebrow output, and also sheds new light on the continuing relevance of class in Britain. It is an important and unique resource for those studying British history in the second half of the twentieth century, as well as being a compelling and diverting account for enthusiasts for classical music radio.

A facsimile of a previously unpublished musical manuscript. Among the major composers of the Portuguese "Golden Age," Pedro de Cristo (c.1550-1618) is at present the least familiar to scholars and performers. This situation is largely due to the fact that his music was not published during his lifetime, but is preserved rather in manuscripts originating (for the most part) at the Monastery of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, where he spent most of his life. The present work is an edition of the contents on one of these manuscripts -- MM 33 in Coimbra University Library -- which was copied by Pedro de Cristo himself towards the end of the sixteenth-century. It is an invaluable source of authoritative readings of his music: principally Latin motets for four or five voices. Also 198 includes musical examples.

This is a complete edition with critical commentary of the Byzantine Communions in thirteenth-century manuscripts of the Asmatikon, all known sources being used. The chants concerned are the earliest known examples of Communion Chants of the Orthodox Church, and are found in a book which may go back to the rite of St Sophia at Constantinople during the tenth century-the earliest copies of which date from the thirteenth-century and come from South Italy and North Greece. Further more, there are also a few manuscripts from Kiev with text in Church Slavonic and an untranscribable musical notation. This is the first systematic transcription of the Asmatikon ever to be published.

for SATTBB & SA or SATB unaccompanied We are is a dynamic and vibrant setting of 'The human family', a powerful poem by American poet Maya Angelou. The poet's message that 'we are more alike than we are unalike' is carried through the piece by a compelling rhythmic figure, and the a cappella textures and interplay between voices creates an infectious energy. The rich texture of the double choir scoring allows the two groups of singers to work together to create the sense of unity and common purpose the poem speaks to. We are was commissioned by The King's Singers for their 50th anniversary celebrations and features on their album 'GOLD' (Signum, SIGCD500). The piece was originally presented with the first choir scoring as AATBarBarB, but has since been rescored for SATTBB, with the option for the second choir to be SA or SATB remaining unchanged.

Exploring the personal and cultural experiences that have shaped the creative output of one of Australia's foremost composers, this fascinating study begins in a Russian enclave in northern China, progresses through student days in Sydney and San Francisco, and culminates with Sitsky's present position as Professor of Composition at The Australian National University in Canberra. The many influences on his work, including important professional and personal relationships with such eminent persons as the poet Gwen Harwood and the violinist Jan Sedivka, are discussed in detail as are the sources of much of the inspiration for Sitsky's compositions, now numbering close to 200. Of interest to scholars, students, and anyone interested in 20th-century music. In addition to presenting Sitsky's fascinating life story and expounding on the central position he has occupied for the past 40 years in Australia's musical culture, this important work provides for the first time comprehensive bibliographic references to all of Sitsky's compositions, his writing, his recordings, and his appearances as a pianist and lecturer on music. The book is a most valuable addition to any collection, for it is both a work of reference and a compelling story of the development of one of the most eclectic, visionary, and confronting artists of his generation.

Today, Claude Debussy's position as a central figure in twentieth-century concert music is secure, and scholarship has long taken for granted the enduring musical and aesthetic contributions of his compositions. Yet this was not always the case. Unknown to many concert-goers and music scholars is the fact that for years after his death, Debussy's musical aesthetic was perceived as outmoded, decadent, and even harmful for French music. In Debussy's Legacy and the Construction of Reputation, Marianne Wheeldon examines the vicissitudes of the composer's posthumous reception in the 1920s and 30s, and analyzes the confluence of factors that helped to overturn the initial backlash against his music. Rather than viewing Debussy's artistic greatness as the cause of his enduring legacy, she considers it instead as an effect, tracing the manifold processes that shaped how his music was received and how its aesthetic worth was consolidated. Speaking to readers both within and beyond the domain of French music and culture, Debussy's Legacy and the Construction of Reputation enters into dialogue with research in the sociology of reputation and commemoration, examining the collective nature of the processes of artistic consecration. By analyzing the cultural forces that came to bear on the formation of Debussy's legacy, Wheeldon contributes to a greater understanding of the inter-war period-the cultural politics, debates, and issues that confronted musicians in 1920s and 30s Paris-and offers a musicological perspective on the subject of reputation building, to date underrepresented in recent writings on reputation and commemoration in the humanities. Debussy's Legacy and the Construction of Reputation is an important new study, groundbreaking in its methodology and in its approach to musical influence and cultural consecration.

for SATB or upper voices, and orchestra or wind band The Future of Fire is a brief but powerful work. The vibrant scoring creates a feeling of explosive energy from beginning to end with intense bursts from a battery of percussion. The melodic material is taken from a popular and touching love song from Shannxi province in north-western China, which is coupled with rhythmic motives in both the orchestra/wind band and chorus. Folk melodies from this region use intervals of a minor seventh these angular leaps are suited to the dynamic spirit of this work. The chorus sings a vocalise based on repeated syllables that are found in Chinese folk songs, as well as many folk songs from around the world.

Adorno's aesthetics are one of the most important philosophical analyses of the 20th century, but their development remains unclear. Adorno, Aesthetics, Dissonance is the first book to provide a detailed study of how Adorno's thinking of aesthetics developed and to show the different dimensions that came together to make it uniquely powerful. Principal among these dimensions are his intense interest in music and his historical and materialist approach. In addition, by studying how Adorno's aesthetics arose through interactions with different thinkers, particularly Kracauer, Horkheimer, and Schoenberg, it becomes clear that his thought changes in its relation to dialectics. As a result, Adorno's thinking comes to broaden the understanding of aesthetics to include the sphere of sensuality, and in doing so transforms both aesthetics and dialectics through a notion of dissonance, which in turn has substantial implications for the relation of his thinking to praxis.

In this newly revised book On Sonic Art, Trevor Wishart takes a wide-ranging look at the new developments in music-making and musical aesthetics made possible by the advent of the computer and digital information processing. His emphasis is on musical rather than technical matters. Beginning with a critical analysis of the assumptions underlying the Western musical tradition and the traditional acoustic theories of Pythagoras and Helmholtz, he goes on to look in detail at such topics as the musical organization of complex sound-objects, using and manipulating representational sounds and the various dimensions of human and non-human utterance. In so doing, he seeks to learn lessons from areas (poetry and sound-poetry, film, sound effects and animal communication) not traditionally associated with the field of music.
About the Author
Trevor Wishart is a composer, living and working in the North of England. His musical works cover a wide range, from environmental music events staged in spe

This deeply expressive arioso, which opens Handel's Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne (1713), was performed at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel, Windsor, on 19 May 2018. Originally scored in D major for counter-tenor, with trumpet and strings, the work is here arranged by John Rutter for performance by soprano and organ (or strings and organ continuo), with or without solo trumpet, in the slightly lower key of C major. This package contains (1) the orchestral score in C major, and (2) the instrumental parts (solo trumpet, 1st and 2nd violins, viola, cello, bass, organ continuo) in two versions, in C major and D flat major. The D flat version of the parts is to enable performance with modern strings but natural trumpet, the trumpet playing in Handel's original key of D major but at baroque pitch (A = 415).

This is the first major reference work on this important choral composer. As is usual for volumes in this valuable series, the book is clearly printed and well bound, and it is highly recommended for undergraduate and graduate music collections as well as for public libraries serving communities with active choral societies. Choice When Randall Thompson died in 1984, America lost one of its most distinguished musicians. At the time of his death, it was already apparent that an assessment of his varied contributions to our musical life in the context of his contemporary generation was sorely needed. Randall Thompson: A Bio-Bibliography is the first comprehensive study of Thompson's oeuvre since his death. The volume is organized into five parts, beginning with a substantial biography written by David Francis Urrows, Thompson's final student and amanuensis. Urrows presents new information on Thompson's youth, his study in Italy and the influence of Malipiero on his work, his educational and compositional philosophy, and his role in the emergence of American music from the influence of European models. Benser's most complete catalog of works compiled to date follows. This vital list includes previously unpublished compositions, particularly those newly made available by Thompson's longtime publisher, E. C. Schirmer, and new recordings made by Bay Cities Music. A sampling of prose writings by Thompson offers a eclectic overview. The complete, extensively annotated bibliography, discography, and two appendixes that list Thompson's compositions chronologically and alphabetically complete this study. Music libraries will want to add this volume to their collections. It will also be an invaluable reference for choral directors, program note annotators, and American music enthusiasts.

Vaughan Williams's famous romance for solo violin and orchestra is given new life in this beautiful arrangement. For the first time, violinists can perform the original solo line as part of a string quartet, while also joining the other players for the longer tutti sections. Perfect as a rehearsal tool in preparation for a larger-scale orchestral concert, the arrangement is also ideal for performance in a chamber recital.

Vaughan Williams's famous romance for solo violin and orchestra is given new life in this beautiful arrangement, which features the original solo line as part of a string sextet. Perfect as a rehearsal tool in preparation for a larger-scale orchestral concert, the arrangement is also ideal for performance in a chamber recital.

Vaughan Williams's famous romance for solo violin and orchestra is given new life in this beautiful arrangement, which features the original solo line as part of a string sextet. Perfect as a rehearsal tool in preparation for a larger-scale orchestral concert, the arrangement is also ideal for performance in a chamber recital.