Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) is often portrayed as a composer who began as a heart-on-sleeve late Romantic only to evolve during the First World War into an austere, mathematically-obsessed deviser of musical puzzles. Yet to claim that in his music he replaced tonality with its absolute opposite, atonality, as the twelve-tone method swept away all trace of traditional harmonic and thematic processes, is as misleading as to argue that romantic warmth and humanity morphed into the purest and most austerely modernistic spirituality. This handbook refocuses the wealth of recent research into two of Schoenberg's major compositions; the expressive character of those relatively early works which centre on nocturnal images of darkness and despair is at its most original and powerful in Verklärte Nacht and Erwartung, where the dramatic interplay between stabilising continuities and disorientating fragmentations reveals the elements of a modernist aesthetics that remained fundamental to Schoenberg's musical thought.

Pierre Boulez was appointed to the College de France in 1976, with the chair devoted to 'Invention, technique and language in Music', and he held his position until 1995. The publication of his extraordinary College de France lectures, his most significant writings from the 1970s to the 1990s, will make a major contribution to the discussion in English about Boulez's aesthetic legacy. His goal in Lecons de musique is to express his conception of musical language, laid out over the course of nearly twenty years of lecturing. He is thinking about the possible paths musical thought could take, as well as the musical legacy of the past In addition to composers, music historians, theorists, and music students, this book will be invaluable to those interested in the history and aesthetics of 20th century music, musical manifestations of artistic modernism, the history of ideas, and French intellectual and cultural history. Faber have been Pierre Boulez's publisher since 1986 - previous books include Orientations, Boulez on Music Today and Boulez on Conducting. 'Boulez's achievements in changing every part of the fabric of classical musical culture all over the world are indelible.' Tom Service, Guardian

A selection of Arnold Whittall's masterly writings on Wagner dealing with all major works in the context of 150 years' of critical reception - with copious music examples. The book celebrates Arnold Whittall's 80th birthday with a collection of his key writings on Richard Wagner. The first ten chapters deal with the three Romantic operas, the four parts of The Ring and the three remaining music dramas. Their aim is to illuminate those aspects of Wagner's style that are both personal and important for his successors. Whittall sets close readings of key passages in the context of a critical debate that has itself ragedfor over a century, and his comprehensive range of reference makes this volume essential reading for all those who want to enter the debate. The final chapter deals with Jonathan Harvey's Wagner Dream (2007), a modern operatic treatment of Wagner the man and his unrealised Buddhist project, Die Sieger. Whittall's style is focussed and discriminating, yet also relaxed and accessible, and his text is rich in music examples. ARNOLD WHITTALL is Professor Emeritus at King's College London. His previous books include Exploring Twentieth-Century Music and Serialism.

A selection of Arnold Whittall's masterly writings on Wagner dealing with all major works in the context of 150 years' of critical reception - with copious music examples. The book celebrates Arnold Whittall's 80th birthday with a collection of his key writings on Richard Wagner. The first ten chapters deal with the three Romantic operas, the four parts of The Ring and the three remaining music dramas. Their aim is to illuminate those aspects of Wagner's style that are both personal and important for his successors. Whittall sets close readings of key passages in the context of a critical debate that has itself ragedfor over a century, and his comprehensive range of reference makes this volume essential reading for all those who want to enter the debate. The final chapter deals with Jonathan Harvey's Wagner Dream (2007), a modern operatic treatment of Wagner the man and his unrealised Buddhist project, Die Sieger. Whittall's style is focussed and discriminating, yet also relaxed and accessible, and his text is rich in music examples. ARNOLD WHITTALL is Professor Emeritus at King's College London. His previous books include Exploring Twentieth-Century Music and Serialism.

From the earliest years of the 20th century composers sought ways in which to break from earlier musical traditions. Serialism is one of the most prominent innovations resulting from this. From Schoenberg to Stockhausen, Berg to Boulez, this introduction tells the story of how serialism emerged, and provides a basic outline of serial compositional techniques. * Introduces serialism - a traditionally complex but key area of music studies - in a thorough and straightforward way * Clearly and concisely describes the technical aspects of serialism, using illustrative music examples * Contains a glossary to aid readers unfamiliar with specialised vocabulary.

From the earliest years of the 20th century composers sought ways in which to break from earlier musical traditions. Serialism is one of the most prominent innovations resulting from this. From Schoenberg to Stockhausen, Berg to Boulez, this introduction tells the story of how serialism emerged, and provides a basic outline of serial compositional techniques. * Introduces serialism - a traditionally complex but key area of music studies - in a thorough and straightforward way * Clearly and concisely describes the technical aspects of serialism, using illustrative music examples * Contains a glossary to aid readers unfamiliar with specialised vocabulary.

In this classic study of Benjamin Britten and Michael Tippett, Arnold Whittall builds up a unique double portrait of the two leading composers of their generation. For this second, revised edition Whittall includes a new chapter on Tippett's major works of the 1980s: the Piano Sonata No. 4, the large-scale choral composition The Mask of Time and the most recent opera, New Year. In addition, new information on the Britten repertoire and an updated bibliography are also presented.

Showcases the energy and diversity of the young field of music semiology, appealing to readers who want to explore the meaning of music in our lives. The Dawn of Music Semiology showcases the work of nine leading musicologists, inspired by the work of Jean-Jacques Nattiez, the founding father of music semiology. Now entering its fifth decade as Nattiez enters his eighth,music semiology, or music semiotics, is still a young, vibrant field, and this book reflects its energy and diversity. It appeals to readers wanting to explore the meaning of music in our lives and to understand the ways of appreciating the complexities that lie behind its simple beauty and direct impact on us. Following a preface by Pierre Boulez and an introduction by the editors, nine chapters discuss the latest thinking about general considerations such as music and gesture, the psychology of music, and the role of ethnotheory. The volume offers new research on topics as diverse as modeling folk polyphony, spatialization in the Darmstadt repertoire, Schenker's theory of musical content, compositional modernism from Wagner to Boulez, current music theory terminology, and Maderna's use of folk music in serial composition. CONTRIBUTORS: Kofi Agawu, Simha Arom, Rossana Dalmonte, Irene Deliege, Jonathan Dunsby, Jonathan Goldman, Nicolas Meeus, Jean Molino, Arnold Whittall Jonathan Dunsby is Professor of Music Theory at the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. Jonathan Goldman is Professor of Musicology at the University of Montreal.

Historical, theoretical and analytical studies of principally 19-20c topics, reflecting current musical research. This collection of nineteen essays, all by leaders in the field of music theory, reflects the rich diversity of topics and approaches currently being explored. The contributions fall within three principal areas of study that haveremained at the heart of the discipline. One is historical research, which includes efforts to trace the development of theoretical ideas and their philosophical bases. Representing this broad category are essays dealing with issues like Scriabin's mysticism, neoclassicism, modern aesthetics, and the development of the concept of pitch collection in twentieth-century theoretical writings. The second area embraces the theory and analysis of common-practicetonality and its associated repertoire (including chromatic and 'transitional' music). Within this category are several studies related directly to or derived from Schenkerian theory, covering repertoire from Bach through Schubert and Chopin to Gershwin. Complementing these articles are a study of a chromatic work by Liszt and an essay on Schoenberg's concept of tonality. The third broad category includes the large body of work associated with the theoryand analysis of post-tonal music. Representing this extensive area of inquiry are essays dealing with voice leading in atonal music and extending Allen Forte's theory of the set complex, and analytical studies dealing with works by Schoenberg and Webern. Adding to these contributions are articles that deal with works by composers less frequently discussed in the analytical literature, Milhaud and Peter Maxwell Davies, and an empirical study of aural cognition of atonal and tonal music. These essays, all by colleagues, friends, and students of Allen Forte are intended as a celebrationof his enormous contribution to the discipline of music theory. James Baker is Professor of Music at Brown University; David Beach is Dean of the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto; Jonathan Bernard is Professor of Music at the University of Washington.

This study of the music of a group of important composers of the twentieth century includes Debussy, Webern, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Bartók, Janácek, Britten, Carter, Birtwistle, Andriessen and Adams. Arnold Whittall explores the cultural contexts and critical perspectives which shed light on certain works by these composers. In particular, he reveals the continuum between the progressive and the conservative underlying the great variety of styles and musical genres in twentieth-century composition.

Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) is often portrayed as a composer who began as a heart-on-sleeve late Romantic only to evolve during the First World War into an austere, mathematically-obsessed deviser of musical puzzles. Yet to claim that in his music he replaced tonality with its absolute opposite, atonality, as the twelve-tone method swept away all trace of traditional harmonic and thematic processes, is as misleading as to argue that romantic warmth and humanity morphed into the purest and most austerely modernistic spirituality. This handbook refocuses the wealth of recent research into two of Schoenberg's major compositions; the expressive character of those relatively early works which centre on nocturnal images of darkness and despair is at its most original and powerful in Verklärte Nacht and Erwartung, where the dramatic interplay between stabilising continuities and disorientating fragmentations reveals the elements of a modernist aesthetics that remained fundamental to Schoenberg's musical thought.

By common consent the leading British composer of the twentieth-century's middle decades, Britten continues to create significant contexts for the work of those who survived and succeeded him. This collection of revised reprints of essays, reviews and analyses first published between 1995 and 2018 surveys a cross-section of contemporary classical composition in the UK. The governing perspective is the impact of the life and work of Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) on British composers who, with the exception of Michael Tippett and Robert Simpson, were born between the 1930s and the 1980s. Despite obvious and considerable differences in character and style, British composers like Harrison Birtwistle and Thomas Ades, Robin Holloway and James Dillon, have continued, like Britten himself, to seek personal perspectives on the still prominent procedures and personalities of more distant baroque, classical and romantic eras. Most if not all of these composers would deny being influenced by Britten, and many have reservations about his music. Yet, in light of the fact that British musical life and the institutions that support it have not changed radically since Britten's own time - the pace of technological change notwithstanding - to speak of 'British music after Britten' inevitably involves something more than mere chronology. As by common consent the leading British composer of the twentieth-century's middle decades, Britten continues to create significant contexts for the work of those who survived and succeeded him.

This comprehensive volume offers a wide-ranging perspective on the stories that art music has told since the start of the 20th century. Contributors challenge the broadly held opinion that the loss of tonality in some music after 1900 also meant the loss of narrative in that music. To the contrary, the editors and essayists in this book demonstrate how experiments in approaching narrative in other media, such as fiction and cinema, suggested fresh possibilities for musical narrative, which composers were quick to exploit. The new conceptions of time, narrative voice, plot, and character that accompanied these experiments also had a significant impact on contemporary music. The repertoire explored in the collection ranges across a wide variety of genres and includes composers from Charles Ives and the Pet Shop Boys to Thomas Ades and Dmitri Shostakovich."

Looks at how Romanticism differs from Classicism, and discusses the works of Paganini, Donizetti, Berlioz, Chopin, Liszt, Wagner, Verdi, Grieg, Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler, Puccini, and Rakhmaninov.

Musical Composition in the Twentieth Century builds on the foundations of Music since the First World War (first published 1977, revised edition 1988). It updates and reshapes the original text and places it in the wider context of twentieth-century serious music before 1918 and after 1975, surveying the immense variety of technical developments in twentieth-century serious music. Sections of detailed analysis, with particular emphasis on such major figures as Stravinsky, Bartók, Messiaen, Tippett, and Ligeti, are framed by more concise sketches of a range of significant composers from Fauré, to Wolfgang Rihm. Extensive music examples reinforce this technical focus.

Musical Composition in the Twentieth Century builds on the foundations of Music since the First World War (first published 1977, revised edition 1988). It updates and reshapes the original text and places it in the wider context of twentieth-century serious music before 1918 and after 1975, surveying the immense variety of technical developments in twentieth-century serious music. Sections of detailed analysis, with particular emphasis on such major figures as Stravinsky, Bartók, Messiaen, Tippett, and Ligeti, are framed by more concise sketches of a range of significant composers from Fauré, to Wolfgang Rihm. Extensive music examples reinforce this technical focus.

This survey of the most significant modern composers and their techniques has become a standard work on the constantly shifting musical developments during the greater part of the twentieth century. In a concise and accessible narrative, Whittall examines the continued but declining commitment to tonality, twelve-note serialism, and the gradual emergence of new aesthetic attitudes and concepts of musical form.

This study of the music of a group of important composers of the twentieth century includes Debussy, Webern, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Bartók, Janácek, Britten, Carter, Birtwistle, Andriessen and Adams. Arnold Whittall explores the cultural contexts and critical perspectives which shed light on certain works by these composers. In particular, he reveals the continuum between the progressive and the conservative underlying the great variety of styles and musical genres in twentieth-century composition.