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Hailed at its premiere at the London Coliseum in 1986 as the most
important musical and theatrical event of the decade, The Mask of
Orpheus is undoubtedly a key work in Harrison Birtwistle's output.
His subsequent stage and concert pieces demand to be evaluated in
its light. Increasingly, it is also viewed as a key work in the
development of opera since the Second World War, a work that pushed
at the boundaries of what was possible in lyrical theatre. In its
imaginative fusion of music, song, drama, myth, mime and
electronics, it has become a beacon for many younger composers, and
the object of wide critical attention. Jonathan Cross begins his
detailed study of this 'lyric tragedy' by placing it in the wider
context of the reception of the Orpheus myth. In particular, the
significance of Orpheus for the twentieth century is discussed, and
this provides the backdrop for an examination of Birtwistle's
preoccupation with the story in a variety of works across his
creative life. The sources and genesis of The Mask of Orpheus are
explored. This is followed by a close reading of the work's three
acts, analysing their structure and meaning, investigating the
relationship between music, text and drama, drawing on Zinovieff's
textual drafts and Birtwistle's compositional sketches. The book
concludes by suggesting a range of contexts within which The Mask
of Orpheus might be understood. Its central themes of time, memory
and identity, loss, mourning and melancholy, touch a deep
sensibility in late-modern society and culture. Interviews with the
librettist and composer round off this important study.
Hailed at its premiere at the London Coliseum in 1986 as the most
important musical and theatrical event of the decade, The Mask of
Orpheus is undoubtedly a key work in Harrison Birtwistle's output.
His subsequent stage and concert pieces demand to be evaluated in
its light. Increasingly, it is also viewed as a key work in the
development of opera since the Second World War, a work that pushed
at the boundaries of what was possible in lyrical theatre. In its
imaginative fusion of music, song, drama, myth, mime and
electronics, it has become a beacon for many younger composers, and
the object of wide critical attention. Jonathan Cross begins his
detailed study of this 'lyric tragedy' by placing it in the wider
context of the reception of the Orpheus myth. In particular, the
significance of Orpheus for the twentieth century is discussed, and
this provides the backdrop for an examination of Birtwistle's
preoccupation with the story in a variety of works across his
creative life. The sources and genesis of The Mask of Orpheus are
explored. This is followed by a close reading of the work's three
acts, analysing their structure and meaning, investigating the
relationship between music, text and drama, drawing on Zinovieff's
textual drafts and Birtwistle's compositional sketches. The book
concludes by suggesting a range of contexts within which The Mask
of Orpheus might be understood. Its central themes of time, memory
and identity, loss, mourning and melancholy, touch a deep
sensibility in late-modern society and culture. Interviews with the
librettist and composer round off this important study.
It has become increasingly apparent in recent decades that
Stravinsky's music has had far-reaching influence on the
development of music in our century. Stravinsky's modernist
innovations - evident in such features as his music's
discontinuity, its stasis, its ritualized anti-narrative, its novel
rhythmic and formal structures, its articulation of new kinds of
musical time, and its reinterpretation of music and materials from
the past - have helped shape much of the music of our time. This
book represents a first substantial attempt to evaluate
Stravinsky's technical and aesthetic legacy. In Part I ('The
Stravinsky Legacy'), Jonathan Cross explores the breadth of
Stravinsky's impact on the music of composers as diverse as Adams,
Andriessen, Birtwistle, Boulez, Carter, Messiaen, Reich,
Stockhausen, Tippett, Varese and Xenakis. In Part II ('Stravinsky
Reheard') he returns to Stravinsky's neoclassical music to examine
how recent developments in composition and musicology affect our
understanding of and analytical approaches to Stravinsky.
Love it or loathe it, few would disagree that the music of Harrison
Birtwistle stands amongst the most assured, original and
challenging music ever to have been produced by a British composer.
While for some the uncompromisingly modernist surface of his music
can be an obstacle to closer acquaintance, for others, it is
Birtwistle's articulation of deep aspects of the human psyche that
continues to excite and fascinate. In this book, Jonathan Cross - a
leading commentator on contemporary music - aims to uncover the
sources of Birtwistle's thinking, and to present a critical account
of his musical, dramatic and aesthetic preoccupations through an
examination of such topics as theatre, myth, ritual, pastoral,
pulse and line. He offers a range of contexts within which the
music can be understood so that the curious and the initiated alike
may be drawn towards new and enriching experiences of the
extraordinarily powerful music of Harrison Birtwistle.
Stravinsky's work spanned the major part of the twentieth-century and was engaged with nearly all its principal compositional developments. Reflecting the breadth of his phenomenal achievement, this Companion contains a wide range of essays in three broad sections covering the contexts within which Stravinsky worked--Russian, modernist and compositional, with his key compositions--Russian, neoclassical and serial, and with the reception of his ideas--through performance, analysis and criticism. The volume concludes with an interview with the composer Louis Andriessen and a major re-evaluation of "Stravinsky and us" by Richard Taruskin.
Igor Stravinsky lived the life of a celebrity composer in an
increasingly celebrity-obsessed age. He was a true modern, a man of
his time. In Paris he dined with Joyce, Picasso and Proust, and by
the end of his life was being feted by both the White House and the
Kremlin as a prime piece of Cold War capital. But his colourful
life would be mean little to us were it not for the brilliant and
original music he produced, music that reflected and shaped his own
times, and which continues to speak today.Born in Russia,
Stravinsky spent most of his long life in exile. While he swiftly
became a cosmopolitan composer, speaking the international language
of modernist 'Western' music, the sting of his estrangement never
left him. The sense of distance, loss and nostalgia, the wistful
looking back evident in so much of Stravinsky's music, is not only
a response to personal tragedy, but also a powerful expression of
the deep anxiety and alienation of his age. Igor Stravinsky offers
an in-depth critical overview of the life and work of this
extraordinary citizen of the 20th Century. Jonathan Cross's
accessible and engaging biography offers a new understanding of how
Stravinsky's life lived in exile can be understood through his
creative work, and gives a fresh portrait of a milieu stretching
from St Petersburg, to Paris and Los Angeles, all seen through the
eyes of this fascinating composer.
Readers will not be able to put down The Vatican Conspiracy, the
latest thrilling adventure by Jonathan Cross. In this mystical
suspense novel, the first American/Jewish Pope conspires with the
head of the Italian Mafia, a U.S. Senator, a young Jesuit priest,
and a covert military operative to stop drug cartels from selling
drugs to children. Will he be successful? The action twists and
turns continually as this mystical thriller rushes to its stunning
conclusion. Vatican Conspiracy is a must-read for suspense fans.
About the Author: Jonathan Cross of Honolulu has written three
suspense/mystery novels. His ability to weave plot and character
provides a new and exciting style of writing that puts readers
inside the story, making them feel part of the plot. Publisher's
Website: http://sbpra.com/JonathanCross
Title: Five years in the Alleghanies.Author: Jonathan
CrossPublisher: Gale, Sabin Americana Description: Based on Joseph
Sabin's famed bibliography, Bibliotheca Americana, Sabin Americana,
1500--1926 contains a collection of books, pamphlets, serials and
other works about the Americas, from the time of their discovery to
the early 1900s. Sabin Americana is rich in original accounts of
discovery and exploration, pioneering and westward expansion, the
U.S. Civil War and other military actions, Native Americans,
slavery and abolition, religious history and more.Sabin Americana
offers an up-close perspective on life in the western hemisphere,
encompassing the arrival of the Europeans on the shores of North
America in the late 15th century to the first decades of the 20th
century. Covering a span of over 400 years in North, Central and
South America as well as the Caribbean, this collection highlights
the society, politics, religious beliefs, culture, contemporary
opinions and momentous events of the time. It provides access to
documents from an assortment of genres, sermons, political tracts,
newspapers, books, pamphlets, maps, legislation, literature and
more.Now for the first time, these high-quality digital scans of
original works are available via print-on-demand, making them
readily accessible to libraries, students, independent scholars,
and readers of all ages.++++The below data was compiled from
various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this
title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to
insure edition identification: ++++SourceLibrary: Huntington
LibraryDocumentID: SABCP01184600CollectionID:
CTRG93-B4097PublicationDate: 18630101SourceBibCitation: Selected
Americana from Sabin's Dictionary of books relating to
AmericaNotes: Attributed to Jonathan Cross.Collation: 206 p., 1]
leaf of plates: ill.; 16 cm
This volume is a collection of essays based on lectures given at
the Orpheus Institute in Ghent at various occasions over the last
four years.Two of our five distinguished authors are British, three
are Germans. Two are prominent composers and both keen and
provocative writers about music; one is a musicologist and daring
critic who specializes in contemporary music. There are also two
philosophers and Adorno specialists that deal with such fundamental
and highly complex matters as music and language, and music and
time.All authors subscribe to the same seriousness of purpose, so
that you may find reminiscences of one text in the others, which
will make for a fascinating read. Moreover, this book is all about
the current state of music, about thinking, speaking, and writing
about music in the immediate aftermath of that stirring and
fascinating twentieth century.
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