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Subject Area: Music-Specific Composer(s)
Finley, Patrick2023 1-4955-1164-2 116 pages
"The purpose of this catalogue is to list the works of the composer Ralph Shapey, with additional information that might serve--among others--students, performers, and librarians. The catalogue information herein was gathered primarily from Presser Publications in Bryn Mawr, PA, where several files of program notes, clippings of reviews, and final copies of Shapey's works are kept. In addition, information was gathered from the holdings of the New York Public Library and Shape's private collection. The listing is as comprehensive as possible, inclusive even of certain early works withdrawn from publication at the request of the composer. Certain entries contain information sent to me by Shapey." Patrick Finley [Introduction]
Boettcher, Bonna J.
1992 0-7734-9806-0 104 pages
A critical examination of two piano works by Igor Stravinsky from a performer's point of view, pointing our reflections of eighteenth-century forms and styles, while indicating some of the transformation brought about by the composer's musical personality. Develops special insights that supplement views of theorists and historians.
Bellofatto, Luigi D.
2011 0-7734-1496-7 536 pages
A biography of Alexander Wheelock Thayer which brings new insight into his study of the life of Beethoven.
Anthony, Kevin
2019 1-4955-0783-1 56 pages
This reference work catalogs the research on electronic music pioneer Robert Moog.
Rice, Paul F.
1996 0-7734-8865-0 232 pages
John Abraham Fisher (1744-1806) was one of the most important English musicians and composers of his generation. The range of his compositional activities demonstrates the diversity of his interests. In addition to playing in theatres, he performed his own works at the pleasure gardens at Vauxhall and Marylebone, and also composed cantatas, anthems, an oratorio, symphonies, and chamber music. The present volume gives evidence of his contributions to the musical life of not only the Covent Garden theatre, but British musical life in general.
Root, Scott L.
2004 0-7734-6531-6 175 pages
Robert M. Beadell (1925-1994) modestly referred to himself as a “neoclassic eclectic composer” and an “obscure regional composer”, yet these appellations do not begin to describe the importance of his contribution to twentieth century American music. The four music drams which are the subject of this study are each very different in their size and scope, yet all bear the unmistakable stamp of Beadell’s unique blend of music and drama. This book intends to show that the four music dramas are unique examples of American opera and should have the opportunity to be examined for their musicological and dramatic worth so that American opera directors and impresarios can decide if they should be included as definitive examples of American opera.
Lubaroff, Scott
2004 0-7734-6472-7 132 pages
This study asserts that Stravinsky’s Octour pour instruments a vents (1923) is pivotal within Stravinsky’s progressions in regard to orchestrational practice, instrumental choices, and compositional choices, and presents it as the point in which all of these transitions came together for the first time. After an opening discussion of Stravinsky’s early life and compositional career, it concentrates on setting up the Octet and Concerto through discussion of the years leading up to their composition. In addition to placing the two works within their context of their position and broader influence upon Stravinsky’s surrounding production, it provides a full musical analysis of the Octet, followed by comparative analysis between it and the Concerto. The analysis is predominantly centered around compositional practices and orchestrational techniques.
Erdmann, Thomas R.
1997 0-7734-8545-7 216 pages
Sigmund Hering (1899-1986) was perhaps the most influential trumpet teacher in America during the mid 20th century, and was known worldwide. He served as trumpeter with the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1925-1964. He is the most published trumpet pedagogue in the world. After a short introductory chapter on Sigmund Hering, this work analyzes his published trumpet works, draws conclusions on each text for suitability of use, and creates a guide for trumpet pedagogues for using Hering's 408 trumpet etudes for one trumpet without piano accompaniment. Appendices include: A Brief Look at the Compositional Relationship Between Leon Lester and Sigmund Hering; Brief Biographies of Sigmund Hering's Principal Viennese Instructors; A Complete List of Sources Used to Create the List 'Twentieth Century Topics of Trumpet Pedagogy'; and Definitions of Some Terms Used in that list. This book is available at a special price when ordered for text use. Call (716) 754-2788 for text information.
Howie, Crawford
2002 0-7734-7300-9 364 pages
This study provides a fuller account of Bruckner’s early and middle years than has hitherto been available, and supplements the more accessible information about his years in Vienna by drawing on a rich source of material in contemporary reviews of performances of his works, comparisons between him and Brahms, and the well-documented accounts of hostility between the ‘conservative’ pro-Brahms faction (represented by Hanslick, Kalbeck and others) and the ‘progressive’ pro-Wagner and pro-Bruckner faction (represented by the Schalk brothers, Ferdinand Löwe and Hugo Wolf).
Howie, Crawford
2002 0-7734-7302-5 432 pages
This study provides a fuller account of Bruckner’s early and middle years than has hitherto been available, and supplements the more accessible information about his years in Vienna by drawing on a rich source of material in contemporary reviews of performances of his works, comparisons between him and Brahms, and the well-documented accounts of hostility between the ‘conservative’ pro-Brahms faction (represented by Hanslick, Kalbeck and others) and the ‘progressive’ pro-Wagner and pro-Bruckner faction (represented by the Schalk brothers, Ferdinand Löwe and Hugo Wolf).
Petty, Jonathan Christian
2022 1-4955-0991-5 188 pages
This work employs tenets of Group Mental System theory in considering the musical syntax and affective semantics of Anton Bruckner's last adagio. "The main tenet of this theory is that the sole linguistic object of music, language of the emotions, is Self. Musical language qualifies Self by qualifying its affect (emotions, moods, dispositions). ...[I]t is of particular interest to consider those musical works in which alterations to the Self play a direct role." -Jonathan Christian Petty
Kagan, Susan
2023 1-4955-1128-6 356 pages
"This book is an attempt to provide a complete biographical picture of Archduke Rudolph; to survey and assess his total oeuvre, examine significant works in detail, and furnish a thematic catalogue of his compositions; and, finally, to present and scrutinize Beethoven's suggestions and corrections as Rudolph's teacher." -Susan Kagan (Introduction)
Bruhn, Siglind
2023 1-4955-1076-X 368 pages
"Scholars and audiences continue to debate whether the development of European music unfolded in parallel to that in the other arts, literature and the fine arts in particular. ...The five principle chapters of this book follow the major developmental steps through which Schoenberg passes in the course of the years 1899-1914. The introductory pages of each chapter illuminate the relevant aesthetic aim in the context of a few typical paintings and literary works created at the same time, with the aim of highlighting significant correspondences. The glances at cross-disciplinary parallels arise from a twofold intention. They lead lovers of literature and the fine arts to the recognition that the stylistic innovations with which they are familiar from paintings and poems, sculptures and Prose, architecture and drama created in the years preceding World War I have their counterparts in music. ....[They indicate that] Schoenberg's development in this phase of his creative life to be unique." -Siglind Bruhn (Preface) This book was originally published in 2015 by Pendragon Press.
Sterne, Colin C.
1993 0-7734-9179-1 252 pages
The pervasive influence of numerology on Arnold Schoenberg's private life is a matter of record. But might his curious faith in the power of numbers have influenced his art as well? The author proposes that indeed it did, and that all of the music of Schoenberg, in all of its aspects, was consciously and deliberately organized by the composer according to the procedures of traditional numerology.
Meynell, Hugo
1986 0-88946-425-1 264 pages
Explains how Handel's operas are outstanding expressions of the opera tradition as it had developed to the late 18th century. Contains detailed consideration of Handel's work between 1705 and 1741.
Parsons, Charles H.
1990 0-88946-486-3 260 pages
Becker, Juanita M.
2016 1-4955-0497-2 152 pages
The purpose of this book is to make information about this Dutch composer and her music available in English. Henriëtte Bosmans (1895-1952) enjoyed a varied and active career as a solo and collaborative performer, composer, and music critic. Considered one of the foremost Dutch composers of her day, Bosmans is best regarded for remaining true to her own musical idiom, regardless of whatever compositional techniques were fashionable at the time.
Giray, Selim
2003 0-7734-6879-X 132 pages
Adnan Saygun, one of the leading composers of the Turkish Five, was a serious ethnomusicologist who led the fieldwork in gathering folk material, and collaborated with the prominent musicological researcher and composer Béla Bartók. Saygun's music is published and recorded and performed internationally. After a biography, this study uses Saygun's violin music to discuss his practice of utilizing Turkish folk elements in Turkish classical music. It thus provides the non-Turkish performer with an understanding of the performance practice of the authentic Turkish folk idiom in Saygun's original compositions and Turkish classical music. A list of Saygun's works (revised by the composer) and a discography follow.
Mitchell, Jon C.
2005 0-7734-6197-3 172 pages
Greene, David B.
2015 1-4955-0322-4 184 pages
The book develops four strategies for doing listener-guided analysis. Each strategy is used to describe one of the movements in Bruckner’s Eighth. Each analysis has two goals: to clarify the mechanics of a particular strategy for carrying out listener-guided analysis, and to demonstrate that new kinds of insights can be gained when the strategy opens a way to describe Bruckner’s music by describing its hearers’ relations to it.
Flynn, Timothy
2024 1-4955-1239-8 468 pages
"The materials examined in the present study represent an overview of the scholarship regarding the life and music of Cesar Franck (1822-1890) as well as selected sources associated with nineteenth century French music in general. Studies pertaining to other composers and musical genres connected with Franck have been included to offer the researcher more extensive information regarding the composer's life and times. This monograph is not meant to be an exhaustive collection of material, but rather it consists of a cross section of what has been written about the composer, his music, and the history surrounding him. The purpose of this resource tool is to facilitate further research and deeper inquiry into Franck as a composer, teacher, and organist in addition to his influence upon music history through his works." (Dr. Timothy Flynn, "Preface") [This is a revised version of the book published by Pendragon Press in 2019].
Shrader, James A.
2012 0-7734-2928-X 188 pages
The choruses from the eighteenth century opere serie of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart represent a body of literature that is relatively unknown. While the majority of Italian opere serie exclude the chorus, most of Mozart’s works in this genre contain significant choral scenes. The existence of opera seria as popular musical theater was short-lived, yet the choruses from Mozart’s opere serie are worthy examples of secular choral literature.
The study includes a scholarly examination of the opera seria as a genre, as well as the historical role of the opera chorus. Of particular importance is the operatic reform movement in France.
Flannery, Matthew
2004 0-7734-6336-4 348 pages
This work proposes a solution to what is often considered the central problem facing Scarlatti scholarship, determining the chronological order of his keyboard sonatas. In the data-poor arena of Scarlatti research, this work, avoiding a primarily musicological or organological approach, analyzes large-scale patterns of musical characteristics over all (or parts) of a sonata sequence founded primarily on the Parma manuscript. As a result of an extensive application of this analytic approach to the sequence, this work notes that many sequence patterns seem to be chronologically structured, that none seem anti-chronological, and that a few mirror historical changes in the music of Scarlatti=s time. These phenomena and other observations delimit something like a general history of Scarlatti=s musical development enriched further by a variety of localized events. Among some 26 patterns observed in the sequence are a systematic rise in Scarlatti=s use of the major mode, stepped increases in sonata compass that seem to accord with the sequential availability of larger keyboards, and both an increase in the rate at which the sonatas were combined into sets of two or three works and the use by Scarlatti of progressively complex techniques for doing so. This work also sketches a methodological background for the chronological proposal, including a discussion of why chronological order seems a superior interpretation of the sequence compared to the thought that it may have been reorganized, whether at random or by specific criteria. This study also discusses such subjects as the probable location of the 30 essercizi within the sonata sequence, the likely mis-location of several other sonatas, implications of chronological order from organology, a broadly dated window for the latter part of the sequence, the relationship between conservative and radical elements in Scarlatti=s compositions, a late-sequence change in his approach to writing slow sonatas, and the interplay of structural integration and musical diversity in the later sonatas. It presents a new catalog of the sonatas that, while substantially congruent with Kirkpatrick=s, proposes modifications to his ordering of the first hundred sonatas as well to a few other but smaller regions of the sequence.
Jones, Philip
2002 0-7734-7294-0 320 pages
Chop’s main claim to fame is his 1904 study of Delius, the first on the composer to be published; it laid the foundations for future Delius biographers. Chop also produced several scholarly articles on Delius in 1907, and played a crucial role in ensuring his opera A Village Romeo and Juliet reached the stage of Berlin’s Komische Oper that year. This book brings together Chop’s collected criticism of Delius in translation for the first time, and includes the original texts, a commentary and note on the author plus several previously unpublished letters. In his day he was widely respected as a musicologist, music journalist and newspaper editor. He published a number of compositions.
Mitchell, Jon C.
2001 0-7734-7522-2 720 pages
Based upon and containing many of Holst’s own personal letters, diaries, and notebooks entries, this study provides an intimate portrait of this larger-than-life personality. Many of Holst’s innermost thoughts regarding musical composition, performance, and music education are disclosed here. In addition, there is a significant amount of information concerning Holst’s work ethics at all six of his places of employment. It also provides a view of the composer from this side of the Atlantic, shedding considerable light on Holst’s plans and activities regarding his three American visits that is not found in the other biographies. A significant number of chapters are devoted to Holst’s 1932 semester -long lectureship at Harvard University. The appendices include examples of Holst’s manuscripts, thumbnail sketches of persons associated with his career, and (unique to this text) a chronological listing of his compositions.
Wilson, Gary P
2005 0-7734-6161-2 344 pages
Edward MacDowell (1860-1908) was one of the first American-born composers to gain international notoriety. Relatively little scholarly research has been done that deals specifically with the choral music of Edward MacDowell. This study examines his original choral music for mixed and women's voices, and his editions for men's voices. The choruses are analyzed with a format that considers the importance of meter, tempo, rhythm, melody, harmony, tonality, form, musical/textual agreement, and expressive features. MacDowell was trained in Europe, and his music reflects the influence of late German Romanticism. An important aspect of this study was the preparation of editions of MacDowell's choral music updated to current publication standards. These editions are included in an appendix, as well as copies of the original publications for comparison. The most important scholarly contribution of this book is to make some of MacDowell’s choral music available again. MacDowell’s choral compositions have been virtually lost from the standard repertoire. All of the works examined were published between 1890–1910; they are currently out of print and unavailable to most choral musicians. This book would make part of MacDowell’s choral output available to the choral scholar and musician.
Esselstrom, Michael J.
1998 0-7734-8400-0 340 pages
Text provides insights into the works and a basis for discussion about them. Brief historical context is provided, instrumentation list and phrasal analysis precede the discussion of each movement, conducting commentary explains musical and technical considerations.
Malloy, Joseph
1991 0-88946-579-7 272 pages
Will do much to improve the reputation of Constanze Mozart, who has been vilified as having been an unworthy wife to one of the greatest musical geniuses of all time and has been blamed for his poverty and his less-than-glorious, premature death. Although a work of fiction and historical surmise, Diez' Constanze, Formerly Widow of Mozart stays close enough to the sparse biographical details of Constanze's life that the book has a tone of veracity and authenticity that is augmented by Malloy's footnotes and afterword.
Shafer, Sharon Guertin
1992 0-7734-9471-5 96 pages
Bacewicz's music occupies an important place in the twentieth century. Though she wrote more than two hundred compositions, from the symphonic cycle on down to the single movement art song, it is her large compositional forms that have received the most attention, both in performance and analysis. This work provides an analysis of twelve songs written between 1934 and 1956. The songs presented here are analyzed with a consideration of text setting, melodic line and vocal range, formal structure, harmony, texture and tonality. An English translation of each Polish poem is also included. This provides an opportunity to explore the expressive, intimate compositions of Grazyna Bacewicz.
Eckelmeyer, Judith A.
1991 0-7734-4602-8 496 pages
Addresses problems of symbols and references in The Magic Flute by considering a broad cultural heritage, including the early 17th-century movement of the Rosicrucians, 17th and 18th-century educational, scientific, philosophical and religious developments, and late 18th-century social and political circumstances. The appendices that appear in Volume Two provide sources for further study not only for scholars but also opera companies and the Masonic communities. Appendix I is a 3-part representation of the text of The Magic Flute: a photocopy of the original German libretto; a side-by-side English translation; and the German text that appears in Mozart's handwritten score of the opera which shows differences in words from the printed libretto and sometimes reveals a slightly different thinking of the characters' personalities and stage action. Appendix II is a photo reproduction and translation of the complete article "Ueber die Mysterien der Aegyptier", written by the Master of one of the most important and active Masonic lodges in Vienna in the 1780's, Ignaz von Born. It is said to have inspired some of the plot and detail in The Magic Flute.
Eckelmeyer, Judith A.
1991 0-7734-9642-4 356 pages
Addresses problems of symbols and references in The Magic Flute by considering a broad cultural heritage, including the early 17th-century movement of the Rosicrucians, 17th and 18th-century educational, scientific, philosophical and religious developments, and late 18th-century social and political circumstances. The appendices that appear in Volume Two provide sources for further study not only for scholars but also opera companies and the Masonic communities. Appendix I is a 3-part representation of the text of The Magic Flute: a photocopy of the original German libretto; a side-by-side English translation; and the German text that appears in Mozart's handwritten score of the opera which shows differences in words from the printed libretto and sometimes reveals a slightly different thinking of the characters' personalities and stage action. Appendix II is a photo reproduction and translation of the complete article "Ueber die Mysterien der Aegyptier", written by the Master of one of the most important and active Masonic lodges in Vienna in the 1780's, Ignaz von Born. It is said to have inspired some of the plot and detail in The Magic Flute.
Dykstra, Elaine S.
2007 0-7734-5254-0 200 pages
Johann Sebastian Bach likely made considerable use of the imitative nature of organ sounds when selecting registrations at the organ. A study of Bach’s written evaluations of various organs and the specifications of organs with which he was familiar enables a general assessment of his expectations regarding organ construction and capabilities. The few registration examples attributable to Bach are considered in the light of documented registration practices of some of his contemporaries and in the context of other relevant constraints and influences of the time. We explore the possibilities for using this accumulated knowledge from Bach’s day to aid in the application of the imitative quality of organ sounds to the modern interpretation of Bach’s organ works.
Schmidt, Carl B.
2024 1-4955-1217-7 312 pages
"In 1946, Poulenc wrote that 'inspiration is such a mysterious thing that it is best not to explain it.' Explain it or not, Poulenc reminded us that 'my music is my portrait,' and Dialogues is both his most substantial work and his most inspired creation. Tens of thousands have encountered his music through this opera, and many of them have been brought to tears by its emotionally wrenching last scene. ... It is time that the complex history of this splendid opera, including the many documents surrounding it, be made available together." -Dr. Carl B. Schmidt ("Preface") This book is also available in softcover.
Schmidt, Carl B.
2024 1-4955-1241-X 312 pages
This is a softcover book. "In 1946, Poulenc wrote that 'inspiration is such a mysterious thing that it is best not to explain it.' Explain it or not, Poulenc reminded us that 'my music is my portrait,' and Dialogues is both his most substantial work and his most inspired creation. Tens of thousands have encountered his music through this opera, and many of them have been brought to tears by its emotionally wrenching last scene. ... It is time that the complex history of this splendid opera, including the many documents surrounding it, be made available together." -Dr. Carl B. Schmidt ("Preface")
Robinson, Michael
2023 1-4955-1161-8 592 pages
"This two-volume catalogue attempts to classify and enumerate all the music of Italian composer Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816) and to identify which sources purporting to be of his music are authentic. Since it was a common practice among performers, copyists and publishers in Paisiello's time to adapt and change a composer's music to suit themselves, modern reseachers of this period of music history should not assume that the contents of a score are as described on the title page[s]...or [rely on] library lists [compiled on the basis of them]. ...When commencing the research for this catalogue we, the authors, determined to visit as many libraries as possible to see for ourselves what was contained in manuscripts and printed scores of Paisiello's music. Between 1975 and 1982, we visited, either together or singly, 150 libraries and archives in 17 countries. ...[W]e also obtained by correspondence details of the Paisiello holdings of 41 libraries which we were not able to visit personally. ...[T]his catalogue is a significant step forward toward clarifying just what Paisiello wrote and when, based on the evidence of over 3000 catalogued items in 191 public and private collections." -Michael F. Robinson [Foreword] The first volume of this work was originally published by Pendragon Press in 1991; the second volume was published by Pendragon Press in 1994.
Harutunian, John
2005 0-7734-6202-3 324 pages
The names of Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are so closely intertwined that most people speak them in the same breath. As contemporaneous composers, they spoke the same musical language, that of late eighteenth-century Classicism. Specifically, they shared the summit in the development of a procedure known as sonata style. Nevertheless, experienced listeners can readily distinguish between the two composers. Articulating these differences, however, is another matter entirely. This book does so, in a way which presents a clear and comprehensive picture of these two great figures of Western music.
Wright, William
2023 1-4955-1154-5 20 pages
"The Herold-Herz-Liszt Cavatine de Zampa, tastefully furnished with embellishments and minor melodic deviations by Liszt is published here for the first time. Liszt almost certainly performed it in Paris in 1832 prior to the latter part of April that year, that is, before he heard Niccolo Paganini play. The material that Liszt incorporated from a two-page "Zampa" autograph correction sheet held in the Albert Schweitzer Museum, Gunsbach, Alsace, exhibits Bachian ornamentation as found in the young composer's [1827] "Allegro Maestoso" manuscript, the opening measures of his Etude in F sharp major op. 6, no. 13 (S136). Schweitzer probably received the Liszt "Zampa" measures from his old Hungarian piano teacher, Isidor Philipp, during a three-day visit to the French capital at the end of September 1949." -William Wright ("Preface")
Sheveloff, Joel
2013 0-7734-2913-1 632 pages
A radical new level of scrutiny of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Musikalisches Opfer which has been and continues to be the most controversial single composition he ever wrote and perhaps the single most mysterious and frustrating work anyone ever composed.
Beckerman, Michael
2023 1-4955-1165-0 408 pages
"Although the majority of articles [in this volume] deal with Janáček, we felt that it was quite important to have sessions devoted to Czech music before the "national" period. Within the specific area of Janáček studies, we tried to encourage diversity by arranging sessions on the operas, analysis, the Danube Symphony, and also on the relationship between Janáček and his contemporaries and the larger sphere of European culture. Finally we arranged two sessions dealing specifically with scholarly problems." -Michael Beckerman [Introduction] This book was originally published by Pendragon Press in 1995.
Overduin, Jan
2001 0-7734-7599-0 204 pages
The Art of Fugue (Bach’s last work) presents many problems for scholars and performers, chiefly in its instrumentation. This edition includes commentaries on all movements (14 fugues and 4 canons), as well as suggested cadenzas for the Canone alla decima, a comparative study of nine available keyboard completions of the final fugue, and a discussion of the B-A-C-H motive as found in the Art of Fugue. The book is also a keyboard edition with a new approach to suggested pedal parts, which can be used by pianists and harpsichordists as well as organists.
Milligan, Thomas B.
2023 1-4955-1177-4 256 pages
"To compile a thorough catalogue of Cramer's compositions requires the author to deal with two large bodies of source material: the manuscripts and printed copies of music found in various libraries throughout Europe and America, and the citations relating to the composer's works found in newspapers, music periodicals, and music bibliographies. The main task of the author of a thematic catalogue is to close the gap between the two sources: to locate copies of the actual music for a work named in citations, and, conversely, to find documentation relating to each item of printed or manuscript music." -Thomas B. Milligan (Preface) This book was originally published by Pendragon Press in 1992.
Richardson, Paul A.
2023 1-4955-1116-2 476 pages
"Hustad's work is recounted in this "Festschrift" in a biography and catalogue of works, and in appreciative recollections. It is paralleled in diverse essays, in more-formal studies, and in hymn texts and tunes. All were given to honor the personal and professional links forged by Hustad through a long career." -Paul A. Richardson and Tim Sharp (from the Preface) This edited volume was originally published by Pendragon Press in 2010. This edited collection was originally published by Pendragon Press in 2010.
Funk, Eric
2023 1-4955-1175-8 116 pages
This book ..."is a collection of emails exchanged over a four-year period between composer Eric Funk and his composition student Athena Carson. We chose the title in response to Rainer Maria Rilke's powerfully moving book Letters to a Young Poet. The difference between his book and ours is that our book includes both people in the dialog, not just the the author's replies. As with Rilke's text, we hope that our readers will include everyone interested in creativity. It's not just for composers, as Rilke's book is not solely for poets." -Eric Funk (Foreword)
Swain, Joseph P.
2023 1-4955-1155-3 324 pages
[This] is a work of traditional music criticism. It asks why these two German composers, born less than one month and 125 kilometers apart--cultural twins--could compose so differently from each other as well as their colleagues and yet both achieve universal acclaim as the greatest exponents of the Baroque. Finding even partial answers to this question naturally deepens readers' knowledge and appreciation of their art, and thereby amplifies the experience of listening to it. I wrote the book especially for those who love the music of Bach and Handel of course, but because their work underlies in so many ways all the music that came after them." -Joseph P. Swain (Preface) This book was originally published by Pendragon Press in 2018.
Wright, William
2023 1-4955-1084-1 320 pages
"The present volume is based on diary entries, playbills, programs, press reports, and archival material, mainly from British and European sources. As such it represents the first comprehensive analysis of Liszt's executant, compositional, and and literary activities in London and the English provinces. Also incorporated is a detailed listing of the composer's London publications and selected correspondence while in England. A final chapter focuses on major developments on the Lisztian front from 1945 to the present day." -from the Author's "Introduction" This book was originally published in 2016 by Pendragon Press.
Bruhn, Siglind
2023 1-4955-1181-2 296 pages
"Olivier Messiaen, master of sounds, was gifted with an unusual visual sense. While his physical eyes always needed thick glasses, his inner eye saw much that remains hidden to most. Music and Color is the title of the only volume of conversations published under the composer's own name rather than under that of the respective interviewer, thus drawing the readers' attention to the importance Messiaen attached to one of the basic aspects of visual perception. ...Were one to move in the direction of inner perception, one would arrive at the dimension of contemplations and visions. This book aims to direct its readers' interest specifically toward the metaphysical, theological, and sometimes mystical visions manifested in the two piano cycles whose movements are compiled under the titles of 'visions' and 'contemplations' respectively." -Siglind Bruhn (Preface)
Tuttle, Marshall
2016 1-4955-0516-2 260 pages
This work examines a specific technical and expressive means by which the various ecclesiastical modes persisted and were integrated into compositional practices of the tonal period, from the time of Bach through to the early twentieth century. It is demonstrated that a technique of integrating modes into tonal music is not through the use of melodic or harmonic materials, but through modulation. Modulations can be drawn from and limited to those keys which derive from chords that exist in the modal scale of the final key of a composition. This leads to what can only be referred to as a kind of pseudo-diatonic chromaticism. Modulations are limited by a diatonic scale, but that scale is distinct from the major-minor scale system which characterizes the surface level musical activity of a composition. Hence the modulations are chromatic according to a given key, but individual keys visited are limited by a very traditional set of diatonic relationships among themselves.
Tuttle, Marshall
2000 0-7734-7642-3 372 pages
This monograph presents original research based on Wagner’s theoretical writings and demonstrates that there is a precise logic to his tonal structures.
Hodson, Millicent
2023 1-4955-1159-6 300 pages
This book is meant to share something of the creative efforts and results involved in reconstruction Vaslav Nijinsky's second ballet, Jeux, choreographed in 1913 to a commissioned score by Claude Debussy with designs and costumes by Leon Bakst. ...The book as a whole attempts to document the reconstructed choreography of Jeux. While it is impossible to record every decision and all the reasons for each one, I have tried to demonstrate the modus operandi for giving material form to a dance legend. -Millicent Hodson (Preface) This book was originally published by Pendragon Press in 2008.
Herresthal, Harald
2023 1-4955-1150-2 456 pages
This is a softcover book. The book is written for all readers and includes informative paragraphs inserted into the text to explain terms and offer biographical information of people mentioned. "This book tells the story of how a young boy from Bergen could become world-famous.... You will come with Ole on his concert tours and get to know many of the famous people he met on his way. At the same time, you will be on a journey in history and can learn a little of what it was like to be an artist and a person more than 150 years ago," (Authors' Foreword).
Grétry, André-Ernest-Modeste
2023 1-4955-1119-7 408 pages
André Ernest Modeste Grétry (1741-1813) was one of the most successful and most productive opera composers of the eighteenth century. Although he was born in the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, in present-day Belgium, he spend most of his life in Paris, making him one of those "Belgian Parisians". ...Much of the aesthetic debate at the time centered around the concept of 'Truth' in music and theatre. ...In 1795 Grétry started writing his essay 'De la vérité', that would eventually comprise of three volumes issued in 1801. -David Vergauwen
Kinder, Keith
2016 1-4955-1118-9 252 pages
"Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner stand at the center of European music in the nineteenth century. These two musical giants cast such broad shadows over their century that it is virtually impossible to discuss any aspect of Romantic music without making reference to one or both of them. ...It is rather surprising that, to date, their wind music has attracted little attention--an oversight this volume addresses." - Keith Kinder
Burton, Deborah
2023 1-4955-1169-3 348 pages
"[T]he thesis of this volume is that the diametrically opposed forces of the traditional and progressive live together in Puccini's music, embedded deeply within his harmonic constructs and in many musical parameters. The author hopes that the observations set forth in these pages will help frame Puccini studies in a way that helps to reconcile previously contentious issues." -Deborah Burton [Introduction] This book was originally published by Pendragon Press in 2012.
Aberbach, Alan D.
1996 0-7734-8783-2 312 pages
Chapter headings include: Early Spiritual Dimensions; Reflection of Mind and Soul (The Flying Dutchman, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin); "Jesus of Nazareth"; Encounters with the Esoteric (Hafiz and The Ring of the Nibelung; Schopenhauer and Tristan and Isolde; The Influence of Meister Eckhart); To Parsifal; Beyond Parsifal.
Aberbach, Alan D.
1996 0-7734-8348-9 312 pages
Chapter headings include: Early Spiritual Dimensions; Reflection of Mind and Soul (The Flying Dutchman, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin); "Jesus of Nazareth"; Encounters with the Esoteric (Hafiz and The Ring of the Nibelung; Schopenhauer and Tristan and Isolde; The Influence of Meister Eckhart); To Parsifal; Beyond Parsifal.
Guggenheim, Paul
1992 0-7734-9820-6 168 pages
Suggested trinitarian symbolism of `Contrapunctus XIX' is compared to the established trinitarian symbolism of the great Eb major (St.Anne) fugue, B.W.V.552/2, and suggested trinitarian symbolism of the C# minor fugue of `Well-tempered Clavier' (I,4). Concludes that `Contrapunctus XIX' is a hymn to the Holy Trinity which Bach may have deliberately left unfinished because of an irregularity in the symbolism of the three persons of the Godhead which was the musical-metaphoric equivalent of the heresy of Montanus.
Helmig, Martina
2006 0-7734-5736-4 404 pages
This is the first monograph about Ruth Schonthal, the internationally renowned composer whose works are performed worldwide. Parts of the work are based on conversations that the author conducted with Ms. Schonthal over the past 20 years. The book is also the first contribution to exile research that is concerned with artists that fled from Nazi Germany in their childhood. This is the English translation and updated version of Dr. Martina Helmig’s musicological book, which gained much attention in the German-speaking countries.
Ruth Schonthal’s unique and dramatic biography encompassed three continents and now spans eight decades. She was a composing and piano-playing “Wunderkind” in the twenties and thirties in Europe. At age five, she was the youngest student ever accepted at the famous “Stern'sches Konservatorium” in Berlin. As Jews, she and her family were forced to flee the country in 1938. Their odyssey led first to Sweden, then to Mexico, where she studied with Manuel Ponce. Paul Hindemith discovered her there and brought her to Yale University as his student. Since 1976, Ms. Schonthal has been Professor of Composition at the New York University and living in the Greater New York City area.
This book presents a case study in the area of research dealing with a specific exiled generation: those who were forced to flee from Nazi Germany before finishing their professional education. This is a field that has been almost completely neglected over the years. The book contains Ruth Schonthal’s biography, analyses of some of her outstanding compositions, and an examination of the ways in which the cruelties of the Nazi regime and condition of exile affected this younger group of artists. It also describes the cultural perspective they gained from living in various countries. Both the places of exile and the necessity of living, studying, and working in the midst of so many different cultures have had, and still have, many implications for the compositional process that go far beyond mere folkloristic influences. According to Lion Feuchtwanger, exile is no coincidental and peripheral circumstance, but the motivating force behind all work undertaken once in exile. This also applies to the younger generation of exiled artists.
Yaklich, Richard E.
2021 1-4955-0843-9 216 pages
Dr. Yaklich breaks down and studies legendary Philadelphia conductor Eugene Ormandy's performing version of legendary Russian pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff's First Symphony. He also explores the relationship between the two musicians, professionally and personally.
Greene, David B.
2012 0-7734-2591-8 136 pages
This book is based around reports from people who have listened to certain pieces of sacred music (that is, pieces with a liturgical text or biblical allusions) and have said that hearing the music is itself an encounter with the divine. While relating to the music, these people find that relating to the music is a relation to God. The music as such becomes inaudible, and disappears into an encounter in which they address and are addressed by God, or the Risen Christ, or the Eternal Infinite. The book’s project is to elaborate on these reports, first by dwelling on the meaning of “relation” then by drawing parallels between the reports and the writings of Martin Buber on the I-Thou relation and its contrast to the I-It experience, and finally by describing the salient aspects of the music in order to specify just what is this hearing that is a relating, an encounter. Although many pieces could have been chosen as examples of this kind of hearing and this kind of spirituality, the book takes only three so that it can describe them in considerable detail and depth. These pieces : Three Movements from Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, the resurrection music from Bach’s Mass in B Minor, and Oliver Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time.
Banat, Gabriel
2023 1-4955-1122-7 560 pages
This is a biography of The Chevalier de Saint-Georges. "Now, over two centuries after his death, the legacy that Saint-Georges left to posterity is as multifaceted as his attributes: fairness, honor, strength, courage, and a passion for justice. But above all, he left us a musical heritage that has enriched our knowledge and appreciation of that most human of instruments: the violin." -Gabriel Banat ["Epilogue"] This book was originally published by Pendragon Press in 2006.
Robins, Brian
2023 1-4955-1174-X 796 pages
"Until relatively recently the extensive Journals (History of my Private Life) maintained throughout almost his entire life by the English gentleman composer John Marsh (1752-1828) were known only to a small circle of musical historians. ...This present volume represents an attempt to bring Marsh's vibrant world to the wider attention of both scholars and a more general readership. ...I [have concentrated] primarily, although far from exclusively, on Marsh's interests in music, an approach one hopes would have met with the approval of the author himself." -Brian Robins, editor This book was originally published by Pendragon Press in 2011.
Petty, Jonathan Christian
2022 1-4955-0990-7 188 pages
This work applies tenets of Group Mental System theory to the Madama Butterfly: "The main tenet of this theory is that the sole linguistic object of music, language of the emotions, is Self. Musical language qualifies Self by qualifying its affect (emotions, moods, dispositions). ...[I]t is of particular interest to consider those musical works in which alterations to the Self play a direct role. One such work is Puccini's Madama Butterfly." -Jonathan Christian Petty
Stepien, Wojciech
2023 1-4955-1179-0 268 pages
"Many musicologists and music theorists investigating the music of Einojuhani Rautavaara (b. 1928) explore it through a detailed analysis only on the syntactic level, leaving the semantic content aside. Such an approach...needs to be complemented by an understanding of its wider cultural context. The present study attempts to fill this gap by focusing on five instrumental compositions whose titles refer to angels. ...The aim is to explore the link between musical phenomena and their extramusical references both in the case of the individual works and in the composer's general aesthetics." -Wojciech Stepien (Preface)
Bruhn, Siglind
2023 1-4955-1168-5 438 pages
"In the 1930s, Paul Hindemith, then Germany's foremost composer, found himself torn between three forces. The Nazi government demanded that he write music glorifying the Third Reich...friends and colleagues urged that he use his influence and speak up against the immorality of German politics, while his own deepest wish was to live exclusively for his art--to compose, perform and teach. In the midst of this dilemma, which eventually led to his emigration, Hindemith composed his opera Mathis der Maler." -Siglind Bruhn [Introduction] This book was originally published by Pendragon Press in 1998.
Russell, Peter
2002 0-7734-7293-2 476 pages
This is the first study systematically to map and classify the major German lieder according to the themes of their texts. It also traces in detail the extent to which each theme as evolved from German folk-song, or derives from elsewhere, notably the Romantic movement. This analysis also affords new insights into the differing personalities of the major lieder composers. It constitutes a comprehensive reference-work, an encyclopedia of lieder themes. Through its lists of contents and its detailed indexes (by composers, poets, song-titles, and themes) it provides an easy means of racing lieder by theme.
Tomaschek, Wenzel Johann
2023 1-4955-1133-2 156 pages
Johann Wenzel Tomaschek was one of the most significant and fascinating musical personalities at the beginning of the 19th century. A brilliant pianist, teacher, composer and critic, he was known as the Musical Pope of Prague. He was a friend of Beethoven and Goethe, and taught such figures as the virtuosos Alexander Dreyschock and Jan Vaclav Voriskek and the critic Eduard Hanslick. Despite the fact that he composed over one hundred compositions, including operas, concerti, string quartets, symphonies, songs and religious works, he is known today almost exclusively for his characteristic piano pieces, variously titled "Rhapsodies", "Dithyrambs", and most often, "Eclogues". Though these titles all have their roots in classical poetry, the pieces in question combine aspects of classic style with fresh, new and even idosyncratic takes on contemporary musical thought. *This Autobiography first appeared in installments between 1845 and 1850 in the periodical "Libussa". An annotated Czech translation appeared in 1941 and excerpts have appeared in English in The Musical Quarterly in 1946 and The Musical Times in 1974. This volume [published originally by Pendragon Press in 2017] is the first complete English translation of the work. -Michael Beckerman ("Introduction") This work was translated by Stephen Thomson Moore. (Studies in Czech Music, No. 5)