A handbook spanning a thousand years of music from Gregorian chant via Bach and Beethoven to contemporaries such as Thomas Ades and Kaija Saariaho. It includes biographical profiles of more than 200 composers and informative summaries of the major compositions in various genres, from chamber works to operatic epics.
A guide to over 30 of the most famous composers from the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras, including Palestrina, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. It explains how these composers fitted into society, other events and artistic movements that were occurring at the same time, and how their work was regarded by other composers.
Begins by addressing the problems associated with performing Mozart's piano music on "modern" instruments. This work moves through each element of performance - from dynamics to tempo and rhythm, articulation, ornamentation, embellishments, and cadenzas. It also addresses problems of "text" (scholarship on Mozart's scores).
Vanishing Sensibilities examines music of Schubert, Beethoven, Schumann, and their contemporaries in drama and poetry, showing how music was a powerful force in lively ongoing conversations about the nature of liberty, consent in marriage, freedom of expression, and other matters of cultural and political urgency in this age of censorship.
In music, the period from the middle of the eighteenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth is usually referred to as the 'Classical' Era. This was a period of immense social change and political unrest. This title shows how this was reflected in the music written during those turbulent but also intensely creative years.
A guide to the life and work of Wolfgang Mozart, arguably one of the greatest composer of all time - from his beginnings as a child prodigy to his fame and fortune as a young man in Vienna to his decline in health and popularity that led to destitution and a tragically early death at the age of 35.
Sixty examples of Haydn's music are presented in this book. His music is examined in relation to its 18th-century cultural background, looking at morality, literary influences and the composer-audience relationship. Exploring his symphonies, the book covers musical imagery and melodic sources.
Why is Mozart the best known and most popular of all the great Western classical composers? More than 250 years after his birth, his reputation stands higher than ever before. With recommendations of good recordings, the author shows how Mozart's music has communicated with unique power across many generations.
Imagining community means imagining what is good for the community and what is involved in pursuing its good. The imagining also means envisioning a group identity that constitutes and is constituted by the individuals in the group. This book considers the pieces of music that imagine community.
A decade after the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars had given way to an era of retrenchment and repression, 1824 became a watershed year. This memoir explains how the premiere of Beethoven's staggering last symphony was emblematic of its time.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is one of the world's most popular and accessible classical composers. This book offers an introduction to Mozart's fascinating life and music. It combines biographical information with an exploration of some of his most important orchestral, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral pieces.
Discusses the life and times of Alexander Tcherepnin, a prolific and often emulated composer who produced four operas, 13 ballets, four symphonies, numerous orchestral and chamber works, and more than 200 piano pieces. This book focuses on the biographical elements of Tcherepnin's story, and also on his music and its technical innovations.
Addresses the question of whether popular music has taken its place and if so, how much this matters. This book explores the origins of the split between classical and popular music, the rise of youth culture and the concept of elitism, together with the consequences of these changes.
Professor Sir Donald Tovey's celebrated "bar-by-bar analysis of Beethoven's 32 Pianoforte Sonatas" remains a key text for pianists, students, scholars and music lovers. This book contains a summary of the author's analytical approach before each sonata is dealt with in detail.
A survey of Mozart's entire panorama of symphonic works, which includes the identification and evaluation of nearly 100 symphonies. Each work is placed in its musical and cultural context, background information is provided and the role of the symphony in Mozart's creative life is examined.
Helps students and their teachers achieve stylish performances of music of the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods. These guides include chapters from leading experts on historical background, notation and interpretation, and sources and editions. They are also illustrated with many music examples, facsimiles and pictures.