This is the first major set of essays on the Czech composer Leos Jana DEGREESDvcek, widely considered one of the most important composers of the early twentieth century. The essays deal with a range of subjects relating to opera, symphonic poem, instrumental music, cultural context, reception, and Jana DEGREESDvcek as music theorist and analyst. Some topics, such as the sources of his musical expressivity, narrative, and Jan DEGREESDvacek as musical analyst and realist have hitherto received little attention, while other, more conventional topics, such as "speech melody" and Jana...

These eleven essays lay a foundation for a proper understanding of Shostakovich's musical language and provide new insights into issues surrounding his composition.

This is Cambridge University Press' second volume of studies based on the work of Heinrich Schenker (1868-1935), now recognized as this century's most influential figure in the areas of music theory and analysis. The book contains historical studies that derive from Schenker's unpublished papers, and analytical studies of music from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. It aims to apply and further develop Schenker's theories and ideas for the benefit of music scholars, performers, and students.

Haydn Studies deals with many new aspects of a composer who is perennially fresh. It concentrates principally on matters of reception, style and aesthetics and presents many radical new readings of the composer's work. Contributions by both established Haydn scholars and others who are new to the field combine to give a stronger sense than is generally understood of the composer's immense significance.

This book contains nine essays by leading Berlioz scholars on various aspects of the great nineteenth-century musician's life and work. Among the pieces studied closely are Romeo et Juliette, La Damnation de Faust and Les Nuits d' ete. An essay on newly discovered documents gives us a revealing portrait of the artist as a young man; another essay which examines little studied manuscripts shows us how precisely Berlioz arranged Gluck's celebrated opera Orphee. The practical question of Berlioz's metronome marks are studied thoroughly for the first time, and the volume closes with a novel piece...

The life and works of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy are enjoying a considerable resurgence of interest among musicologists, musicians, and music-lovers alike. This volume of ten essays presents the most recent trends in Mendelssohn research, covering three broad catagories--reception history, historical and critical essays, and case studies of particular compositions. Based on primary sources from the nineteenth century, including little known autograph manuscripts and letters of the composer, the volume examines Mendelssohn's historical reception, his relationships with such contemporaries as...

This symposium celebrates the 450th anniversary of the birth of William Byrd, one of the greatest English composers. Twelve scholars contribute essays which together cover all the genres of Byrd's prolific output. Topics discussed in this collection include authentication of the canon, applications of technology to Byrd research, Byrd's relationship to earlier English traditions and his influence on his successors. There are studies concerned with manuscript sources and aspects of performance and the final contribution is a comprehensive listing of Byrd recordings made between 1923 and 1988....

Essays commemorating the 1995 tercentenary of Purcell's death, representing the best recent research.

Mahler Studies comprises ten innovative essays by leading experts on topics spanning the range of current Mahler research, including biographical, psychoanalytical, source-critical, and theoretical approaches to the composer who, with astonishing foresight, repeatedly claimed that "my time will come." Highlights include previously inaccessible documents, sketches, and family letters, an insightful overview of Mahler and the "eternal feminine," state-of-the-art essays on Mahler and musical analysis, and a clear account of the influential Mahler criticism of Theodor W. Adorno.

Sibelius Studies presents a new portrait of this popular and prolific composer. Sibelius's symphonies often have been mentioned in the same breath with Beethoven's; indeed, in the twentieth century, they have enjoyed a commensurate popularity. The book contextualizes Sibelius' symphonies and tone poems in the larger development of European music, especially its transition from late romanticism to modernism. The relationship between Sibelius the man and his music, his personal life and creative work, is explored, with new revelations emerging from sketches, diaries, and letters.