This book is about one musical work, the popular Quartet for the End of Time by the great French composer Olivier Messiaen. Like virtually all of his works, the Quartet combines the striking technical achievement of Messiaen's rich and attractive musical style with a deeply felt theological inspiration. Anthony Pople's book provides an introduction to Messiaen's style through an examination of this great work, showing how it came to be composed while Messiaen was a prisoner-of-war and premiered under extraordinary conditions in Stalag VIIIA in 1941. He gives an in-depth assessment of each of...
This book is about one musical work, the popular Quartet for the End of Time by the great French composer Olivier Messiaen. Like virtually all of his ...
This book is about one musical work, the popular Quartet for the End of Time by the great French composer Olivier Messiaen. Like virtually all of his works, the Quartet combines the striking technical achievement of Messiaen's rich and attractive musical style with a deeply felt theological inspiration. Anthony Pople's book provides an introduction to Messiaen's style through an examination of this great work, showing how it came to be composed while Messiaen was a prisoner-of-war and premiered under extraordinary conditions in Stalag VIIIA in 1941. He gives an in-depth assessment of each of...
This book is about one musical work, the popular Quartet for the End of Time by the great French composer Olivier Messiaen. Like virtually all of his ...
The six string quartets dedicated to his friend Joseph Haydn represent a turning point in Mozart' compositional development. In addition to providing a synopsis of each quartet, this book examines the music in relation to Mozart's earlier quartets, considers the genesis of the six Haydn quartets through examination of the autograph revisions and looks at contemporary 18th-century analytical models. The author also charts the reception of the quartets, drawing upon a broad range of sources: Mozart's letters and diary entries, early newspaper reports, harmony/compositional textbooks,...
The six string quartets dedicated to his friend Joseph Haydn represent a turning point in Mozart' compositional development. In addition to providing ...
Dowland's famous Lachrimae (1604) is the earliest collection of instrumental music generally known to nonspecialists, yet it has never been studied in detail before. Among other things, this comprehensive guide investigates its publication history, its place in the development of Renaissance dance music, the significance of its writing for particular stringed instruments, and the possible connections between the famous cycle of "Lachrimae" pavans and Elizabethan conceptions of melancholy.
Dowland's famous Lachrimae (1604) is the earliest collection of instrumental music generally known to nonspecialists, yet it has never been studied in...
Regarded by many as Brahms' first real chamber work, the Clarinet Quintet is here placed in the context of chamber music in general, Brahms' own earlier music, and the history and repertory of the clarinet generally. In addition to providing a detailed analysis, Colin Lawson pays special attention to performance traditions and also to the influence of Brahms' music on later composers. This handbook is the first comprehensive study of this work and it reflects the author's wide experience both as performer and scholar.
Regarded by many as Brahms' first real chamber work, the Clarinet Quintet is here placed in the context of chamber music in general, Brahms' own earli...
Michael Tippett's oratorio A Child of Our Time was written at the beginning of the second world war as an expression of "man's inhumanity to man." This Handbook discusses the significant musical and literary features of this remarkable work within its specific historical, social and stylistic context. Attention is given to the shaping of Tippett's own text as well as its musical representation. Also of importance is the initial critical reception of the work, a reception that defined certain responses that still surround the work today.
Michael Tippett's oratorio A Child of Our Time was written at the beginning of the second world war as an expression of "man's inhumanity to man." Thi...
Even in Beethoven's day everyone was talking about the "Moonlight" Sonata. This is a comprehensive introduction to Beethoven's most popular piano sonata, together with the four other sonatas in Op. 27 and Op. 31. Aimed at pianists, students and music lovers, it gives an account of the sonatas' historical background, their changing performance styles, and offers an accessible critical introduction to the music.
Even in Beethoven's day everyone was talking about the "Moonlight" Sonata. This is a comprehensive introduction to Beethoven's most popular piano sona...
The Rite of Spring is Stravinsky's most revolutionary work. This comprehensive guide tells in vivid detail the story of its inception and composition, of the stormy rehearsals that led to the scandalous premiere in 1913, and of Stravinsky's later betrayal of the ballet's first choreographer, Nijinsky. Peter Hill probes beneath the surface of the music to reveal an architectural conception of unsuspected guile and subtlety. He provides a detailed discussion of the work in performance and a hard-hitting conclusion, which poses a radical challenge to the orthodox view of the work.
The Rite of Spring is Stravinsky's most revolutionary work. This comprehensive guide tells in vivid detail the story of its inception and composition,...
Elgar's Variations for Orchestra, commonly known as the 'Enigma' Variations, marked an epoch both in his career, and in the renaissance of English music at the turn of the century. The first extended study of the work, this Cambridge Music Handbook contains historical information concerning the conception and writing of the work, an extended musical discussion requiring only a little technical knowledge of music, and a fascinating survey of the "solutions" to the mystery implied by the title of Elgar's most famous work.
Elgar's Variations for Orchestra, commonly known as the 'Enigma' Variations, marked an epoch both in his career, and in the renaissance of English mus...
Anton Bruckner's Eighth Symphony (1890), one of the last of the great Romantic symphonies, is a grandly complex masterpiece. This book explores this many-faceted work from several angles. It documents the complicated and often misunderstood history of the symphony's composition and revision and provides an accessible guide to its musical design. It demonstrates, by means of a study of well-known recordings, how performance styles have evolved in this century. It also revisits the conventional wisdom about the various versions and editions of the symphony and comes to some provocative new...
Anton Bruckner's Eighth Symphony (1890), one of the last of the great Romantic symphonies, is a grandly complex masterpiece. This book explores this m...