New Publications,
New Music Book Publications - 14th October 2019
Welcome to our latest selection of new music books. Our picks this time round include an extensive collection of letters by Cole Porter; guides to the American musical on both stage and screen; a new English translation of Wagner's libretto for his epic series of music dramas, Der Ring des Nibelungen; analyses of the music of Luigi Dallapiccola and Mieczysław Weinberg; an exploration of Debussy's piano music; the story of how the final album by The Beatles was recorded at Abbey Road in 1969; and autobiographies by popular singers including Elton John, Julie Andrews, and Tony Christie.
Classical Composers & Performers
Now available in paperback, this book focuses on Mozart the man and musician as he responds to different aspects of the vibrant intellectual, social and political climate of mid-eighteenth-century Europe. It reveals his views on music and aesthetics; on places that shaped his life; on engaging with performers; and also discusses reception and his legacy from his own time through to the present day.
Available Format: Book
Richard Wagner - Der fliegende Holländer
Overture Opera Guide in association with English National Opera
This guide contains essays placing the opera in the context of emerging German Romanticism, highlighting the musical riches of the score, and exploring the importance of myth to Wagner and his contemporaries. It also includes a detailed performance history, illustrations, a thematic guide, and the full libretto with an English translation.
Available Format: Book
Wagner's epic cycle of four musical dramas about primal envy, cosmic conflict, spectacular self-sacrifice, redeeming human love and the downfall of gods revolutionised the nature of opera and conjured up an entire mythological world. John Deathridge's new facing-page translation of the libretto conveys the pungency and vitality of Wagner's words, reflecting the work's literary power while retaining its sense and dramatic energy.
Available Format: Book
Debussy's piano works reflect not only the most appealing and innocent aspects of Paris but also more disquieting attitudes of the time such as racism, colonial domination, and nationalistic hostility. Pianist Catherine Kautsky reveals little-known elements of Parisian culture and weaves the music, the man, the city, and the era into an indissoluble whole.
Available Format: Book
Luigi Dallapiccola is widely considered a defining figure in twentieth-century Italian musical modernism. Ben Earle focuses on three of his major works, setting them in the context of contemporary politics to trace their complex path from fascism to resistance. He also considers the wider relationship between musical modernism and Italian fascism.
Available Format: Book
Music behind the Iron Curtain: Weinberg and his Polish Contemporaries
Daniel Elphick; Cambridge University Press
Mieczysław Weinberg left his family behind and fled his native Poland in September 1939 to reach the Soviet Union. This book examines how the works he wrote in Russia compare with those of his Polish contemporaries, providing an overview of his music through his string quartets.
Available Format: Book
Over Here, Over There: Transatlantic Conversations on the Music of World War I
William Brooks, Christina Bashford, & Gayle Magee (editors); University of Illinois Press
This book examines how composition, performance, publication, recording, censorship, and policy shaped the Atlantic allies' musical response to the war, with essay topics ranging from the sinking of the Lusitania, transformations of the entertainment industry, and the influenza pandemic.
Available Format: Book
Pianist James Rhodes introduces you to some of the most breathtaking and magnificent pieces of music ever created, meeting the rebels and revolutionaries who wrote them, and finding out why they're responsible for every track on your phone today. This visually exquisite celebration of music comes in a slipcase and features a large fold-out poster.
Available Format: Book
Film Music & Musicals
This extensive collection of letters (most of which are published here for the first time) features correspondence with stars such as Orson Welles, Ethel Merman, and Irving Berlin, as well as Porter's friends and lovers. They highlight the distinction between his public and private existence, revealing surprising insights into his attitudes toward Hollywood, Broadway, money, love, and success.
Available Format: Book
This comprehensive companion to the six-part Emmy-winning PBS documentary series traces the history of the American musical from its roots through to recent hits such as The Book of Mormon, Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, and more. The text is lavishly illustrated with a treasure trove of photographs, scenic renderings, production stills, and rehearsal shots, many previously unpublished.
Available Format: Book
This book documents the life and works of many of the individuals responsible for writing music for some of the most popular films, television shows, video games, and music videos ever created. Its 150 articles, updated and expanded from The Grove Dictionary of American Music, cover key composers, sound engineers, and other figures in American film music history
Available Format: Book
The Oxford Handbook of Musical Theatre Screen Adaptations
Dominic McHugh (editor); Oxford University Press
This handbook traces the evolution of the stage-to-screen musical, examining screen adaptations of operettas such as The Desert Song, favourites such as Annie and Kiss Me, Kate, lesser-known titles like Li'l Abner and Roberta, as well as more problematic adaptations such as Carousel and Paint Your Wagon.
Available Format: Book
Popular Music
In his first official autobiography, Elton John reveals the truth about his extraordinary life in this funny, honest and moving story of the most enduringly successful singer/songwriter of all time. He writes powerfully about getting clean and changing his life, finding love with David Furnish, and becoming a father. In a voice that is warm, humble and open, this is Elton on his music and his relationships, his passions and his mistakes.
Available Format: Book
Solid State: The Story of "Abbey Road" and the End of The Beatles
Kenneth Womack; Cornell University Press
In February 1969, The Beatles began working on what became their final album together. Acclaimed Beatles historian Kenneth Womack focuses on the dynamics between them and producer George Martin, who set aside (for the most part) the tensions that had arisen on previous albums to create a work with an innovative and controversial sound that prominently included the new Moog synthesizer, among other novelties.
Available Format: Book
Chronicling a famously troubled life, Being John Lennon analyses the contradictions in the singer-songwriter's creative and destructive personality. Drawing on many interviews and conversations with Lennon, his first wife Cynthia and second Yoko Ono, as well as his girlfriend May Pang and song-writing partner Paul McCartney, Ray Connolly reassesses the chameleonic nature of the star.
Available Format: Book
Tony Christie has topped the charts in countries all around the world. For the first time he tells of his illustrious career that started in the small South Yorkshire town of Conisbrough and today sees him as a singing legend with fans around the globe. It is a story packed with emotional and financial highs and lows, fantastic characters and Tony's deep-rooted love of family.
Available Format: Book
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