New Publications,
New Music Book Publications - 9th January 2023
Welcome to our latest selection of new music publications, including books on composers such as Brahms, Bach (Johann Sebastian as well as Carl Philipp Emanuel), Bliss, and Alan Bush, an insight into the life of pianist Igor Levit during lockdown, plus topics including seventeenth-century opera, women and music in Ireland, the songwriters of Tin Pan Alley, and the liturgical traditions of the Old Hispanic Office in Early Medieval Iberia.
The Cambridge Companion to Seventeenth-Century Opera
Jacqueline Waeber (editor); Cambridge University Press; Paperback
This is a much-needed introduction to one of the most defining areas of Western music history - the birth of opera and its developments during the first century of its existence. From opera's Italian foundations to its growth through Europe and the Americas, it charts the changing landscape - on stage and beyond - which shaped the way opera was produced and received.
Available Format: Book
Women and Music in Ireland
Jennifer O'Connor-Madsen, Laura Watson, & Ita Beausang (editors); Boydell & Brewer; Hardback
This book explores the world of women's professional and amateur musical activity as it developed on and beyond the island of Ireland. In a story which spans several centuries, it highlights representative composers and performers in classical music, Irish traditional music, and contemporary art music whose contributions have been marginalised in music narratives.
Available Format: Book
Igor Levit ranks among the greatest pianists of his generation. When the pandemic broke out and Levit was unable to give live concerts, he switched his piano recitals from concert halls to his living room and gained a huge following. This book opens a window into his life during the 2019-2020 concert season, charting the transition from his whirlwind life of back-to-back live concerts in packed concert halls to the eerie stillness of lockdown and the innovative series of house concerts live-streamed over Twitter.
Available Format: Book
As one of the most widely-performed composers of the nineteenth century, Brahms continues to command our attention. This book counterbalances prevailing assumptions that position him as a conservative composer (whether musically or politically) with a wide-ranging exploration and re-evaluation of his significance today. Furthermore, it deploys original approaches to his music and pursues innovative methodologies to interrogate the historical, cultural, and artistic contexts of his creativity.
Available Format: Book
Bach in the World: Music, Society, and Representation in Bach's Cantatas
Markus Rathey; Oxford University Press; Hardback
Bach's works are often classified as either sacred or secular, but the lines cannot be drawn clearly. This book offers a new exploration of how his music functioned as an agent of communication within rituals, such as the installation of the town council, and as a place where socio-political norms were perpetuated and sometimes even challenged.
Available Format: Book
Arthur Bliss was one of the most important British musicians of his age, with a portfolio of works including ballet, film, opera, orchestral, chamber, choral works, and song. Bliss was a private figure who stated that the only way to get to know him was through his music. This book takes this as the starting point for a pioneering biography, which underlines the timely importance of a complete reappraisal of this composer's music.
Available Format: Book
Alan Bush, Modern Music, and the Cold War: The Cultural Left in Britain and the Communist Bloc
Joanna Bullivant; Cambridge University Press; Paperback
British communist, composer of politicised works, and friend of Soviet musicians, Alan Bush proved to be 'a lightning rod' in the national musical culture. Drawing on a wealth of archival sources, including recently released documents from MI5, this book constructs new perspectives on the 'cultural Cold War' through the lens of the individual artist.
Available Format: Book
The Temple of Fame and Friendship: Portraits, Music, and History in the C. P. E. Bach Circle
Annette Richards; University of Chicago Press; Hardback
One of the most celebrated German composers of the eighteenth century, CPE Bach spent decades assembling an extensive portrait collection of some four hundred music-related items, from oil paintings to engraved prints. This book brings the collection to life, giving readers a sense of what it was like for visitors to tour the portrait gallery and experience music in rooms thick with the faces of friends, colleagues, and forebears.
Available Format: Book
The Musical Language of Italian Opera, 1813-1859
William Rothstein; Oxford University Press; Hardback
This book examines operatic music by five Italian composers - Rossini, Bellini, Mercadante, Donizetti, and Verdi - and one non-Italian, Meyerbeer, during the period from Rossini's first international successes to Italian unification. Detailed analyses of form, rhythm, melody, and harmony reveal concepts of musical structure different from those usually discussed by music theorists, calling into question the notion of a common practice.
Available Format: Book
Understanding the Old Hispanic Office: Texts, Melodies, and Devotion in Early Medieval Iberia
Emma Hornby, Kati Ihnat, Rebecca Maloy, & Raquel Rojo Carrillo; Cambridge University Press; Hardback
This is the first methodological and factual primer in English on the distinctive liturgical tradition of early medieval Spain. It introduces the main features of Old Hispanic liturgy, its manuscripts, its services and its liturgical genres, and then models a variety of ways to work with the Old Hispanic materials in depth, incorporating notational, musical, theological and historical perspectives.
Available Format: Book
Musical Genre and Romantic Ideology: Belonging in the Age of Originality
Matthew Gelbart; Oxford University Press; Hardback
European Romanticism gave rise to a powerful discourse equating genres to constrictive rules and forms that great art should transcend; and yet without the categories and intertextual references we hold in our minds, "music" would be meaningless noise. This book teases out that paradox, charting the workings and legacies of Romantic artistic values such as originality and anti-commercialism in relation to musical genre, with case studies by Bizet, Chopin, Verdi, Wagner, and Brahms.
Available Format: Book
From the turn of the century to the 1960s, the songwriters of Tin Pan Alley were synonymous with American popular music. Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart - even today these giants remain household names. This new edition offers an unique perspective on these great songwriters, showing how their poetic lyrics were as important as their brilliant music in shaping a golden age of American popular song.
Available Format: Book
James Longstaffe - Head of Retail
