New Publications,
New Music Book Publications - 13th March 2023
Welcome to our latest selection of new music publications, including an examination of errors and misprints in published editions of orchestral music, a biography of four largely-forgotten women composers, a guide to the violin and clarinet for children from the LSO, an exploration of women in American operas of the 1950s, reception history of Haydn and Mozart during the nineteenth century, a study of music at British coronations from 1603 to the present, a collection of Brian Eno's diaries, and a revised edition of Nicolas Slonimsky's autobiography.
How does a conductor know whether the score they use is what the composer wrote? How do orchestral players know that their parts are reliable and reflect the latest scholarship? Editions of the orchestral repertoire are beset by textual problems: misprints, mistakes in the parts, or outdated scores at odds with current scholarship. This book addresses these problems through textual reports on over 100 pieces of classical music, each introduced with essential guidance and succinct commentary on the first performance and publication of the work.
Available Format: Book
This book resurrects the forgotten voices of four women: Ethel Smyth, Rebecca Clarke, Dorothy Howell, and Doreen Carwithen. In their time, these women were celebrities, composing some of the century's most popular music, but today they are ghostly presences, surviving only as footnotes to male contemporaries. This biography recounts their lives of rebellion, heartbreak and ambition, and celebrates their musical masterpieces.
Listen to our podcast with author Leah Broad.
Available Format: Book
This beautifully-illustrated story brings to life all that is wonderful about the violin. Children can follow violinist, Lilu, as she prepares for her concert performances and uncovers more about the violin. Discover how the instrument is made, how it is played and its role within the orchestra. Get swept up in the magic of the music as Lilu rehearses for a performance. This multi-sensory experience includes suggestions for music to listen to and download from the London Symphony Orchestra.
Available Format: Book
Also in this new series from the LSO is this volume on the clarinet. Meet Ed as he shares his music and passion for the clarinet with a class of enthusiastic school children, and join them at their performance of Stravinsky's The Firebird. Just like the violin volume above, the book includes suggestions for music to listen to. Further volumes in the series are due out later in the year.
Available Format: Book
Women in American Operas of the 1950s: Undoing Gendered Archetypes
Monica A. Hershberger; University of Rochester Press; Hardback
In the 1950s, composers and librettists in the United States sought to create an opera repertory that would be responsive to American culture and concerns. With chapters on Copland's The Tender Land, Floyd's Susannah, Douglas Moore's The Ballad of Baby Doe, and Jack Beeson's Lizzie Borden, this book analyses some of the most performed yet under-studied works in the American canon, emphasising the voices and perspectives of the sopranos who brought these operas to life.
Available Format: Book
Haydn and Mozart in the Long Nineteenth Century: Parallel and Intersecting Patterns of Reception
Simon P. Keefe; Cambridge University Press; Hardback
The first extended study of the combined reception of Haydn and Mozart in the long nineteenth century, this book generates new understandings of their musical, cultural, and historical significance in the Germanic, French, and Anglophone worlds. It places a wide range of sources under the microscope, including serious and popular biographies, scholarship, musical and non-musical criticism, and a diverse body of fiction.
Available Format: Book
Music and Ceremonial at British Coronations: From James I to Elizabeth II
Matthias Range; Cambridge University Press; Paperback
This is the first comprehensive study of music performed at British coronations from 1603 to the present, encompassing the sixteen coronations that have taken place in Westminster Abbey and the last two Scottish coronations. The programme of music at each coronation is reconstructed, accompanied by transcriptions of newly-discovered source material, revealing findings that lead to fresh conclusions about performance practices.
Available Format: Book
The diary and essays of Brian Eno are here republished with a new introduction by the artist. A fascinating, candid and intimate insight into one of the most influential creative artists of our time, this twenty-fifth anniversary paperback edition has been re-designed in A5, the same size as the diary that eventually became this book. It features two ribbons, pink paper delineating the appendices (matching the hardback edition) and a two-tone cover that pays homage to the original design.
Available Format: Book
Perfect Pitch, Third Revised Edition: An Autobiography
Nicolas Slonimsky; Excelsior Editions; Paperback
Russian-American conductor Nicolas Slonimsky fled pre-Communist Russia, reaching Paris at the height of another revolution - one in music and the arts. Emigrating to Boston in 1925, he embarked on a writing career, authoring works still in print decades after their first publication. This new edition of his autobiography is enhanced with previously unpublished photographs, an extensive oral history, and original essays, some reprinted for the first time.
Available Format: Book
The Great Vogue for the Guitar in Western Europe: 1800-1840
Christopher Page, Paul Sparks, & James Westbrook (editors); Boydell & Brewer; Hardback
Contemporary critics viewed the guitar with hostility, seeing in it a rejection of true musical value. Yet throughout Europe many instruments were built to meet the demand, a substantial volume of music was published for amateurs to play, and soloist-composers moved freely between cities. This book follows these lines of travel venturing as far as Moscow, visiting all the great musical cities of the period, from London to Vienna, Madrid to Naples.
Available Format: Book
The Double Bass, How It Works: A Practical Guide to Double Bass Ownership
Michael J. Pagliaro; Rowman & Littlefield; Paperback
When used concurrently with any tuition method, this book will enhance the student's learning experience to include all topics relevant to the instrument. As the lessons proceed, the students will be able to associate their playing experiences with information on how the instrument produces sound, works mechanically, evolves, is made, and how to care for it.
Available Format: Book
The Ballad-Singer in Georgian and Victorian London
Oskar Cox Jensen; Cambridge University Press; Paperback
For three centuries, ballad-singers thrived at the heart of life in London. They were routinely disparaged and persecuted, living on the margins, yet played a central part in the cultural and political life of the nation. This history spans the Georgian heyday and Victorian decline of those who sang in the city streets in order to sell printed songs. Focusing on the people who plied this musical trade, it interrogates their craft and their repertoire, the challenges they faced and the great changes in which they were caught up.
Available Format: Book
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