The Four and the One

The Four and the One
Author: David Rounds
Publisher:
Total Pages: 222
Release: 1999
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

Spotlighting the four women of the Lafayette Quartet, a leading Canadian ensemble, Rounds offers both a comprehensive history of the beloved instrumental form and an inside view of the complex world of professional quartet players, revealing the exultation and heatache that are the performing artists' daily fare. A treat for every music lover, whether player, listener or composer.

Style and Music

Style and Music
Author: Leonard B. Meyer
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 396
Release: 1996
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9780226521527

Leonard Meyer proposes a theory of style and style change that relates the choices made by composers to the constraints of psychology, cultural context, and musical traditions. He explores why, out of the abundance of compositional possibilities, composers choose to replicate some patterns and neglect others. Meyer devotes the latter part of his book to a sketch-history of nineteenth-century music. He shows explicitly how the beliefs and attitudes of Romanticism influenced the choices of composers from Beethoven to Mahler and into our own time. "A monumental work. . . . Most authors concede the relation of music to its cultural milieu, but few have probed so deeply in demonstrating this interaction."—Choice "Probes the foundations of musical research precisely at the joints where theory and history fold into one another."—Kevin Korsyn, Journal of American Musicological Society "A remarkably rich and multifaceted, yet unified argument. . . . No one else could have brought off this immense project with anything like Meyer's command."—Robert P. Morgan, Music Perception "Anyone who attempts to deal with Romanticism in scholarly depth must bring to the task not only musical and historical expertise but unquenchable optimism. Because Leonard B. Meyer has those qualities in abundance, he has been able to offer fresh insight into the Romantic concept."—Donal Henahan, New York Times

The Beethoven Quartet Companion

The Beethoven Quartet Companion
Author: Robert Winter
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 324
Release: 1994
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780520082113

"Reading The Beethoven Quartet Companion made me want to listen to the quartets again from a new sociological as well as musical perspective. It is an invaluable guide not only for professional and amateur musicians but also for anyone who is curious about culture and wants to find out more."--Yo-Yo Ma "These essays are the most readable, useful, and well-informed commentary available today on these masterworks. Michael Steinberg's 'program notes' to each quartet, directed at once to the musical beginner and to the expert, are as eloquent and persuasive as popular writing about music can get. . . . His essays are followed by equally expert and accessible contributions by other masters on The Master, providing literate music lovers with the context and equipment for a richer enjoyment and clearer understanding of these sixteen unique conversations among two violins, a viola, and a cello."--David Littlejohn, author of The Ultimate Art: Essays Around and About Opera "A fine collection of essays to assist the music lover in the seemingly endless quest to illuminate the Beethoven string quartets."--Arnold Steinhardt, The Guarneri String Quartet "This book delivers on the implied promise of its title--it provides a lively, readable, and wide-ranging introduction to the quartets. Readers at many levels of experience will find it profitable."--Lewis Lockwood, author of Beethoven: Studies in the Creative Process

Beethoven: Grosse Fuge

Beethoven: Grosse Fuge
Author: Ludwig Van Beethoven
Publisher: Performer's Edition
Total Pages: 58
Release: 2009-12-30
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1450518656

Originally written as the finale of Beethoven's 13th Quartet (Op. 130), the Grosse Fuge was later published as a separate work following the poor reception of that quartet by the public. In its current form, the Grosse Fuge (Op. 134), has become much loved among Beethoven afficianados and is seen as one of his most "contemporary" works.

Nineteenth-Century Chamber Music

Nineteenth-Century Chamber Music
Author: Stephen Hefling
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 454
Release: 2004-03-01
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1135887616

Nineteenth Century Chamber Music proceeds chronologically by composer, beginning with the majestic works of Beethoven, and continuing through Schubert, Spohr and Weber, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, the French composers, Smetana and Dvorák, and the end-of-the-century pre-modernists. Each chapter is written by a noted authority in the field. The book serves as a general introduction to Romantic chamber music, and would be ideal for a seminar course on the subject or as an adjunct text for Introduction to Romantic Music courses. Plus, musicologists and students of 19th century music will find this to be an invaluable resource.

The String Quartets of Beethoven

The String Quartets of Beethoven
Author: William Kinderman
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2010-10-01
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0252091620

"We do not understand music--it understands us." This aphorism by Theodor W. Adorno expresses the quandary and the fascination many listeners have felt in approaching Beethoven's late quartets. No group of compositions occupies a more central position in chamber music, yet the meaning of these works continues to stimulate debate. William Kinderman's The String Quartets of Beethoven stands as the most detailed and comprehensive exploration of the subject. It collects new work by leading international scholars who draw on a variety of historical sources and analytical approaches to offer fresh insights into the aesthetics of the quartets, probing expressive and structural features that have hitherto received little attention. This volume also includes an appendix with updated information on the chronology and sources of the quartets and a detailed bibliography.

Catalogs

Catalogs
Author: Harold Reeves (Firm)
Publisher:
Total Pages: 700
Release: 1919
Genre: Music
ISBN:

Schubert

Schubert
Author: Lorraine Bodley
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 738
Release: 2023-07-11
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0300268408

An insightful biography of the great composer, revealing Schubert’s complex and fascinating private life alongside his musical genius Brilliant, short-lived, incredibly prolific—Schubert is one of the most intriguing figures in music history. While his music attracts a wide audience, much of his private life remains shrouded in mystery, and significant portions of his work have been overlooked. In this major new biography, Lorraine Byrne Bodley takes a detailed look into Schubert’s life, from his early years at the Stadtkonvikt to the harrowing battle with syphilis that led to his death at the age of thirty-one. Drawing on extensive archival research in Vienna and the Czech Republic and reconsidering the meaning of some of his best-known works, Bodley provides a fuller account than ever before of Schubert’s extraordinary achievement and incredible courage. This is a compelling new portrait of one of the most beloved composers of the nineteenth century.