Boccherini’s Body

Boccherini’s Body
Author: Elisabeth Le Guin
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 375
Release: 2006
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0520240170

Annotation A study of how the physical processes of learning to play a piece of music can enrich and inform the mental process of studying and analyzing the music, using the cello music of Luigi Boccherini as a case study.

Piano Sonatas, Volume 1 (Nos. 1-8)

Piano Sonatas, Volume 1 (Nos. 1-8)
Author: Ludwig van Beethoven
Publisher: Alfred Music
Total Pages: 248
Release:
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9781457411052

Beethoven wrote 32 sonatas for piano. Volume 1, edited by Stewart Gordon, includes the first 8 sonatas (Op. 2, Nos. 1-3; Op. 7; Op. 10, Nos. 1-3; and Op. 13 ["Pathétique"]), written between 1795 and 1799. Since these autographs no longer exist, this edition is based on the first editions, published by various Viennese engravers. Dr. Gordon discusses a variety of topics including Beethoven's life; the pianos of his time and their limitations; Beethoven's use of articulation, ornamentation, tempo; and the age-old challenge of attempting to determine the definitive interpretation of Beethoven's music. Valuable performance recommendations, helpful fingering suggestions and ornament realizations are offered in this comprehensive critical body of Beethoven's sonatas. Where performance options are open to interpretation, other editors' conclusions are noted, enabling students and teachers to make informed performance decisions.

Bending the Rules of Music Theory

Bending the Rules of Music Theory
Author: Timothy Cutler
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 428
Release: 2019-02-04
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1351069144

For students learning the principles of music theory, it can often seem as though the tradition of tonal harmony is governed by immutable rules that define which chords, tones, and intervals can be used where. Yet even within the classical canon, there are innumerable examples of composers diverging from these foundational "rules." Drawing on examples from composers including J.S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Brahms, and more, Bending the Rules of Music Theory seeks to take readers beyond the basics of music theory and help them to understand the inherent flexibility in the system of tonal music. Chapters explore the use of different rule-breaking elements in practice and why they work, introducing students to a more nuanced understanding of music theory.

Brahms and His World

Brahms and His World
Author: Walter Frisch
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 479
Release: 2009-07-06
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1400833620

Since its first publication in 1990, Brahms and His World has become a key text for listeners, performers, and scholars interested in the life, work, and times of one of the nineteenth century's most celebrated composers. In this substantially revised and enlarged edition, the editors remain close to the vision behind the original book while updating its contents to reflect new perspectives on Brahms that have developed over the past two decades. To this end, the original essays by leading experts are retained and revised, and supplemented by contributions from a new generation of Brahms scholars. Together, they consider such topics as Brahms's relationship with Clara and Robert Schumann, his musical interactions with the "New German School" of Wagner and Liszt, his influence upon Arnold Schoenberg and other young composers, his approach to performing his own music, and his productive interactions with visual artists. The essays are complemented by a new selection of criticism and analyses of Brahms's works published by the composer's contemporaries, documenting the ways in which Brahms's music was understood by nineteenth- and early twentieth-century audiences in Europe and North America. A new selection of memoirs by Brahms's friends, students, and early admirers provides intimate glimpses into the composer's working methods and personality. And a catalog of the music, literature, and visual arts dedicated to Brahms documents the breadth of influence exerted by the composer upon his contemporaries.

Sviatoslav Richter

Sviatoslav Richter
Author: Bruno Monsaingeon
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 465
Release: 2002-09-15
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0691095493

"Sviatoslav Richter was a dazzling performer but an intensely private man. Though world famous and revered by classical music lovers everywhere, he guarded himself and his thoughts as carefully as his talent. Fascinated, author and filmmaker Bruno Monsaingeon tried vainly for years to interview the enigmatic pianist. Richter eventually yielded, granting Monsaingeon hours of taped conversation, unlimited access to his diaries and notebooks, and, ultimately his friendship. This book is the product of that friendship. It offers readers the sizable pleasure of lingering in the thoughts and words of one of the most important pianists of the twentieth century. Sviatoslav Richter belongs on the shelves of everyone with a classical music collection and will also appeal to lovers of autobiography and admirers of Russian musical culture." -- Back cover

Structural Novelty and Tradition in the Early Romantic Piano Concerto

Structural Novelty and Tradition in the Early Romantic Piano Concerto
Author: Stephan D. Lindeman
Publisher: Pendragon Press
Total Pages: 368
Release: 1999
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 9781576470008

Lindeman, a musicologist, traces and defines the historical development of the concerto form as it passed from Mozart to succeeding generations. He then assesses Beethoven's contributions, and examines the classical model of the form in the early 19th century by overviewing several early romantic composers' works. Subsequent chapters analyze and assess the responses of five precursers of Schumann, whose work offers a synthesis of radical experiments and traditional tenets. He concludes by suggesting that concertos of Lizst offer a road into further developments of the genre in the second half of the century. Illustrated with bandw portraits of composers and excerpts from musical scores. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Instrumental Music in an Age of Sociability

Instrumental Music in an Age of Sociability
Author: W. Dean Sutcliffe
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 613
Release: 2020
Genre: Music
ISBN: 110701381X

Interprets an eighteenth-century musical repertoire in sociable terms, both technically (specific musical patterns) and affectively (predominant emotional registers of the music).