Musical Cultures in Seventeenth-Century Russia

Musical Cultures in Seventeenth-Century Russia
Author: Claudia R. Jensen
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 377
Release: 2009-10-05
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0253003474

Claudia R. Jensen presents the first unified study of musical culture in the court and church of Muscovite Russia. Spanning the period from the installation of Patriarch Iov in 1589 to the beginning of Peter the Great's reign in 1694, her book offers detailed accounts of the celebratory musical performances for Russia's first patriarch -- events that were important displays of Russian piety and power. Jensen emphasizes music's varied roles in Muscovite society and the equally varied opinions and influences surrounding it. In an attempt to demystify what has previously been an enigma to Western readers, she paints a clear picture of the dazzling splendor of musical performances and the ways in which 17th-century Muscovites employed music for spiritual enlightenment as well as entertainment.

Jascha Heifetz

Jascha Heifetz
Author: Galina Kopytova
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 504
Release: 2013-11-13
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0253010896

Notoriously reticent about his early years, violinist Jascha Heifetz famously reduced the story of his childhood to "Born in Russia. First lessons at 3. Debut in Russia at 7. Debut in Carnegie Hall at 17. That's all there is to say." Tracing his little-known upbringing, Jascha Heifetz: Early Years in Russia uncovers the events and experiences that shaped one of the modern era's most unique talents and enigmatic personalities. Using previously unstudied archival materials and interviews with family and friends, this biography explores Heifetz's meteoric rise in the Russian music world—from his first violin lessons with his father, to his studies at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with the well-known pedagogue Leopold Auer, to his tours throughout Russia and Europe. Spotlighting Auer's close-knit circle of musicians, Galina Kopytova underscores the lives of artists in Russia's "Silver Age"—an explosion of artistic activity amid the rapid social and political changes of the early 20th century.

Russian Theoretical Thought in Music

Russian Theoretical Thought in Music
Author: Gordon D. McQuere
Publisher:
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2009
Genre: History
ISBN:

Offers readers new ways of conceptualizing music and new insights into music created in Russia. Since its original publication in 1983, Russian Theoretical Thought in Music has become the standard English-language source of information about music theory as it developed in Russia. Because of the distance of culture and language, music theory developed there largely independent of the traditions of Western Europe. Over the decades of Soviet rule, those traditions flourished and were refined even further into a fascinating world of ideas. Exploring this world offers the reader new ways of conceptualizing music and new insights into music created in Russia. This compelling volume includes Ellon Carpenter's overview of the development of music theory in Russia, followed by a look into the ideas of six particularly important theorists. Nicolas Schidlovsky examines the theoretical underpinnings of Russian Orthodox chant; Gordon McQuere probes the remarkable ideas of Boleslav Yavorsky and the seminal contribution of Boris Asafiev; and Roy Guenther explores the analytical system of Varvara Dernova. Contributors: Ellon D. Carpenter, Allen Forte, Roy G. Guenther, Gordon D. McQuere, and Nicolas Schidlovsky. Gordon McQuere is Professor of Music and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Washburn University.

Rachmaninoff's Complete Songs

Rachmaninoff's Complete Songs
Author: Richard D. Sylvester
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2014-04-22
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0253012597

Sergei Rachmaninoff—the last great Russian romantic and arguably the finest pianist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries—wrote 83 songs, which are performed and beloved throughout the world. Like German Lieder and French mélodies, the songs were composed for one singer, accompanied by a piano. In this complete collection, Richard D. Sylvester provides English translations of the songs, along with accurate transliterations of the original texts and detailed commentary. Since Rachmaninoff viewed these "romances" primarily as performances and painstakingly annotated the scores, this volume will be especially valuable for students, scholars, and practitioners of voice and piano.

On Russian Music

On Russian Music
Author: Richard Taruskin
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2009
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0520268067

This volume gathers 36 essays by one of the leading scholars in the study of Russian music. An extensive introduction lays out the main issues and a justification of Taruskin's approach, seen both in the light of his intellectual development and in that of the changing intellectual environment.

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Rachmaninoff
Author: Sergei Bertensson
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
Total Pages: 703
Release: 2017-04-07
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1787204340

Throughout his career as composer, conductor, and pianist, Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) was an intensely private individual. When Bertensson and Leyda’s 1956 biography appeared, it lifted the veil of secrecy from several areas of Rachmaninoff’s life, especially concerning the genesis of his compositions and how their critical reception affected him. The authors consulted a number of people who knew Rachmaninoff, who worked with him, and who corresponded with him. Even with the availability of such sources and full access to the Rachmaninoff Archive at the Library of Congress, Bertensson and Leyda were tireless in their pursuit of privately held documents, particularly correspondence. The wonderfully engaging product of their labors masterfully incorporates primary materials into the narrative. Almost half a century after it first appeared, this volume remains essential reading. Sergei Bertensson, who knew Rachmaninoff, published other works on music and film, often with a documentary emphasis.

Russian Music at Home and Abroad

Russian Music at Home and Abroad
Author: Richard Taruskin
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 556
Release: 2016-09-06
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0520288084

This new collection views Russian music through the Greek triad ofÊÒthe Good, the True, and the BeautifulÓ to investigateÊhow the idea of "nation" embeds itself in the public discourse about music and other arts with results at times invigorating, at times corrupting. In our divided, postÐCold War, and now postÐ9/11 world, Russian music, formerly a quiet corner on the margins of musicology, has become a site of noisy contention. Richard Taruskin assesses the political and cultural stakes that attach to it in the era of Pussy Riot and renewed international tensions, before turning to individual cases from the nineteenth century to the present. Much ofÊthe volume is devoted to the resolutely cosmopolitan but inveterately Russian Igor Stravinsky, one of the major forces in the music of the twentieth century and subject of particular interest to composers and music theorists all over the world. Taruskin here revisits him for the first time since the 1990s, when everything changed for Russia and its cultural products. Other essays are devoted to the cultural and social policies of the Soviet Union and their effect on the music produced there as those policies swung away from Communist internationalism to traditional Russian nationalism; to the musicians of the Russian postrevolutionary diaspora; andÊto the tension between the compelling artistic quality of works such as StravinskyÕs Sacre du Printemps or ProkofieffÕs Zdravitsa and the antihumanistic or totalitarian messages they convey. Russian Music at Home and Abroad addresses these concerns in a personal and critical way, characteristically demonstrating TaruskinÕs authority and ability toÊbring living history out of the shadows.

A History of Russian Music

A History of Russian Music
Author: Francis Maes
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 468
Release: 2006-02-20
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0520248252

Introduces the general public to the scholarly debate that has revolutionized Russian music history over the past two decades. Summarizes the new view of Russian music and provides an overview of the relationships between artistic movements and political ideas.

Alexander Tcherepnin

Alexander Tcherepnin
Author: Li͡udmila Zinovʹevna Korabelʹnikova
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2008
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0253349389

Ludmila Korabelnikova recounts the life and times of Alexander Tcherepnin, a prolific and often emulated composer who produced four operas, 13 ballets, four symphonies, numerous orchestral and chamber works, and more than 200 piano pieces. He was born in Russia in 1899 to a family of musicians and artists. However, Aaron Copland referred to him as "an honorary American composer" and Toru Takemitsu called him "a father figure of Japanese music." Korabelnikova focuses not only on the biographical elements of Tcherepnin's story, but also on his music and its technical innovations. She includes extended quotations by the composer himself and selective analytical commentary, based on primary sources and contemporaneous accounts.

Tchaikovsky's Complete Songs

Tchaikovsky's Complete Songs
Author: Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 372
Release: 2004
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780253216762

"In this splendid volume, Richard Sylvester treats Tchaikovsky's songs with great sympathy and understanding, with special emphasis on relating the texts to the music. The songs are presented chronologically, interspersed with insightful observations about their relevance to the composer's life. This book will be welcomed by performers and scholars, but its fluent readability and avoidance of unnecessary detail make it easily accessible to the general reader. A welcome bonus is a CD with 22 songs interpreted by outstanding singers of at least two generations." --George Jellinek, author, critic, and host of WQXR's nationally syndicated program The Vocal Scene