This study explores Meyerbeer’s dramatic and vocal genius through his German Singspiels and Parisian triumphs. His later works fuse captivating beauty with extreme virtuosity, reaching new heights of technical and dramaturgical refinement.
Giacomo Meyerbeer is the only composer who wrote for three eras of 19th-century music, straddling German, Italian, and French opera. This study examines his six Italian operas (1817-1824), whose treasures have been rediscovered and are explored in terms of origins and content.
Female Recreation of Music Traditions
Explore how women composers since the 20th century reinterpret past music, fusing traditional idioms into their own unique compositions. Through in-depth analyses with musical examples, this book reveals their techniques for musicians and listeners alike.
Musical vernaculars are an eclectic and everchanging object of study. This book defends urbanized folk music, challenging the traditional view that only rural songs are authentic, and examines unexpected interconnections between Russian and Jewish music.
The Roots of Western Swing
This book details the early history of Western swing—a hybrid of country, jazz, and blues. In the 1930s, musicians influenced by jazz foregrounded improvisation and blues expression to develop an original style that reached its peak popularity in the 1940s.
Technology and Performance during the Renaissance
Leonardo da Vinci, known for science and art, was also one of the most famous musicians of the Renaissance. His multifaceted knowledge pushed him beyond performance; his codices contain studies on sound and an extraordinary catalogue of new musical instruments he designed.
The Marriage between Perfume and the Lyric Stage
The role of scents in opera and its influence on perfumery has long been neglected. In the first book-length study on the topic, Professor Mary May Robertson explores the previously undiscussed connection between the two, revealing their ultimate marriage in Operatic Perfumes.
Visualization and Critical Digital Pedagogies
Drawing on anthropology and music analysis, this study of digital visualization explores its import for critical pedagogy. It offers a hands-on approach for researchers, educators, and artists seeking to open passageways between theory and praxis in the digital humanities.
An Introduction to Georgian Art Music
This book journeys through 20th-century Georgian art music, reflecting the country’s turbulent history from independence through Soviet occupation. It shows how the music’s roots were shaped, how socialist realism made its imprint, and how a new generation shifted away from it.
Music as a Spandrel of Evolutionary Adaptation for Speech
Music makes no sense in the light of evolution. This book reveals it as an innate language that unlocks our imagination, allowing us to transcend reality and create. Not bad for what began as a spandrel of speech.
The Impact of the British Oboist Léon Goossens
This study reassesses Léon Goossens’ contribution to British oboe playing. It explores his pivotal role as a catalyst for new compositions that created a library of British oboe music, addressing a void in the repertoire and ultimately restoring the instrument’s status.
The Musical World of Alan Hovhaness
This book explores the work of American-Armenian composer Alan Hovhaness in the context of East-West cultural interactions. It analyzes Armenian, Indian, Japanese, and Korean musical traditions in his works, evaluating his complex identity and the phenomenon of “Armenian-ness”.
The Life and Work of Percy Aldridge Grainger
Creative genius Percy Grainger documented his life to explore how music can uplift humankind. This book is the first to detail his life and music using his own words, unpublished documents, and musical examples in a study that is both accessible and detailed.
The definitive musical biography of Mikis Theodorakis, the revolutionary composer who became a Greek icon of resistance. Born from the author’s personal friendship with the composer and written with his blessing, this is the authoritative account of a true popular hero.
Historical Trends in Georgian Traditional and Sacred Music
This review of Georgian ethnomusicology is a tribute to Anzor Erkomaishvili, a pivotal figure in traditional music. Amid the growing popularity of Georgian choral singing, this volume is essential for both ethnomusicologists and enthusiasts.
This book bridges the gap between theory and creativity in musicianship. It moves beyond the idea of theory as rigid and creativity as wild, providing a discussion of the creative drive in theory and how these ideas shape performance through illuminating examples.
The Seven-String Guitar in Russia
This definitive history of the seven-string guitar in Russia explores its cosmopolitan origins, diverse repertoire, and unique sound. It details the tradition’s connections to the country’s cultural and political context, including the role of the Russian Roma in its formation.
This collection reviews new developments in Georgian ethnomusicology and presents a tribute to Anzor Erkomaishvili, a pivotal figure in Georgian traditional music. The increasing popularity of Georgian choral singing provides an urgent need for this essential volume.
Adolphe Adam is known for ‘O Holy Night’, but his legacy is much more. His ballet Giselle is the quintessence of Romanticism, while his opera Le Postillon de Lonjumeau is still played worldwide. This study considers the composer’s life, examining his 42 operas and 14 ballets.
Romanticism, Rhetoric and the Search for the Sublime, 2nd Edition
This book builds a Neo-Romantic rhetorical theory for our time. It traces Romanticism’s roots through key writers and artists, linking their love of nature to the current environmental crisis and empowering those seeking to save the environment.