Ludwig Minkus, Don Quixote
Minkus & Petipa’s Don Quixote is one of the most enduring creations of 19th-century Russian ballet. Based on Cervantes’s novel, it tells the love story of Kitri and Basilio with musical buoyancy and melodic verve that have made it a global favorite.
Opéra-Comique
Opéra-comique, a French genre not always comic in nature—the most famous example, Bizet’s Carmen, is a tragedy—reflected the cultural life of France. This sourcebook details its forgotten composers and operas, providing a way into a changing age.
Ludwig Minkus and Léo Delibes
This volume reproduces the piano score of the ballet La Source, a joint composition by Ludwig Minkus and Léo Delibes. Delibes’s vigorous score, his first for ballet, contrasted effectively with the melancholic, graceful melodies of Minkus.
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer is famed for opera, but he also wrote a body of carefully crafted religious works throughout his life. These pieces, from youthful songs to monumental psalms, reveal the depth of his religious convictions and ecumenical openness.
Who were the early recording artists of American Folk and Country? Where did their songs originate? A specialist in early rural recordings gives answers, drawing on years of first-hand research, field trips to Appalachia, and a substantial private collection.
Daniel-François-Esprit Auber
Once regarded as a great figure of music, with an impact as great as Rossini’s, Daniel-François-Esprit Auber is now neglected. The time has come to reassess his life and work, especially his collaboration with master librettist Eugène Scribe, and hear his elegant music again.
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer’s cantatas were written for royal and civic commissions to celebrate dynastic events and praise famous men. His powers of lyric beauty and dramatic pomp are amply in evidence, revealing a forgotten side to the great operatic composer.
This volume of Meyerbeer’s non-operatic work is devoted to his secular choral writing for male voices, solo songs with chorus, and songs with instrumental obbligato and local colour. These include patriotic anthems, a tribute to Beethoven, and laments.
Commitment to Musical Excellence
For 75 years, the internationally recognized Gustavus Choir has built a heritage of choral music rooted in the a cappella tradition. This book chronicles the ensemble’s history, the legacy of its six conductors, and its unwavering commitment to musical excellence.
Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen, one of the most influential composers of the 20th century, was a great nature poet and mystic. This volume of essays by international experts marks his centenary, exploring the diverse and lasting sphere of his legacy.
Applied Ethnomusicology
Applied ethnomusicology is an approach guided by social responsibility toward solving concrete problems. This volume brings together diverse perspectives on its potential in contributing to sustainable music cultures and the use of music in conflict resolution.
Training the Composer
Uncover the teaching methods of masters Schoenberg and Boulanger. For the first time in print, this text analyzes their materials, contrasting the German and French schools to forge a new, effective pedagogy for composition teachers.
Auber’s overtures, once as popular as Rossini’s, were a staple of the light Classical repertoire. While the operas are forgotten, their overtures live on. Their freshness of melody, orchestral colours, and rhythmic vitality still generate visceral excitement.
Daniel-François-Esprit Auber
Auber & Scribe’s opéra-féerique Le Cheval de bronze is one of the composer’s best achievements. Its witty, exotic plot involves a magical horse that transports men to Venus and its sirens. A forgotten gem brimming with invention, fantasy, and comedy.
Giacomo Meyerbeer
This collection reveals unknown non-operatic works by the great operatic master Meyerbeer. From a substantial cantata to celebratory marches and brief choruses, these manuscript scores were all written ‘by Royal Command’ for German Royal families.
Daniel-François-Esprit Auber
The product of one of musical history’s most successful partnerships, Auber and Scribe’s opéra-comique Fra Diavolo is a masterpiece of thrilling plot and brilliant music. Based on a real Italian bandit, it is Auber’s most enduring opera.
Daniel-François-Esprit Auber
Auber’s grand opera La Muette de Portici is a key work in operatic history. Set against the 1647 revolt in Naples, its revolutionary tale was so potent that a performance in Brussels on 25 August 1830 sparked the uprising for Belgian independence.
Daniel-François-Esprit Auber
19th-century French composer Auber and librettist Scribe formed one of musical history’s most successful partnerships. Their opera *Manon Lescaut* features a unique final scene: a powerfully expressive dramatic symphony of simple grandeur and real emotion.
William Boyce
This sourcebook on William Boyce, England’s leading 18th-century composer, brings together significant contemporary documents on his life and career, with critical commentaries. It includes the first comprehensive catalogue of his works and discography.