The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet

The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet
Author: Robin Stowell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 394
Release: 2003-11-13
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9780521000420

This Companion offers a concise and authoritative survey of the string quartet by eleven chamber music specialists. Its fifteen carefully structured chapters provide coverage of a stimulating range of perspectives previously unavailable in one volume. It focuses on four main areas: the social and musical background to the quartet's development; the most celebrated ensembles; string quartet playing, including aspects of contemporary and historical performing practice; and the mainstream repertory, including significant 'mixed ensemble' compositions involving string quartet. Various musical and pictorial illustrations and informative appendixes, including a chronology of the most significant works, complete this indispensable guide. Written for all string quartet enthusiasts, this Companion will enrich readers' understanding of the history of the genre, the context and significance of quartets as cultural phenomena, and the musical, technical and interpretative problems of chamber music performance. It will also enhance their experience of listening to quartets in performance and on recordings.

The Cambridge Companion to the Violin

The Cambridge Companion to the Violin
Author: Robin Stowell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 326
Release: 1992-12-10
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9780521399234

Enth. S.1 - 29: The violin and bow - origins and development / John Dilworth

The Cambridge Companion to Bach

The Cambridge Companion to Bach
Author: John Butt
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 348
Release: 1997-06-26
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9780521587808

The Cambridge Companion to Bach, first published in 1997, goes beyond a basic life-and-works study to provide a late twentieth-century perspective on J. S. Bach the man and composer. The book is divided into three parts. Part One is concerned with the historical context, the society, beliefs and the world-view of Bach's age. The second part discusses the music and Bach's compositional style, while Part Three considers Bach's influence and the performance and reception of his music through the succeeding generations. This Companion benefits from the insights and research of some of the most distinguished Bach scholars, and from it the reader will gain a notion of the diversity of current thought on this great composer.

The Cambridge Companion to Brahms

The Cambridge Companion to Brahms
Author: Michael Musgrave
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 352
Release: 1999-05-27
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1139825305

This Companion gives a comprehensive view of the German composer Johannes Brahms (1833–97). Twelve specially-commissioned chapters by leading scholars and musicians provide systematic coverage of the composer's life and works. Their essays represent recent research and reflect changing attitudes towards a composer whose public image has long been out-of-date. The first part of the book contains three chapters on Brahms's early life in Hamburg and on the middle and later years in Vienna. The central section considers the musical works in all genres, while the last part of the book offers personal accounts and responses from a conductor (Roger Norrington), a composer (Hugh Wood), and an editor of Brahms's original manuscripts (Robert Pascall). The volume as a whole is an important addition to Brahms scholarship and provides indispensable information for all students and enthusiasts of Brahms's music.

The Cambridge Companion to Shostakovich

The Cambridge Companion to Shostakovich
Author: Pauline Fairclough
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 488
Release: 2008-10-30
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1139827383

As the Soviet Union's foremost composer, Shostakovich's status in the West has always been problematic. Regarded by some as a collaborator, and by others as a symbol of moral resistance, both he and his music met with approval and condemnation in equal measure. The demise of the Communist state has, if anything, been accompanied by a bolstering of his reputation, but critical engagement with his multi-faceted achievements has been patchy. This Companion offers a starting point and a guide for readers who seek a fuller understanding of Shostakovich's place in the history of music. Bringing together an international team of scholars, the book brings research to bear on the full range of Shostakovich's musical output, addressing scholars, students and all those interested in this complex, iconic figure.

The Cambridge Companion to the Orchestra

The Cambridge Companion to the Orchestra
Author: Colin James Lawson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2003-04-24
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9780521001328

This guide to the orchestra and orchestral life is unique in its breadth of coverage. It combinesorchestral history and repertory with a practical bias offering critical thought about the past, present and future of the orchestra. Including topics such as the art of orchestration, scorereading, conducting, international orchestras, recording, as well as consideration of what it means to be an orchestral musician, an educator, or an informed listener, it will be of interest to a wideranging readership of music historians and professional or amateur performers.

The Cambridge Companion to Chopin

The Cambridge Companion to Chopin
Author: Jim Samson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 364
Release: 1994-12-08
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1139824996

The Cambridge Companion to Chopin provides the enquiring music-lover with helpful insights into a musical style which recognises no contradiction between the accessible and the sophisticated, the popular and the significant. Twelve essays by leading Chopin scholars make up three parts. Part 1 discusses the sources of Chopin's style in the music of his predecessors and the social history of the period. Part 2 profiles the mature music, and Part 3 considers the afterlife of the music - its reception, its criticism and its compositional influence in the works of subsequent composers.

The Cambridge Companion to Bartók

The Cambridge Companion to Bartók
Author: Amanda Bayley
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2001-03-26
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1139826093

This Companion is an accessible guide to Bartók's music and is an ideal introduction to the composer for students, performers and concert-goers. Part I of the book sets out the cultural, social and political background in Hungary at the beginning of the twentieth century, and considers Bartók's interest in and research into folk music. Part II surveys his compositional output in all genres, relating changes in style to broad aesthetic issues, his folk music studies, and his activities as a pianist, music editor and teacher. The final part reveals the wide variety of responses to Bartók's music in Europe and the United States, both during and after his lifetime. It includes a comparison of analytical approaches to his music and an evaluation of performances including those of the composer himself. The book is written by a team of specialists, who represent more recent thinking on the composer and his music.

Mozart's Music of Friends

Mozart's Music of Friends
Author: Edward Klorman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2016-04-21
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1107093651

This study analyzes chamber music from Mozart's time within its highly social salon-performance context.