The Career of an Eighteenth-century Kapellmeister

The Career of an Eighteenth-century Kapellmeister
Author: Sterling E. Murray
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 486
Release: 2014
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 158046467X

A unique look at the career of a little-known contemporary of Haydn and Mozart, presented against a fascinating background of court musical life in late eighteenth-century Germany.

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).

Mozart, Genius, and the Possibilities of Art

Mozart, Genius, and the Possibilities of Art
Author: Edmund Joseph Goehring
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 379
Release: 2024
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1648250947

Demonstrates that the concept of genius is as vitally needed as ever and can illuminate the workings of Mozart's creative imagination. Much recent, distinguished Mozart criticism has set out a critique of the concept of genius. Whether following the scientist seeking greater objectivity, the postmodernist proclaiming the death of the author, the historian concerned about anachronism, or the critic who warns about making despotic claims, this demystifying literature has taken the weakening of genius's accumulated cultural authority as an indispensable step in arriving at a clarified Mozart. Mozart, Genius, and the Possibilities of Art advances a contrary claim. It proposes that anti-Romantic accounts of Mozart's genius themselves get lost in both the infinitely big--in utopianism and millenarianism--and the infinitesimally small--in materialism and process. Throughout, the book buttresses this argument with probing readings from contemporary documents ranging from ephemeral periodical literature to Kant's Third Critique, along with original analyses of the music itself. Goehring's book goes on to detail a contrasting Romantic portrait of Mozart's genius, one that allowed for ambiguity, embraced experience, and did not scorn reason. In Mozart's day, the term genius spoke to the unquantifiable and unpredictable in human inventiveness. And it continues to do so today. Goehring shows how the persisting fascination with an ingenious Mozart wells up from the middle of things, from the particularity of human beings--their "genie"--and the visible yet complex world of human intention and action.

Cognate Music Theories

Cognate Music Theories
Author: Ignacio Prats-Arolas
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2024-03-01
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1003846408

This volume explores the possibilities of cognate music theory, a concept introduced by musicologist John Walter Hill to describe culturally and historically situated music theory. Cognate music theories offer a new way of thinking about music theory, music history, and the relationship between insider and outsider perspectives when researchers mediate between their own historical and cultural position, and that of the originators of the music they are studying. With contributions from noted scholars of musicology, music theory, and ethnomusicology, this volume develops a variety of approaches using the cognate music theory framework and shows how this concept enables more nuanced and critical analyses of music in historical context. Addressing topics in music from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, this volume will be relevant to musicologists, music theorists, and all researchers interested in reflecting critically on what it means to construct a theory of music. Chapter 9 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.

Music History and Cosmopolitanism

Music History and Cosmopolitanism
Author: Anastasia Belina
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 153
Release: 2019-07-04
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1351060937

This collection of essays is the first book-length study of music history and cosmopolitanism, and is informed by arguments that culture and identity do not have to be viewed as primarily located in the context of nationalist narratives. Rather than trying to distinguish between a true cosmopolitanism and a false cosmopolitanism, the book presents studies that deepen understanding of the heritage of this concept – the various ways in which the term has been used to describe a wide range of activity and social outlooks. It ranges over a two hundred-year period, and more than a dozen countries, revealing how musicians and audiences have responded to a common humanity by embracing culture beyond regional or national boundaries. Among the various topics investigated are: musical cosmopolitanism among composers in Latin America, the Ottoman Empire, and Austro-Hungarian Empire; cosmopolitan popular music historiography; cosmopolitan musical entrepreneurs; and musical cosmopolitanism in the metropolises of New York and Shanghai.

Music in the Classical World

Music in the Classical World
Author: Bertil van Boer
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 552
Release: 2019-03-08
Genre: Music
ISBN: 135138225X

Music in the Classical World: Genre, Culture, and History provides a broad sociocultural and historical perspective of the music of the Classical Period as it relates to the world in which it was created. It establishes a background on the time span—1725 to 1815—offering a context for the music made during one of the more vibrant periods of achievement in history. Outlining how music interacted with society, politics, and the arts of that time, this kaleidescopic approach presents an overview of how the various genres expanded during the period, not just in the major musical centers but around the globe. Contemporaneous treatises and commentary documenting these changes are integrated into the narrative. Features include the following: A complete course with musical scores on the companion website, plus links to recordings—and no need to purchase a separate anthology The development of style and genres within a broader historical framework Extensive musical examples from a wide range of composers, considered in context of the genre A thorough collection of illustrations, iconography, and art relevant to the music of the age Source documents translated by the author Valuable student learning aids throughout, including a timeline, a register of people and dates, sidebars of political importance, and a selected reading list arranged by chapter and topic A companion website featuring scores of all music discussed in the text, recordings of most musical examples, and tips for listening Music in the Classical World: Genre, Culture, and History tells the story of classical music through eighteenth-century eyes, exposing readers to the wealth of music and musical styles of the time and providing a glimpse into that vibrant and active world of the Classical Period.

Rethinking American Music

Rethinking American Music
Author: Tara Browner
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2019-03-16
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0252051157

In Rethinking American Music, Tara Browner and Thomas L. Riis curate essays that offer an eclectic survey of current music scholarship. Ranging from Tin Pan Alley to Thelonious Monk to hip hop, the contributors go beyond repertory and biography to explore four critical yet overlooked areas: the impact of performance; patronage's role in creating music and finding a place to play it; personal identity; and the ways cultural and ethnographic circumstances determine the music that emerges from the creative process. Many of the articles also look at how a piece of music becomes initially popular and then exerts a lasting influence in the larger global culture. The result is an insightful state-of-the-field examination that doubles as an engaging short course on our complex, multifaceted musical heritage. Contributors: Karen Ahlquist, Amy C. Beal, Mark Clagu,. Esther R. Crookshank, Todd Decker, Jennifer DeLapp-Birkett, Joshua S. Duchan, Mark Katz, Jeffrey Magee, Sterling E. Murray, Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr., David Warren Steel, Jeffrey Taylor, and Mark Tucker

Songs Without Words

Songs Without Words
Author: Sandra Mangsen
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2016
Genre: History
ISBN: 1580465498

Keyboard arrangements of vocal music flourished in England between1560 and 1760. Songs without Words, by noted harpsichordist and early-music authority Sandra Mangsen, is the first in-depth study of this topic, uncovering a body of material that is remarkably varied, musically interesting, and indicative of major trends in musical and social life at the time. Mangsen's Songs without Words argues that the pieces upon which these keyboard arrangements were based constituted a shared repertoire, akin to the jazz standards of the twentieth century. In Restoration England, the ballad tradition saw tunes and texts move between oral, manuscript, and printed transmission and from street to playhouse and back again. During the eighteenth century, printed keyboard arrangements were aimed particularly at female amateur keyboardists and helped opera to become a widely popular genre. Songs without Words considers a wide range of model pieces, including songs of many kinds and arias and other numbers from operas and oratorios. The resulting keyboard versions range from simple and pedagogically oriented to highly virtuosic. Two central issues -- the relationship between an arrangement and its model and the reception and aesthetics of arrangements -- are explored in the framing chapters. The result is a study that will be of great interest to scholars, performers, and anyone who loves the music of the late Renaissance, Baroque, and early Classic eras. Sandra Mangsen is professor emerita of music at the University of Western Ontario.

Venanzio Rauzzini in Britain

Venanzio Rauzzini in Britain
Author: Paul Francis Rice
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2015
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1580465323

The remarkable career of Venanzio Rauzzini (1746-1810) sheds new light on changing musical tastes in late eighteenth-century Britain. Rauzzini was a leading soprano castrato who sang in the premiere of Mozart's Lucio Silla in 1772. Mozart was so pleased with the singer that he composed the famous motet Exsultate Jubilate for him. This book examines Rauzzini's career in Britain, starting with his three seasons as a principal singer at the King's Theatre in London (1774-77). Rauzzini was the first castrato to make Britain his home, and he enjoyed a multifaceted career there as a singer, concert director, composer (operas, chamber music, and songs), and voice teacher. Rauzzini's leadership of the Bath subscription concerts from 1780-1810 reveals the degree to which shifts in the social demographics of Bath over this period caused him to reevaluate his compositional choices, especially in light of the patriotic fervor that swept the nation during the protracted war with France. Furthermore, the recovery of much of the repertory performed during these concerts provides specific insights into issues of concert management at the time. Paul F. Rice, Professor of Musicology in the School of Music, Memorial University of Newfoundland, is the author of four previous books and has edited scores for CD recordings on the Naxos, Dorian, and Centaur labels.