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1/2007 The Reception of Bach's Organ Works from Mendelssohn to Brahms by Russell Stinson Bach's music has made an indelible mark on all those who compose for the organ, and in the nineteenth century, Bach's music was revived, revered, and brought to life for a musical public. In this fascinating study, Bach scholar and organist Russell Stinson examines how four major composers of the nineteenth century--Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, and Johannes Brahms--responded to the model of Bach's organ music. Whether for keyboard, voice, orchestra, or chamber ensemble, these composers not only borrowed from Bach's organ works in creating their own masterpieces, but also reacted significantly to the music as performers, editors, theorists, and teachers. The book reveals how these four titans influenced one another as "receptors" of this repertory and how their mutual acquaintances--especially Clara Schumann--contributed as well. 1/2007 Gerald Finzi: His Life and Music by Diana McVeagh Gerald Finzi is one of the best-known modern English composers. While he is especially famous as a song-writer, for his sensitive settings of poets such as Hardy and Wordsworth, he also wrote in other genres; notable works include the exquisite cantata Dies Natalis, and his cello concerto. He also exerted a major influence in the musical world as a whole, championing the neglected Ivor Gurney and reviving eighteenth-century composers with the amateur orchestra he founded.In this lively and sensitive study of his life and works, Diana McVeagh, the renowned Elgar and Finzi scholar, has made use of interviews with the main figures in his life, correspondence with contemporaries such as Vaughan Williams, Edmund Blunden, Arthur Bliss, Edmund Rubbra, Howard Ferguson and Herbert Howells, and her access to previously unpublished material in the form of his widow, Joy's, unpublished journal. The Finzi that emerges is a multi-faceted and complex character. The author shows how he developed from a solitary, introverted youth into a man with strong views and a myriad of interests: everything from education, pacifism, vegetarianism, to the Arts and Crafts movement, the English pastoral tradition, English apple varieties, and the significance of ancestry, friendship and marriage in an artist's life. She also discusses every work within the narrative of Finzi's life, and shows what makes his output so outstanding. 1/2007 Benjamin Britten: The Spiritual Dimension (Oxford Studies in British Church Music) by Graham Elliott Since Britten's death in 1976, numerous articles and books have been written about his life and work. Much has been made of the strong influences of his pacifism and his homosexuality. It is often suggested that Britten felt himself to be an outsider from 'normal' society, and that this accounts for the his concern to portray the 'outsider' in his operas. There is no doubt that this is an important aspect of Britten's art, but the present work attempts to show that his music embraces much wider and more universal concerns, and in addressing those concerns there is a clearly defined pattern of spiritual influence. Part One of the book examines Britten's early life, and the strong presence which the Church had in his childhood and adolescence. It explores the way in which certain spiritual influences were first manifested, and how, like the more specifically musical 'themes' which Donald Mitchell has noted, they can be traced throughout Britten's life and work. The author was privileged to have conversations with two clergymen who were influential in Britten's life, as well as gathering valuable insights through a long series of conversations with Sir Peter Pears. Part Two examines a wide range of the composer's music in which a spiritual dimension can be traced. The specifically liturgical music has received rather less critical notice than Britten's larger works. The music is discussed here, and shown to possess musical characteristics in common with the larger works. Britten could not be described as a conventional Christian; still less is it true to describe him, as Eric Walter White has done, as 'keen, wherever possible, to work within the framework of the Church of England'. Nevertheless, his spirituality was rooted in the religious experience of his childhood. This book seeks to demonstrate that Britten retained a sense of the Christian values absorbed in childhood and adolescence, and that these - along with the specifically Christian heritage of plainsong - were strongly influential in his choice and treatment of themes. 1/2007 Ways of Listening: An Ecological Approach to the Perception of Musical Meaning by Eric F. Clarke In Ways of Listening, musicologist Eric Clarke explores musical meaning, music's critical function in human lives, and the relationship between listening and musical material. Clarke outlines an "ecological approach" to understanding the perception of music, arguing that the way we hear and understand music is not simply a function of our brain structure or of the musical "codes" given to us by culture, but must be considered within the physical and social contexts of listening. 1/2007 Sourcebook for Research in Music by Phillip D. Crabtree, Donald H. Foster, Allen Scott "This bibliography of bibliographies will be valuable as a classroom text and research tool."--American Music Teacher. "The Crabtree and Foster citations . . . offer a welcome new perspective on the field of music research methods and bibliography, under new and timely headings."--Fontes Artis Musicae. This bibliography of bibliographies lists and describes sources, from basic references to highly specialized materials. Valuable as a classroom text and as a research tool for scholars, librarians, performers, and teachers. 1/2007 Reflections On Liszt by Alan Walker "Liszt was first presented to Beethoven by his teacher Carl Czerny, while he was a boy of eleven. . . . At the end of the meeting, Beethoven bestowed the famous ‘kiss of consecration’ on the boy’s forehead, which Liszt thereafter regarded as a benediction on his career. In later life, he often spoke of this meeting, the memory of which was a powerful stimulus to the further study and performance of Beethoven’s music."—from Chapter Two. In a series of lively essays that tell us much not only about the phenomenon that was Franz Liszt, but also about the musical and cultural life of nineteenth-century Europe, Alan Walker muses on aspects of Liszt’s life and work that he was unable to explore in his acclaimed three-volume biography of the great composer and pianist. Topics include Liszt’s contributions to the Lied, the lifelong impact of his encounter with Beethoven, his influence on students who became famous in their own right, his accomplishments in transcribing and editing the works of other composers, and his innovative piano technique. One chapter is devoted to the Sonata in B Minor, perhaps Liszt’s single most celebrated composition. Walker draws heavily on Liszt’s astonishingly large personal correspondence with other composers, critics, pianists, and prominent public figures. All the essays reveal Walker’s broad and deep knowledge of Liszt and Romantic music generally and, in some cases, his impatience with contemporary performance practice. 1/2007 Musica Christi: A Lutheran Aesthetic by Marion Lars Hendrickson Theological aesthetics is a rapidly expanding subject in the field of religious humanism that, until now, has not had a participating Lutheran voice. Musica Christi: A Lutheran Aesthetic fills this void by approaching the rich tradition of music and theology in the Lutheran Church through Christology. Furthermore, this study shows Christ’s full participation in and by music. Selections from Lutheran works in Danish, German, Latin, Norwegian, and Swedish are offered in English translations for the first time by the author. Marion Lars Hendrickson is a pastor in The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and teaches religion and music at Concordia University Wisconsin. With advanced degrees in music and theology, Hendrickson received his Ph.D. in theology from the University of Durham and is also a performing musician. He is the author of Behold the Man!, a book on the Christologies of John Macquarrie and Wolfhart Pannenberg. 1/2007 Max Bruch : His Life and Works by Christopher Fifield Max Bruch (1838-1920), the German composer best known for his Violin Concerto in G minor, was in his day, a famous conductor and teacher as well as a prolific composer; yet he has been sadly neglected, perhaps in comparison to his contemporary Brahms. In this book - the only full-length study of Bruch - the author provides a richly documented account of Bruch's career as music director and conductor, including a spell with the Liverpool Philharmonic Society from 1880-1883, and as a teacher at the Royal Academy of Arts in Berlin from 1892 until his retirement in 1911, where Vaughan Williams was one his pupils; he paints a picture of a proud and sensitive man, whose talents were perhaps left behind at a time of rapid musical development. The book also offers a musical analysis of his one hundred published works, including three operas. CHRISTOPHER FIFIELD is foremost a conductor, but also a writer on music history (Grove, DNB, Viking Opera Guide, Oxford Companion to Music), the author of a biography of Hans Richter, the editor of the letters and diaries of Kathleen Ferrier, and a recent history of the music agents Ibbs and Tillett. 1/2007 The MacDowell Colony: A Musical History of America's Premier Artists' Community by Bridget Falconer-Salkeld Presenting a musical history of the MacDowell Colony in the fullest sense, this work also contains new discoveries in several areas. It is a survey of 19th and early 20th century art colonies in the United States, and, with reference to a French exemplar, provides a context for the founding of the MacDowell Colony in 1907. The various formative pressures, influences, and motivations of the colony are explored, and its philosophical basis is identified and discussed. 1/2007 Kirchenmusik im 20. Jahrhundert Erbe und Auftrag by Albert Gerhards NA 1/2007 J. S. Bach and the German Motet by Daniel R. Melamed The motets of J. S. Bach are probably the most sophisticated works ever composed in the genre. Nevertheless, Daniel Melamed maintains, the view that they constitute a body of work quite separate from the German motet tradition is mistaken. He starts by considering the eighteenth-century understanding of the term itself and finds that Bach's own use does indeed agree with his contemporaries and that his motets are rooted in the conventions of the time, particularly in matters of musical construction, performing forces, and type of text. A fresh look at the repertory shows that Bach composed motets all through his career and an appreciation of the contemporary conception of the motet sheds light on questions of how and why Bach himself used the form. Professor Melamed also finds plenty of evidence that motets and motet style played an important role in Bach's exploration of the musical past. 1/2007 Giacomo Meyerbeer And Music Drama In Nineteenth-century Paris by Mark Everist NA 1/2007 Gabriel Faure by Jean-MicheI Nectoux Jean-Michel Nectoux's important new biography of Gabriel Fauré is the most comprehensive study yet of this central figure of fin de siecle France. It traces the composer's life and the rich cultural milieu in which he lived and worked: the world also of Saint-Saens, Flaubert, Verlaine, Ravel, Debussy and Proust. A large part of the book considers Faure's music, with particular emphasis on his adjustment to the musical language of the twentieth century and the formation of his late style. Works in all genres are discussed in detail. The book is the fruit of over twenty years' research by Nectoux, the foremost authority on Gabriel Fauré. He has read more than 5000 previously unpublished letters and has unearthed more than 120 musical manuscripts in the process of writing this definitive study. The text is richly illustrated with rare photographs from Fauré's lifetime and contains an extended chronology of the composer's life, a complete chronological listing of all his own works and a detailed bibliography. 1/2007 Evening in the Palace of Reason: Bach Meets Frederick the Great in the Age of Enlightenment by James R. Gaines Johann Sebastian Bach created what may be the most celestial and profound body of music in history; Frederick the Great built the colossus we now know as Germany, and along with it a template for modern warfare. Their fleeting encounter in 1757 signals a unique moment in history where belief collided with the cold certainty of reason. Set at the tipping point between the ancient and modern world, Evening in the Palace of Reason captures the tumult of the eighteenth century, the legacy of the Reformation, and the birth of the Enlightenment in this extraordinary tale of two men. 1/2007 Early Recordings and Musical Style by Robert Philip Until recently, early recordings were regarded as little more than old-fashioned curiosities by musicians. Scholars and musicians now are beginning to realise their importance as historical documents which preserve the performance of composers and the musicians with whom they worked. In this fascinating study, Robert Philip argues that recordings of the early twentieth-century provide an important and hitherto neglected resource in the history of musical performance. The book concentrates on aspects of performance which underwent the greatest change in the early twentieth century, including rhythm, rubato, vibrato, and portamento. The final chapters explore some of the implications of these changes, both for the study of earlier periods and for the understanding of our own attitudes to the music of the past. 1/2007 Chant Gregorien Et Musique Medievale by Michel Huglo NA 1/2007 Bruckner's Symphonies: Analysis, Reception and Cultural Politics by Julian Horton Despite significant advances in Bruckner scholarship, many problems persist. Although the relationship between Bruckner's music, post-Wagnerian ideology and, ultimately, Nazism has been carefully reconstructed, questions of how such matters should condition our responses to the music remain unaddressed. This important study isolates problematic issues of interpretation, analysis, reception, and historical location, and offers potential solutions through case studies of individual works. 1/2007 The Baroque Cello Revival: An Oral History by Paul Laird Cellists play a variety of instruments that they call Baroque cellos, ranging from basically modern cellos with gut strings, a period bridge, and Baroque bow, to instruments where the entire set-up is altered. This is the first study in which the revival of a single period instrument has received such detailed consideration. Laird also offers many details concerning the history of the period performance movement in reference to famous ensembles and musicians. 12/2006 American Victorian Choral Music by N. Lee Orr (ed.) 11/2006 Jumping to Conclusions: The Falling-Third Cadences in Chant, Polyphony And Recitative by Richard Hudson THE FALLING THIRD involved here is the descending interval between scale degrees 3 and 1. 7/2005 Words About Mozart : Essays in Honour of Stanley Sadie by Dorothea Link (Editor), Judith Nagley (Editor) Words About Mozart is published as a tribute to Stanley Sadie, musicologist, critic and editor of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Of the eleven essays presented here, three focus on compositional matters: Julian Rushton examines the dramatic meaning of a recurring motif in Idomeneo; Elaine Sisman sifts through the facts surrounding the genesis of Mozart's 'Haydn' quartets; and Simon Keefe matches up pairs of piano sonatas and concertos on the basis of their common compositional features. Cliff Eisen considers some problems of performing practice posed by the solo keyboard parts in Mozart's concertos, and Robert Philip surveys tempo fluctuations in a selection of historical recordings. Felicity Baker's detailed analysis of aspects of the Don Giovanni libretto is a welcome contribution from the field of literary criticism. Three studies offer new archival research: Neal Zaslaw uncovers the background to one of Mozart's nonsense compositions; Dorothea Link examines the Viennese Hofkapelle and creates a new context for understanding Mozart's court appointment; and Theodore Albrecht proposes a candidate for Mozart's Zauberflötist. Christina Bashford considers an aspect of Mozart reception in 19th-century England connected with John Ella, and Peter Branscombe presents a comprehensive overview of research published since the bicentenary in 1991. The volume includes a full bibliography of Stanley Sadie's publications and broadcasts. 7/2005 Singing High Pitches With Ease by Nancy Telfer 7/2005 A Singer's Manual Of Foreign Language Dictions by Richard F. Sheil 7/2005 The Scoring of Baroque Concertos by Richard Maunder The concertos of Vivaldi, Bach, Handel and their contemporaries are some of the most popular, and the most frequently performed, pieces of classical music; and the assumption has always been they were full orchestral works. This book takes issue with this orthodox opinion to argue quite the reverse: that contemporaries regarded the concerto as chamber music. The author surveys the evidence, from surviving printed and manuscript performance material, from concerts throughout Europe between 1685 and 1750 (the heyday of the concerto), demonstrating that concertos were nearly always played one-to-a-part at that time. He makes a particularly close study of the scoring of the bass line, discussing the question of what instruments were most appropriate and what was used when. Dr RICHARD MAUNDER is Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge. 7/2005 Peter Schickele: A Bio-Bibliography by Tammy Ravas Covers the life and works of classical music composer, Peter Schickele, who is probably best known for his humorous alter ego, P.D.Q. Bach. He has walked the line between a professional composer and musical satirist for over 35 years and his compositions have reached into virtually every genre of music from jazz to rock to folk to movie music and to classical. The major influences in his career include his love of the theater, Spike Jones, and a philosophy that no genre of music is inherently inferior. Schickele was consulted during the compilation of this volume, therefore, much of the date and premier information comes from his own resources. 7/2005 Musical Excellence: Strategies and Techniques to Enhance Performance by Aaron Williamon (Editor) Musical Excellence offers performers, teachers, and researchers, new perspectives and practical guidance for enhancing performance and managing the stress that typically accompanies performance situations. It draws together, for the first time in a single collection, the findings of pioneering initiatives from across the arts and sciences. Specific recommendations are provided alongside comprehensive reviews of existing theory and research, enabling the practitioner to place the strategies and techniques within the broader context of human performance and encouraging novel ways of conceptualizing music and teaching. Part 1, Prospects and Limits, sets out ground rules for achieving musical excellence. What roles do innate talent, environmental influences, and sheer hard work play in attaining eminence? How can musicians best manage the physical demands of a profession that is intrinsically arduous throughout a career that can literally span a lifetime? How can performers, teachers, and researchers effectively assess and reflect on performance enhancement for themselves, their colleagues, and their students? Part II, Practice Strategies, presents approaches for increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of practice. These are generally for the individual and ensembles and specifically for the tasks of memorizing, sight-reading, and improvising music. Musicians spend vast amounts of time and energy acquiring and refining their skills, but are there particular rehearsal strategies that they can employ to produce better performance results or to achieve the same results more quickly? What implication does existing knowledge of human information processing and physical functioning have for musical learning and practice? Part III, Techniques and Interventions, introduces scientifically validated methods for ordered from the more physical to the psychological to the pharmacological; however, they all address the issues of both mental and physical significance for the musician. Collectively, they stand as clear evidence that applied, cross-disciplinary research can facilitate musicians' strive for performance excellence. Throughout, the book highlights ways for musicians to make the most of their existing practice, training, and experience and to give them additional tools for acquiring and developing new skills. Each chapter is underpinned by physical and psychological principles relevant to all performance traditions that demand dedication and resilience, unique artistic vision, and effective communication. 7/2005 Music and the Middle Class: The Social Structure of Concert Life in London, Paris & Vienna,1830-1848 by William Weber 7/2005 Evoking Sound: Fundamentals of Choral Conducting and Rehearsing by James Jordan 7/2005 The Birth of the Orchestra: History of an Institution, 1650-1815 by John Spitzer, Neal Zaslaw 7/2005 Beethoven After Napoleon: Political Romanticism in the Late Works by Stephen Rumph In this provocative analysis of Beethoven's late style, Stephen Rumph demonstrates how deeply political events shaped the composer's music, from his early enthusiasm for the French Revolution to his later entrenchment during the Napoleonic era. Impressive in its breadth of research as well as for its devotion to interdisciplinary work in music history, Beethoven after Napoleon challenges accepted views by illustrating the influence of German Romantic political thought in the formation of the artist's mature style. Beethoven's political views, Rumph argues, were not quite as liberal as many have assumed. While scholars agree that the works of the Napoleonic era such as the Eroica Symphony or Fidelio embody enlightened, revolutionary ideals of progress, freedom, and humanism, Beethoven's later works have attracted less political commentary. Rumph contends that the later works show clear affinities with a native German ideology that exalted history, religion, and the organic totality of state and society. He claims that as the Napoleonic Wars plunged Europe into political and economic turmoil, Beethoven's growing antipathy to the French mirrored the experience of his Romantic contemporaries. Rumph maintains that Beethoven's turn inward is no pessimistic retreat but a positive affirmation of new conservative ideals. Illustrations: 30 music examples 5/2005 Worship Wars in Early Lutheranism: Choir, Congregation, and Three Centuries of Conflict by Joseph Herl Sixteenth-century Lutherans sang hymns in church—-true or false? In this book, Joseph Herl draws on hundreds of liturgical documents, contemporary accounts of services, sermons, instructional and polemical writings on church music, and other sources to show that quite often the answer was "false." He then traces the path of Lutheran church music for the next two centuries to show how Lutherans acquired their reputation as the "singing church." This path was treacherous and fraught with conflict. In the sixteenth century, Lutherans were buffeted by Catholicism on one side and the Swiss Reformation on the other. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Lutheran churches were caught up in a debate over a new style of church music that many found more entertaining than devotional. This debate was to have a strong impact on musicians such as Johann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries. By the end of the eighteenth century, Lutherans were trying to hold their own against a new secularism, and many clergy favored a wholesale revision or even abandonment of the historic liturgy in order to make worship more relevant in contemporary society. Herl paints a vivid picture of these developments, using as a backdrop the gradual transition from a choral to a congregational liturgy. The author eschews the usual analyses of musical repertoire and deals instead with events, people and ideas, drawing readers inside the story and helping them sense what it must have been like to attend a Lutheran church in the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries. Parallel developments in Catholic churches are discussed, as are the rise of organ accompaniment of hymns and various questions of musical performance practice. Although written with academic precision, the writing is clear and comprehensible to the nonspecialist, and entertaining anecdotes abound, including stories about the congregation that pelted the preacher with vegetables and the organist who had just three postludes: the hoppity, the skippity and the jumpity. The appendixes include translations of several important historical documents and a set of tables outlining the Lutheran mass as presented in 172 different liturgical orders. The bibliography includes 400 Lutheran church orders and reports of ecclesiastical visitations read by the author. 5/2005 Twentieth-Century Piano Music by David Burge Now in paperback! In Twentieth-Century Piano Music, David Burge offers a personal and inviting overview of the often challenging music written for solo piano during this century, an artistic response by a pianist and educator widely acclaimed for introducing much of this literature to the repertoire. Divided into four sections, each covering a key historical period, the text examines the development of different styles and compositional techniques, and integrates historical and artistic details with a sophisticated and accessible approach to the music. Burge offers cogent performance suggestions for selected works of Copland, Stockhausen, Boulez, Berio, Cage, Crumb, and others. 5/2005 Thinking Musically: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture by Bonnie C. Wade Designed for undergraduates with little or no background in the subject, Thinking Musically is an ideal core text for any introductory world music or ethnomusicology course. It incorporates music from many diverse cultures and establishes the conceptual framework for exploring these cultures in a global context. The central book in the Global Music Series, it is supported by a variety of single-volume case studies, each of which covers a single musical culture. Thinking Musically discusses the importance of musical instruments and describes their significance in a culture's folklore, religion, and history. It also defines fundamental musical terms and concepts including rhythm, pitch, sound, scale, and melody, and examines how they vary across the traditions of world music. Considering the effects of cultural influences such as gender and ethnicity on the perception, interpretation, and performance of music, the text also looks at how the forces of nationalism, acculturation, and westernization can affect musical traditions. It concludes with an instructive chapter on how to conduct fieldwork in ethnomusicology. Thinking Musically is packaged with a 70-minute CD that features selections from a wide variety of musical cultures and includes activities designed to build critical listening skills. 5/2005 Oxford Dictionary Of Musical Terms by Alison Latham (Editor) 5/2005 The Life of Bach by Peter Williams Like Shakespeare, J.S. Bach is known largely by his works. Peter Williams asks many questions in this examination of the man as well as the composer. What was Bach like as a youth, father, and, eventually, church elder? What music did he know and how did he compose and perform such an amazing amount? Ultimately, Williams questions the effects of unremitting acclaim on objective evaluations of J.S. Bach. 5/2005 The English Bach Awakening: Knowledge Of J.s. Bach And His Music In England 1750-1830 by Michael Kassler (Editor) 5/2005 Composing for Voice: A Guide for Composers, Singers and Teachers by Paul Barker Although there have been many texts on the art of singing, and others on composition, there are none on the unique challenges of composing for the voice. This book, written by a well-known contemporary composer and pedagogue, fills that gap by offering a comprehensive survey of issues surrounding both the singer and the composer. The book primarily focuses on classical vocal music, but also draws on examples from jazz, Broadway/theatrical, operatic, and popular music. From understanding the mechanics of the voice through techniques to wed text to music, this book will aid both composers and vocalists to better understand each other's craft. 5/2005 C.P.E. Bach and the Rebirth of the Strophic Song by William H. Youngren C.P.E. Bach and the Rebirth of the Strophic Song brings to light the overlooked fact that C.P.E. Bach wrote a great many songs, most of which are as under appreciated as they are exemplary. All interested listeners, from amateurs to professional musicologists and singers, will benefit from the insight captured by this book. 5/2005 Catholic Choral Music in Vietnam 1945-1975 by Paul Van Chi Chu 5/2005 The Cambridge Companion to Sibelius by Daniel M. Grimley (Editor) This Companion provides an up-to-date introduction to the life and music of Finland's greatest composer, Jean Sibelius (1865-1957). Divided into four sections, it explores Sibelius's early career, his major musical achievements, historical reception and influence, and the performance and interpretation of his work. Sibelius emerges as one of the most striking figures in twentieth-century music. The book will be of interest to performers and the general public as well as serious scholars. 5/2005 Brahms and the German Spirit by Daniel Beller-McKenna The music of Johannes Brahms is deeply colored, Daniel Beller-McKenna shows, by nineteenth-century German nationalism and by Lutheran religion. Focusing on the composer's choral works, the author offers new insight on the cultural grounding for Brahms's music. Music historians have been reluctant to address Brahms's Germanness, wary perhaps of fascist implications. Beller-McKenna counters this tendency; by giving an account of the intertwining of nationalism, politics, and religion that underlies major works, he restores Brahms to his place in nineteenth-century German culture. The author explores Brahms's interest in the folk element in old church music; the intense national pride expressed in works such as the Triumphlied; the ways Luther's Bible and Lutheranism are reflected in Brahms's music; and the composer's ideas about nation building. The final chapter looks at Brahms's nationalistic image as employed by the National Socialists, 1933-1945, and as witnessed earlier in the century (including the complication of rumors that Brahms was Jewish). In comparison to the overtly nationalist element in Wagner's music, the German elements in Brahms's style have been easy to overlook. This nuanced study uncovers those nationalistic elements, enriching our understanding both of Brahms's art and of German culture. 5/2005 Conversations with Boulez : Thoughts on Conducting by Jean Vermeil A giant of postwar music and the most powerful figure in the contemporary French music scene, Pierre Boulez talks about his career as one of the world's most controversial conductors and daring programmers of musical text. These candid interviews give us vintage Boulez: his bold views, enigmatic wit, practical wisdom, and uncompromising beliefs. 5/2005 Blessed Are The Music Makers: Warm-ups for the Musician's Spirit by Alan J. Hommerding 4/2005 The Art of the Piano : Its Performers, Literature and Recordings Revised and Expanded Edition by David Dubal This is the only complete and up-to-date book profiling every major pianist (thousands) and their essential repertoire and recordings. This third edition is completely revised (second edition: 1995 Harvest Books, ISBN# 0-15-600019-9), with hundreds more entries and updated information about existing entries. The book contains a CD for the first time featuring rare performances. "For all those interested in the piano, this book will provide great insight and knowledge. It must be read by everyone who loves the instrument." - Vladimir Horowitz "The Art of the Piano is the best companion a piano aficionado could ask for." - Baltimore Sun 4/2005 The Church Music of Fifteenth-Century Spain by Kenneth Kreitner The arrival of Francisco de Pealosa at the Aragonese court in May 1498 marks something of an epoch in the history of Spanish music: Pealosa wrote in a mature, northern-oriented style, and his sacred music influenced Iberian composers for generations after his death. Kenneth Kreitner's new book looks at the church music sung by Spaniards in the decades before Pealosa, a repertory that has long been ignored because much of it is anonymous and because it is scattered through manuscripts better known for something else. He identifies sixty-seven pieces of surviving Latin sacred music that were written in Spain between 1400 and the early 1500s, and he discusses them source by source, revealing the rapid and dramatic change, not only in the style and sophistication of these pieces, but in the level of composerly self-consciousness shown in the manuscripts. Within a generation or so at the end of the fifteenth century, Spanish musicians created a new national music just as Ferdinand and Isabella were creating a new nation. KENNETH KREITNER teaches at the University of Memphis. 4/2005 Thematic Catalogue of the Musical Works of Johann Pachelbel by Jean M. Perreault This Catalogue provides scholars and performers with a survey of the breadth and variety of the repertoire of the composer about whom Christoph Wolff describes as one of the most seminal and influential musicians of the pre-Bach generation in Germany. Pachelbel composed the majority of his 527 works for keyboard instruments, as well as choral, vocal and chamber music and the Catalogue presents incipits for each that can be identified. The list of works is intended to determine the totality of the corpus and knowledge about it, to determine the best means of identifying each work, and to settle problems of identity among similarly titled works. An essay on authorities examines the controversies of authenticity of Pachelbel manuscripts. 4/2005 The organ of the twentieth century;: A manual on all matters relating to the science and art of orga by George Ashdown Audsley 4/2005 Words on Music: Essays in Honor of Andrew Porter on the Occasion of His 75th Birthday by David Rosen (Editor), Claire Brook (Editor), Andrew Porter 4/2005 With Voice and Pen: Coming to Know Medieval Song and How It Was Made by Leo Treitler Fully revised and updated, Leo Treitler's seventeen classic essays trace the creation and spread of song (cantus), sacred and secular, through oral tradition and writing, in the European Middle Ages. Each of these seminally influential essays has been revised to take account of recent developments, and is prefaced with a new introduction to highlight the historical issues. The accompanying CD contains performances of much of the music discussed. 4/2005 Structure and Meaning in Tonal Music: Festschrift for Carl Schachter by Poundie Burstein, David Gagne (Editors) 4/2005 Stokowski And The Organ by Rollin Smith 4/2005 Splendid Service: The Restoration of David Tannenberg's Home Moravian Church Organ by William Armstrong, Paula Locklair, Bruce Shull 4/2005 A Ravel Reader : Correspondence, Articles, Interviews by Arbie Orenstein (Editor) Considered among the most original and influential composers of the twentieth century, Maurice Ravel played a decisive role in the history of modern French music--a role that continues to be examined by students exploring the roots of musical style in our time. An internationally recognized authority on the life and works of Ravel, editor Arbie Orenstein captures the essence of this enigmatic man through his own words, both written and spoken. This outstanding compilation of articles by Ravel (who was a brilliant critic) features reviews, interviews, and some 350 letters--most of which are published here for the first time in English-from Cocteau, Colette, de Falla, Richard Strauss, Stravinsky, and other major figures of the era. 4/2005 Polymath of the Baroque: Agostino Steffani and His Music by Colin Timms This is the first book to consider all aspects of the life of Agostino Steffani (1654-1728), a composer, diplomat, and bishop. A remarkable figure of the late 17th and early 18th century Europe, Steffani began his career as a composer, musician, and courtier, but his accomplishments brought him high-level positions in the courts of Germany and the Catholic Church. Throughout his diplomatic and ecclesiatical career, Steffani continued to compose chamber music, vocal chamber music, operas, and sacred music--works which inspired Handel and other Baroque composers. 4/2005 Operas Of Leonardo Vinci, Napolitano by KURT MARKSTROM 4/2005 Music Philology by Georg Feder 4/2005 Michael William Balfe: His Life and His English Operas by William Tyldesley 4/2005 Metaphor and Musical Thought by Michael Spitzer The experience of music is an abstract and elusive one, enough so that we're often forced to describe it using analogies to other forms and sensations: we say that music moves or rises like a physical form; that it contains the imagery of paintings or the grammar of language. In these and countless other ways, our discussions of music take the form of metaphor, attempting to describe music's abstractions by referencing more concrete and familiar experiences. Michael Spitzer's Metaphor and Musical Thought uses this process to create a unique and insightful history of our relationship with music--the first ever book-length study of musical metaphor in any language. Treating issues of language, aesthetics, semiotics, and cognition, Spitzer offers an evaluation, a comprehensive history, and an original theory of the ways our cultural values have informed the metaphors we use to address music. And as he brings these discussions to bear on specific works of music and follows them through current debates on how music's meaning might be considered, what emerges is a clear and engaging guide to both the philosophy of musical thought and the history of musical analysis, from the seventeenth century to the present day. Spitzer writes engagingly for students of philosophy and aesthetics, as well as for music theorists and historians. 4/2005 Hymnal Collections of North America by Tina M. Schneider Hymnal Collections of North America provides updated descriptions, addresses, web sites, and contact information for 327 hymnal collections held by libraries, individuals, museums, historical societies, denominational archives, and other organizations. Indexed by denomination, chronological holdings, languages represented, and hymnal types, this directory provides a current profile of unique hymnal collections both great and small, and includes an extensive bibliography of literature related to studies of hymnals and hymnal collections. 4/2005 For the End of Time: The Story of the Messiaen Quartet by Rebecca Rischin Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992) was one of the great composers of the twentieth century. The premiere of the French composer’s Quartet for the End of Time on January 15, 1941 at -4 degrees Fahrenheit in Stalag VIIIA, a Nazi prison camp, has been called one of the great stories of twentieth century music. A devout Catholic with an interest in mysticism and the supernatural, Messiaen was also a poet and an accomplished amateur ornithologist. He mixed sounds as a painter mixes colors, associating specific shades with certain modes and chords. 4/2005 English Eighteenth-century Concertos: An Inventory And Thematic Catalogue by OWAIN EDWARDS 3/2005 Worship Wars in Early Lutheranism: Choir, Congregation, and Three Centuries of Conflict by Joseph Herl Sixteenth-century Lutherans sang hymns in church—-true or false? In this book, Joseph Herl draws on hundreds of liturgical documents, contemporary accounts of services, sermons, instructional and polemical writings on church music, and other sources to show that quite often the answer was "false." He then traces the path of Lutheran church music for the next two centuries to show how Lutherans acquired their reputation as the "singing church." This path was treacherous and fraught with conflict. In the sixteenth century, Lutherans were buffeted by Catholicism on one side and the Swiss Reformation on the other. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Lutheran churches were caught up in a debate over a new style of church music that many found more entertaining than devotional. This debate was to have a strong impact on musicians such as Johann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries. By the end of the eighteenth century, Lutherans were trying to hold their own against a new secularism, and many clergy favored a wholesale revision or even abandonment of the historic liturgy in order to make worship more relevant in contemporary society. Herl paints a vivid picture of these developments, using as a backdrop the gradual transition from a choral to a congregational liturgy. The author eschews the usual analyses of musical repertoire and deals instead with events, people and ideas, drawing readers inside the story and helping them sense what it must have been like to attend a Lutheran church in the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries. Parallel developments in Catholic churches are discussed, as are the rise of organ accompaniment of hymns and various questions of musical performance practice. Although written with academic precision, the writing is clear and comprehensible to the nonspecialist, and entertaining anecdotes abound, including stories about the congregation that pelted the preacher with vegetables and the organist who had just three postludes: the hoppity, the skippity and the jumpity. The appendixes include translations of several important historical documents and a set of tables outlining the Lutheran mass as presented in 172 different liturgical orders. The bibliography includes 400 Lutheran church orders and reports of ecclesiastical visitations read by the author. 3/2005 Solutions for Singers: Tools for Performers and Teachers by Richard Miller 3/2005 The Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire 1828-1967 by D. Kern Holoman This is the story of one of the world's great philharmonic societies, told by a distinguished conductor and writer whose command of the subject is nothing short of virtuosic. Established in 1828 with roots stretching back to the 1790s, the Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire reflected and in many ways encapsulated the development of French culture, and of Western music, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. D. Kern Holoman describes how in the 1820s and 1830s the potent forces of democracy, exclusivity, and revolutionary fervor that collided in and around the Conservatoire forged and then tempered an organization as flexible as it was strong. In elegant and spirited prose, accompanied by illustrations and a website with copious further documentation, Holoman chronicles the life of the Societe, from its day-to-day operations to its role in creating the canon of orchestral concert music in our culture. A testament to the Societe's power and importance, his book is itself a significant contribution to the history of Western music. 3/2005 The Sheet Music of Irving Berlin by Thomas Inglis 3/2005 Music to Your Ears: An Introduction to Classical Music by Richard L., Dr. McGee, Joan B., Dr. McGee 3/2005 Music of the Renaissance by Giulio Ongaro The Renaissance was not a spontaneous cultural explosion, but rather an evolution and cross-fertilization of artistic, philosophical, and scientific principles. This reference presents and examines the rich and varied world of music in Renaissance Europe. Giulio Ongaro offers an advanced technical knowledge of music, presented accessibly in a multidisciplinary approach. 3/2005 Music and Modern Art by James Leggio (Editor) Music and Modern Art adopts an interdisciplinary approach to the relationship between these two fields of creative endeavor. 3/2005 Mormonism and Music: A History by Michael Hicks Music has flourished in the Mormon church since its beginning. In this book--now available in paperback--Michael Hicks examines the direction that music's growth has taken since 1830. He looks closely at topics including the denomination's first official hymnals; the views of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young on singing; the Mormon Tabernacle Choir; and the changing attitudes of church officialdom and laity toward popular and non-western music styles. 3/2005 Maurice Ravel: A Life by Benjamin Ivry Thoroughly steeped in French culture, poet and translator Ivry has already written studies of Rimbaud and Poulenc. He comes to this brief but tightly compressed biography of Ravel with a thesisAthat the composer was "a very secretive gay man" whose works often displayed a tension between potent creativity and iron control, a duality that was also exemplified by his life. Ravel has always been a mysterious figure, with acquaintances (he had few close friends) willing to swear he was homosexual, heterosexual or simply asexual. This is not simply a matter of prurient interest, as Ivry makes clear, for Ravel's hidden sexuality showed itself in his music, which varied enormously from the early opera L'Heure Espagnole to the famous Bolero, perhaps the most ubiquitous symphonic score of the 20th century. (Ivry explains that Ravel is by far the most financially successful composer, classical or pop, that France has ever produced, with royalties still running at the rate of several million dollars a year.) A fervent belief in sorcery and the primitive powers of the ancient wood god Pan melded with Ravel's determined dandyism and his outspoken conviction that sincerity was the enemy of true art. Artifice, he felt, was all, and though his exquisitely crafted scores do not eschew emotion, a glittering surface seems to have been what he chiefly prized. (He despised Beethoven as "the big deaf one.") Ivry is particularly good at relating Ravel's work to his life, and if at the end of the book the composer remains a remote, somewhat chilly figure, that seems to have been Ravel's choice. Illustrations not seen by PW. 3/2005 Machaut's Music: New Interpretations by Elizabeth Eva Leach (Editor) Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377) is regarded as the greatest French poet-composer of the middle ages, as he was during his lifetime. A trained secretary, with a passion for collecting, copying and ordering his own work, the number of surviving notated musical works attributed to him far exceeds that of any of his contemporaries. All the main genres of song - lais, virelais, balades, and rondeaux - together with Machaut's motets, and his famous I>Mass cycle are considered here from a variety of perspectives. These incorporate the latest scholarly understanding of both Machaut's poetry and music, and the material form they take when notated in the surviving manuscripts. The book thus presents a detailed picture of the current range of interpretative approaches to Machaut's music, focusing variously on counterpoint, musica ficta, text setting, musico-poetic meanings, citation and intertextuality, tonality, and compositional method. Several of Machaut's works are discussed by a pair of contributors, who reach conclusions at times mutually reinforcing or complementary, at times contradictory and mutually exclusive. That Machaut's music thrives on such constructive debate and disagreement is a tribute to his scope as an artist, and his musico-poetic achievement. Contributors: JENNIFER BAIN, MARGARET BENT, CHRISTIAN BERGER, JACQUES BOOGAART, THOMAS BROWN, ALICE V. CLARK, JANE E. FLYNN, JEHOASH HIRSHBERG, KARL KUEGLE, ELIZABETH EVA LEACH, DANIEL LEECH-WILKINSON, ETER M. LEFFERTS, WILLIAM PETER MAHRT, KEVIN N. MOLL, VIRGINIA NEWES, YOLANDA PLUMLEY, OWEN REES, ANNE STONE. ELIZABETH EVA LEACH lectures in music at Royal Holloway, University of London. 3/2005 The Interrelatedness of Music, Religion, and Ritual in African Performance Practice by Daniel K. Avorgbedor 3/2005 The Enjoyment of Music: An Introduction to Perceptive Listening by Joseph MacHlis, Kristine Forney With nearly three million copies sold over eight editions, The Enjoyment of Music is the best-selling music appreciation text of all time. Spanning the Middle Ages through the twenty-first century, the text offers a thorough introduction to the elements of music, a broad overview of the history of musical styles, and fascinating cultural contexts and perspectives. The Ninth Edition of this classic text features a stunning new design, exciting new repertory, and an unmatched ancillary and media package. 3/2005 Emblems of Eloquence: Opera and Women's Voices in Seventeenth-Century Venice by Wendy Heller Opera developed during a time when the position of women--their rights and freedoms, their virtues and vices, and even the most basic substance of their sexuality--was constantly debated. Many of these controversies manifested themselves in the representation of the historical and mythological women whose voices were heard on the Venetian operatic stage. Drawing upon a complex web of early modern sources and ancient texts, this engaging study is the first comprehensive treatment of women, gender, and sexuality in seventeenth-century opera. Wendy Heller explores the operatic manifestations of female chastity, power, transvestism, androgyny, and desire, showing how the emerging genre was shaped by and infused with the Republic's taste for the erotic and its ambivalent attitudes toward women and sexuality. Heller begins by examining contemporary Venetian writings about gender and sexuality that influenced the development of female vocality in opera. The Venetian reception and transformation of ancient texts--by Ovid, Virgil, Tacitus, and Diodorus Siculus--form the background for her penetrating analyses of the musical and dramatic representation of five extraordinary women as presented in operas by Claudio Monteverdi, Francesco Cavalli, and their successors in Venice: Dido, queen of Carthage (Cavalli); Octavia, wife of Nero (Monteverdi); the nymph Callisto (Cavalli); Queen Semiramis of Assyria (Pietro Andrea Ziani); and Messalina, wife of Claudius (Carlo Pallavicino). 3/2005 Divining the Oracle : Monteverdi's Seconda prattica by Massimo Ossi Claudio Monteverdi's historical position in music has been compared to that of Shakespeare in literature: almost exact contemporaries, each worked from traditional beginnings to transform nearly every genre he attempted. In this book, Massimo Ossi delves into the most significant aspect of Monteverdi's career: the development, during the first years of the seventeenth century, of a new compositional style he called the seconda prattica or "second manner." Challenged in print for the unconventional aspects of his music, Monteverdi found himself at the center of a debate between defenders of Renaissance principles and the newest musical currents of the time. The principles of the seconda prattica, Ossi argues in this sophisticated analysis of Monteverdi's writings, music, and approaches to text-setting, were in fact much more significant to the course of Monteverdi's career than previously thought by modern scholars-not only did Monteverdi continue to pursue their aesthetic and theoretical implications for the rest of his life, but they also affected his dramatic compositions as well as his chamber vocal music and sacred works. Ossi "divines the oracle" of Monteverdi's ambiguous theoretical concepts in a clear way and in terms of pure music; his book will enhance our understanding of Monteverdi as one of the most significant figures in western music history. 3/2005 Creating Uncommon Worship: Transforming the liturgy of the Eucharist by Richard Giles Creating Uncommon Worship is a groundbreaking resource that can be put to immediate use in churches. Creating Uncommon Worship seeks to transform the way worship is conducted and experienced. Offering helpful suggestions on how to avoid the common problem of restricting liturgy to words being spoken in the front of the church, Creating Uncommon Worship is filled with ideas on how to enrich the liturgy by creating a context of action, movement, and symbolic expression involving the whole assembly. Creating Uncommon Worship is an essential theological companion that not only provides instruction and inspiration for the clergy and worship leaders, but also fully engages the laity in creating nurturing and challenging worship. 3/2005 The Benedictine Gift to Music by Katharine Le Mee Western music originates in the Gregorian chant sung in Benedictine monasteries as early as the sixth century. This fascinating book illustrates how this sung liturgy of prayer and praise, faithfully practiced daily in monasteries across Europe, developed into the complex polyphonic music we enjoy today. After establishing the Benedictine identity of chant, and its origins in the Mass and the Opus Dei, the author reveals the outstanding contributions of Benedictine musicians from the medieval abbey of Cluny to the modern French Abbey of Solesmes. And she explores how Mary, the mother of Jesus, inspired musical works such as the Stabat Mater and the Magnificat, and many hymns still sung today. Throughout, in an engaging, accessible style, Le Mée emphasizes the music as part of the contemplative tradition of the church that encourages order, spirituality, and peace. 3/2005 Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier: The 48 Preludes and Fugues by David Ledbetter Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier (or the 48 Preludes and Fugues) stands at the core of baroque keyboard music and has been a model and inspiration for performers and composers ever since it was written. This invaluable guide to the 96 pieces explains Bach's various purposes in compiling the music, describes the rich traditions on which he drew, and provides commentaries for each prelude and fugue. In his text, David Ledbetter addresses the main focal points mentioned by Bach in his original 1722 title page. Drawing on Bach literature over the past three hundred years, he explores German traditions of composition types and Bach's novel expansion of them; explains Bach's instruments and innovations in keyboard technique in the general context of early eighteenth-century developments; reviews instructive and theoretical literature relating to keyboard temperaments from 1680 to 1750; and discusses Bach's pedagogical intent when composing the Well-Tempered Clavier. Ledbetter's commentaries on individual preludes and fugues equip readers with the concepts necessary to make their own assessments and include information about the sources when details of ornament, notation, and fingerings have a bearing on performance. 3/2005 An Annotated Bibliography of Church Music by Fang-Lan Hsieh 2/2005 Studies in Italian Sacred and Instrumental Music in the 17th Century by Stephen Bonta 2/2005 Practicing the Sacred Art of Listening: A Guide to Enrich Your Relationships... by Kay Lindahl, Amy Schnapper It happens at work and at home, with strangers and close friends, in heated debates and in quiet conversations--you hear someone speaking, but often you don’t truly listen. Kay Lindahl’s highly respected workshops are attended by people from a broad range of backgrounds. Her first book, The Sacred Art of Listening, has been published to acclaim in North America, Europe, and Asia. Now she offers practical, easy-to-follow advice and exercises to enhance your capacity to listen in a spirit-filled way. Using examples from her own life and her work as a teacher of the sacred art of listening, Lindahl explores the nature and use of silence, reflection, and divine presence as foundational qualities of listening and shows you how you can apply these in your everyday life. 2/2005 Music Analysis in Britain in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries by Catherine Dale 2/2005 An Introduction to the Study of Medieval Latin Versification by Dag Norberg Dag Norberg’s analysis and interpretation of Medieval Latin versification, which was published in French in 1958 and remains the standard work on the subject, appears here for the first time in English with a detailed, scholarly introduction by Jan Ziolkowski that reviews the developments of the past fifty years. Norberg examines various theories of Medieval Latin metrics and proposes his own insightful empirical solutions. His interpretation brings much needed clarification to a controversial and misunderstood subject. 2/2005 Debussy's Iberia (Studies in Musical Genesis and Structure) by Matthew Brown This book suggests ways in which Debussy's sketches and drafts may be used to explain how he composed one of his last great symphonic scores: Iberia (from mages for orchestra, 1903-10). Part 1 shows how we might understand the process of musical composition as a form of expert problem solving; Part 2 reconstructs the genesis of each of the three movements in turn. 2/2005 Composing Music for Worship by Stephen Darlington (Editor), Alan Kreider (Editor) 2/2005 Baptist Offspring, Southern Midwife: Jesse Mercer's Cluster of Spiritual Songs (1810) by Kay Norton 2/2005 Bach Performance Practice, 1945-1975: A Comprehensive Review of Sound Recordings and Literature by Dorottya Fabian 11/2004 Cantor Basics by James Hansen 11/2004 The Musician's Spirit: Connecting to Others Through Story by James Jordan 11/2004 Bach and the Pedal Clavichord : An Organist's Guide by Joel Speerstra This is an extremely important study which brings together valuable musicological research and practical experimentation in a unique way - every organist should read it! CHOIR & ORGAN September 2004 This scholarship combined with successful practical application makes Speerstra's work invaluable to all organists, pedagogues, instrument builders-indeed all those who are fascinated by the music of Bach. -- David Higgs, Chair of the Organ Department, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester Synthesizing a wealth of historical documentation along with the results of new, experimental studies, Speerstra (Eastman School of Music) has written a thorough analysis of the musicological and performance issues that surround the ambigious history and usage of the pedal clavichord. Despite its subtitle, this book should prove valuable for a broad audience not limited to organists; it speaks to all keyboardists interested in expanding their interpretation of Baroque literature. Highly recommended. 11/2004 The Richard Strauss Companion by Mark-Daniel Schmid (Editor) Featuring ten new essays on different aspects of the compositions, artistic influences, and persona of Richard Strauss, The Strauss Companion explores the composer's relationship to his own work and to that of his noted contemporaries. Guided by not only musical interests but literary, political, and philosophical ones as well, Strauss is an ideal candidate for this sort of treatment. Following this discussion of his influences, the volume moves to a discussion of the works themselves, including operas, tone poems, and stage works; these compositions are explored analytically and also in terms of their critical reception. The final chapter investigates for the first time Strauss's much-neglected choral works, revealing their rich musical and vocal capacities, while a select bibliography and complete works-list round out the volume. 11/2004 Read the Way You Talk: A Guide for Lectors by Jack Hartjes Read the Way You Talk offers instruction for lectors. It presents guidelines for making oral reading meaningful and believable. Three lessons give detailed instructions in eighteen different areas including parallelism, repetition, and pronunciation. Special guidance is provided for using inflection and stressing words. With practice, readers who share the Word of God with others can read as naturally as they speak while they become comfortable with their audience, sure of what they are saying, and confident their message is important. Part I, "The Word of God in Human Speech," explains why the readings need to be spoken in conversational tone. Part 2, "Rules for Reading Like Talk," is divided into lessons and contains rules, explanations of techniques, and examples. Read the Way You Talk is a useful resource for lectors, deacons, priests, and leaders who instruct lectors and seminarians. 11/2004 Musical Constructions of Nationalism: Essays on the History and Ideology of European Musical Culture by Harry White, Michael Murphy Working from the premise that music as a cultural abstraction is vitally conditioned by political thought, these essays are presented in the spirit of the so called "new musicology," which looks to other disciplines for new impetus and technique. Rather than abstracting music from the environment which created it, these essays seek to study the relations between music and nationalism in different national contexts. Although music and nationalism have been topics of research for a number of years this is the first time that commissioned essays have been published in a volume devoted to this area of interest. The editors have tried to focus on countries which have received less attention in musicology and have drawn together leading experts in a variety of national contexts to contribute. These include Stephen Downes and Mikulas Bek who treat different aspects of the ancient/modern dichotomy of musical nationalism. Robert Vilan and Annegret Fauser provide fascinating new interventions on reception history. Although not intended to be a country-by-country survey, most European countries receive an essay. These include Germany and France, as well as less well-known examples such as Ireland, Scotland, Scandinavia and Poland. 11/2004 Ministries: A Relational Approach by Edward P. Hahnenberg 11/2004 Mendelssohn: A Life in Music by R. Larry Todd An extraordinary prodigy of Mozartean abilities, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was a distinguished composer and conductor, a legendary pianist and organist, and an accomplished painter and classicist. Lionized in his lifetime, he is best remembered today for several staples of the concert hall and for such popular music as "The Wedding March" and "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing." Now, in the first major Mendelssohn biography to appear in decades, R. Larry Todd offers a remarkably fresh account of this musical giant, based upon painstaking research in autograph manuscripts, correspondence, diaries, and paintings. Rejecting the view of the composer as a craftsman of felicitous but sentimental, saccharine works (termed by one critic "moonlight with sugar water"), Todd reexamines the composer's entire oeuvre, including many unpublished and little known works. Here are engaging analyses of Mendelssohn's distinctive masterpieces--the zestful Octet, puckish Midsummer Night's Dream, haunting Hebrides Overtures, and elegiac Violin Concerto in E minor. Todd describes how the composer excelled in understatement and nuance, in subtle, coloristic orchestrations that lent his scores an undeniable freshness and vividness. He also explores Mendelssohn's changing awareness of his religious heritage, Wagner's virulent anti-Semitic attack on Mendelssohn's music, the composer's complex relationship with his sister Fanny Hensel, herself a child prodigy and prolific composer, his avocation as a painter and draughtsman, and his remarkable, polylingual correspondence with the cultural elite of his time. Mendelssohn: A Life offers a masterful blend of biography and musical analysis. Readers w