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Cambridge Music Handbooks provide accessible introductions to major musical works, written by the most informed commentators in the field. With the concert-goer, performer and student in mind, the books present essential information on the historical and musical context, the composition, and the performance and reception history of each work, or group of works, as well as critical discussion of the music.

  • General Editors: Julian Rushton

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38 results in Cambridge Music Handbooks

Page 2 of 2

Liszt: Sonata in B Minor
  • Kenneth Hamilton
  • Published online:
    14 December 2009
    Print publication:
    28 August 1996
  • Liszt's B minor Sonata is now regarded as his finest work for piano, and one of the pinnacles of Romantic piano music. This handbook opens with a survey of Liszt's early attempts at sonata composition - which include some well-known pieces that, hitherto, have been unrecognised as sonata forms - and clears away some of the persistent myths regarding programme music in Liszt's output. In the central chapters, built around an analysis of the B minor Sonata, Kenneth Hamilton discusses various interpretative approaches, arguing that the contradictory writings on the subject stem from the deliberate formal ambiguity of the piece itself - one reason for its perennial fascination, perhaps. The book concludes with a chapter on the performance practice and the performing history of the work, which should be of particular interest to pianists.

Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 50
  • W. Dean Sutcliffe
  • Published online:
    12 December 2009
    Print publication:
    12 March 1992
  • The Op. 50 string quartets contain some of the purest writing Haydn ever accomplished. In this first full account of these six quartets Dean Sutcliffe evaluates the Op. 50 in relation to Haydn's more frequently performed quartets and considers their relevance to the composer's wider output. A lucid and accessible discussion of the music emphasises the unity of each quartet: not only motivic unity, but unity also of texture, articulation, harmony and syntax. Each quartet is described in detail. The informative background provided by Dr Sutcliffe includes a brief history of the string quartet, and an assessment of Haydn's earlier works in this genre and of his role at Esterhaza. The description of the composition and publication of the Op. 50 quartets is based on the evidence of Haydn's surviving letters and the recently discovered autograph copies of Nos. 3 to 6 - a discovery which is vividly documented here for the first time.

Ives: Concord Sonata
  • Piano Sonata No. 2
  • Geoffrey Block
  • Published online:
    10 December 2009
    Print publication:
    13 November 1996
  • Charles Ives's massive Concord Sonata, his second sonata for piano, named after the town of Concord in Massachusetts, is central to his output and clearly reflects his aesthetic perspective. Geoffrey Block's wide-ranging 1996 account of the work thus provides an ideal introduction to this fascinating composer. As well as a discussion of the Sonata's reception history from 1920 to the time of publication, and a chapter on its compositional genesis, this handbook includes a detailed narrative of the motivic content as well as a historical and analytical survey of the work's borrowings, both certifiable and newly proposed. The programmatic element of the Sonata is explored in the context of Ives's personal vision of four literary subjects associated with the town of Concord between 1840 and 1860: Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and the Alcotts.

Mozart: The 'Haydn' Quartets
  • John Irving
  • Published online:
    10 December 2009
    Print publication:
    08 January 1998
  • The six string quartets dedicated to his friend Joseph Haydn represent a turning point in Mozart's compositional development. In addition to providing a full synopsis of each quartet this book examines the music in relation to Mozart's earlier quartets, considers the genesis of the six 'Haydn' quartets through close examination of the autograph revisions and looks at contemporary eighteenth-century analytical models. John Irving also charts the reception of the quartets, drawing upon a broad range of sources: Mozart's letters and diary entries, early newspaper reports, harmony/compositional textbooks, contemporary criticism and early biographies.

Chopin: The Four Ballades
  • Jim Samson
  • Published online:
    03 December 2009
    Print publication:
    30 October 1992
  • Chopin's four ballades are widely regarded as being amongst the most significant extended works for solo piano of the nineteenth century. In an illuminating discussion, Jim Samson combines history and analysis to provide the reader with a comprehensive picture of these popular piano works. He begins by investigating the social and musical background to Chopin's unique style. He describes the manuscript sources and evaluates the many subsequent printed editions, then considers the critical reception of the ballades and the differing interpretations of well-known nineteenth- and twentieth-century pianists. The final two chapters examine the music of all four works analytically. There is a clearly presented formal synopsis of each ballade in turn, followed by a discussion of the works collectively which explores Chopin's own conception of the title 'ballade' and how it may be understood as a musical genre.

Dvorák: Cello Concerto
  • Jan Smaczny
  • Published online:
    02 December 2009
    Print publication:
    28 September 1999
  • Dvorák's Cello Concerto, composed during his second stay in America, is one of the most popular works in the orchestral repertoire. This guide explores Dvorák's reasons for composing a concerto for an instrument which he at one time considered unsuitable for solo work, its relationship to his American period compositions and how it forms something of a bridge with his operatic interests. A particular focus is the concerto's unique qualities: why it stands apart in terms of form, melodic character and texture from the rest of Dvorák's orchestral music. The role of the dedicatee of the work, Hanus Wihan, in its creation is also considered, as are performing traditions as they have developed in the twentieth century. In addition the guide explores the extraordinary emotional background to the work which links it intimately to the woman who was probably Dvorák's first love.

Elgar: Enigma Variations
  • Julian Rushton
  • Published online:
    02 December 2009
    Print publication:
    28 February 1999
  • Elgar's Variations for Orchestra, commonly known as the 'Enigma' Variations, marked an epoch both in his career, and in the renaissance of English music at the turn of the century. First performed in 1899 under Hans Richter, the work became his passport to national fame and international success. From the first it intrigued listeners to know why it was called 'enigma', and who were the 'friends pictured within', to whom the work is dedicated. Appearing in the centenary year of the work's composition, this book elucidates what is known, and what has been said about the work and the enigma, and directs future listeners to what matters most: the inspired qualities of the music.

Dowland: Lachrimae (1604)
  • Peter Holman
  • Published online:
    02 December 2009
    Print publication:
    28 October 1999
  • Dowland's Lachrimae (1604) is perhaps the greatest but most enigmatic publication of instrumental music from before the eighteenth century. This new handbook, the first detailed study of the collection, investigates its publication history, its instrumentation, its place in the history of Renaissance dance music, and its reception history. Two extended chapters examine the twenty-one pieces in the collection in detail, discussing the complex internal relationships between the cycle of seven 'Lachrimae' pavans, the relationships between them and other pieces inside and outside the collection, and possible connections between the Latin titles of the seven pavans and Elizabethan conceptions of melancholy. The extraordinarily multi-faceted nature of the collection also leads the author to illuminate questions of patronage, the ordering and format of the collection, pitch and transposition, tonality and modality, and even numerology.

Debussy: La Mer
  • Simon Trezise
  • Published online:
    02 December 2009
    Print publication:
    02 February 1995
  • La mer stands at the centre of Debussy's achievement: described by the composer as 'a seascape without figures', it is arguably the greatest and most original French symphony. In this study La mer is considered in the context of Debussy's personal and musical development, and in the French musical renaissance in general, looking back to César Franck and forward to the orchestral Images and Jeux. The author uses new biographical information and a wide range of sources to reveal the period of La mer's composition as one of intense emotional turbulence. Detailed discussion of performance styles draws on current recordings, and two analytical chapters trace the growth of ideas through the work. Studies of rhythm, motif and tonality show how Debussy generates 'narratives' across the three movements, which give La mer a structural integrity unparalleled in French music at the turn of the century.

The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
  • Allan F. Moore
  • Published online:
    25 November 2009
    Print publication:
    06 November 1997
  • Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) represents the highpoint of the recording career of the Beatles. This is the first detailed study to be made of this or any other such album, and it demonstrates how serious discussion of popular music can be undertaken without failing either the approach or the music. Dr Moore considers each song individually, tying his analysis to the recorded performance on disc, rather than the printed music. He focuses on the musical quality of the songs and the interpretations offered by a range of commentators. He also describes the context in which the album was written - both within the career of the group itself and within the development of popular music globally, both before and since.

Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra
  • David Cooper
  • Published online:
    24 November 2009
    Print publication:
    02 May 1996
  • Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra has proved to be one of the most popularly successful concert works of the twentieth century. It is seen by its champions as an example of Bartók's seamless blend of Eastern European folk music and Western art music, and by its detractors as indicative of the composer's artistic compromise. This book contains a discussion of the historical and musical contexts of the piece, its early performance history and critical reception. It also includes the first complete movement-by-movement synopsis of the Concerto as well as detailed technical information about the work. Throughout the study attention is drawn to the sources of Bartók's musical language, especially those derived from the many folk musics he studied.

Mendelssohn: The Hebrides and Other Overtures
  • R. Larry Todd
  • Published online:
    23 November 2009
    Print publication:
    24 September 1993
  • The concert overtures A Midsummer Night's Dream, Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, and The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave), conceived by Mendelssohn before the age of twenty, have ranked amongst the most enduring of the nineteenth-century orchestral repertoire. R. Larry Todd offers a historical, stylistic, and analytical guide to these three remarkable works which secured for Mendelssohn no small measure of his fame. After placing the overtures in the context of Mendelssohn's astonishing compositional development during the 1820s, the volume disentangles the complex history of their creation and considers in turn their style and formal structure, their contents as programme music, aspects of their orchestration and their reception and influence. All this is supported by a wealth of primary documents, including Mendelssohn's correspondence, memoirs of his friends, and nineteenth-century critical reviews.

Bruckner: Symphony No. 8
  • Benjamin M. Korstvedt
  • Published online:
    23 November 2009
    Print publication:
    30 March 2000
  • Anton Bruckner's Eighth Symphony (1890), one of the last of the great Romantic symphonies, is a grandly complex masterpiece. Its critical reception has been fascinatingly contentious. Its music, at once extensive and distilled, directly confronts the problem of the symphony after Beethoven and after Wagner. This book explores this many-faceted work from several angles. It documents the complicated and often misunderstood history of the symphony's composition and revision and offers an accessible guide to its musical design. It demonstrates, by means of a study of well-known recordings, how performance styles have evolved in this century. It also revisits the conventional wisdom about the various versions and editions of the symphony and comes to some provocative new conclusions.

Holst: The Planets
  • Richard Greene
  • Published online:
    21 November 2009
    Print publication:
    16 March 1995
  • This book is the first comprehensive guide to Holst's popular orchestral suite The Planets. It considers the music in detail and places the work in its historical context, describing the circumstances of its composition and its meteoric rise to popular acclaim. Starting with Holst's particular interest in astrology, Professor Greene explores the plotting of the work's central melodic and harmonic gestures to reveal a profound statement of human character and Holst's own psychological journey toward the mystic state. Using parallels in the verbal arts Greene weaves a fascinating tale of musical communication. An understanding of The Planets is crucial to a full appreciation of Holst's profound late works, and Greene's systematic appraisal provides the first revealing light in this direction.

Berlioz: Roméo et Juliette
  • Julian Rushton
  • Published online:
    18 November 2009
    Print publication:
    26 August 1994
  • Berlioz's 'dramatic symphony' Roméo et Juliette is regarded by many as his finest work; it is certainly among the most original. It is played less often than his earlier symphonies, because it requires solo voices and chorus; yet at its heart is some of the most inspired orchestral music of the nineteenth century. This book summarises the complex genesis of the work before examining the music closely and always with a view to understanding its dramatic implications. The early and later critical reception is quoted and discussed and Julian Rushton concludes by suggesting a way of hearing the work which recognises the value of its mixed genre. The complete libretto is provided in both English and French.

Mozart: The 'Jupiter' Symphony
  • Elaine R. Sisman
  • General editor Julian Rushton
  • Published online:
    18 November 2009
    Print publication:
    30 September 1993
  • This guide to Mozart's last and most celebrated symphony explores the historical background and aesthetic context of the work as well as the music itself. The early chapters examine the expectations of the symphony in Mozart's Vienna, Mozart's career in 1788 – the year of the three last symphonies - and the changing reception of the 'Jupiter' over the subsequent two hundred years. A separate chapter is then devoted to each movement of the symphony with musical discussion illuminated by a broad array of topics. Finally, a lucid exposition of rhetoric reveals the connections between elevated and learned styles and the sublime, enabling the reader to grasp the effect Mozart's music had upon his contemporaries.

Beethoven: The 'Moonlight' and other Sonatas, Op. 27 and Op. 31
  • Timothy Jones
  • Published online:
    13 November 2009
    Print publication:
    21 October 1999
  • Even in Beethoven's day the 'Moonlight' Sonata was a popular favourite. This 1999 book provides an accessible introduction to the Sonatas Opp. 27 and 31 (including The 'Moonlight' and 'The Tempest'), aimed at pianists, students, and music lovers. It begins with the works' historical background - the emergence of a 'piano culture' at the end of the eighteenth century, Beethoven's aristocratic milieu in Vienna, and his oft-quoted intention to follow a new compositional path. An account of the sonatas' genesis is followed by a discussion of their reception history, including a survey of changing performing styles since the mid-nineteenth century. The concept of the Sonata quasi una Fantasia is examined in relation to the cult of artistic sensibility in early-nineteenth-century Vienna. The study concludes with a critical introduction to each sonata.

Beethoven: Violin Concerto
  • Robin Stowell
  • Published online:
    28 October 2009
    Print publication:
    12 February 1998
  • Beethoven's Violin Concerto was the only significant work of this genre to appear between Mozart's five concertos of 1775 and Mendelssohn's E minor Concerto of 1844. This handbook explores the background to Beethoven's work, its genesis, its place in the composer's oeuvre and the influences which combined in its creation. It describes contemporary reactions to the work both in the musical press and in the concert hall during its first crucial years, and explains how it was eventually accepted into the repertory, spawning numerous recordings and editions. The principal sources and many of the work's textual problems are considered, including discussion of the composer's version for piano and orchestra, Op. 61a. A detailed account of the work itself is followed by a review of the wide variety of cadenzas that have been written to complement the concerto through its performance history.

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