Music-History & Criticism

Arthur Sullivan was Victorian Britain's most celebrated composer, whose music still reaches a wider audience than that of any of his contemporaries. Yet the comic operas on which Sullivan's reputation is chiefly based have been consistently belittled or ignored, while his serious works have...

The 20th century French composer Olivier Messiaen was a devout Roman Catholic and notably claimed that his music was an expression of his faith. Unsurprisingly, many performers and listeners consider Messiaen's strong religiosity central to their appreciation of the composer's music. Music scholars have...

'All Good Cretins Go To Heaven: The Enduring Spirit of the Ramones' by Jenn L. BeckwithIn 1974, a music revolution began with a band in New York City's Bowery neighbourhood. They played in a small near-empty bar to an audience that included the ex-Marine...

Author: Thomas FieldenISBN-10: 1025352580ISBN-13: 9781025352589Publisher: Tradd Street PressLanguage: EnglishPublished: 02/14/2026Pages: 208Format: PaperbackWeight: 0.66lbsSize: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.44d

"Sinfonietta" is one of the most expressive and powerful orchestral works by the renowned Czech composer LeoÅ Janá?ek. Composed in 1926, this masterpiece is celebrated for its distinctive use of brass instrumentation and its vibrant, modernist energy. The work was originally inspired by the...

"Couperin" by André Tessier offers a comprehensive and scholarly exploration of the life and legacy of François Couperin, often referred to as 'Couperin le Grand.' As one of the most significant figures of the French Baroque era, Couperin's influence on the development of keyboard...

In the first collection of his essays, Tim Sommer challenges some conventional beliefs about rock and explores how left-of-the-dial music in the '80s turned a generation of awkward loners into a cultural community.Sommer is a musician, journalist, record producer and radio DJ. He was...

In this short, graphic volume, Josh MacPhee explores the role of music and sound in the student and worker revolt on May 1968 in France through the lens of the vinyl records that emerged out of--and were produced to comment on--the struggle. From the...

"Beethoven's Sketches an Analysis of His Style Based on a Study of His Sketch-Books" offers an illuminating look into the compositional methods of one of history's greatest musical geniuses. Paul Mies conducts a meticulous investigation into the rough drafts and notebooks left behind by...

SONGS OF '76 is a volume of sidelights on the American Revolution from the vantage point of the folk balladeer. There are over 60 songs, with words and guitar accompaniment, all fresh and mostly unfamiliar, along with a delightfully personalized historic commentary. It is...

"Paganini of Genoa" offers an evocative and detailed exploration of the life of Niccolò Paganini, perhaps the most celebrated and enigmatic violin virtuoso in history. From his early years in the bustling port city of Genoa to the grand concert halls of Europe, this...

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Any study of colonial...

The Beatles and Black Music discusses the influence that Black music and culture has had over the Beatles throughout their collective and solo careers. Tracing the history of Black musical and cultural influence on popular music from the Transatlantic Slave Trade in 1795 to...

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum has been called the "Smithsonian of country music." Its 350,000-square-foot Nashville headquarters hold more than 500 historic instruments, 1,900 stage costumes, 300,000 records, 500,000 photographs, a historic letterpress poster printing shop still in operation, and even...

Many of the first Holocaust testimonies involved music. Yet despite the central role that music played in the traumatic aftermath of the Third Reich, it was not perceived as testimonial. Audible Testimonies: Surviving the Third Reich in Music and Media explores the early postwar...

This is the story of Australia's most popular modern jazz group of the 1960s, and their best-selling debut album Move. The Three Out were Australia's most popular modern jazz band. Their debut album Move was recorded just six weeks after the trio formed at...

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Lynyrd Skynyrd have been playing their patented brand of Southern Rock music for over fifty years. The term 'Southern Rock' has been a contentious one, and their use of the Confederate flag has been controversial. However, the...

Step into the world of Michael Jackson's most ambitious project.In 1991, Dangerous redefined pop music for a new era. With its bold fusion of New Jack Swing, rock, gospel, and soul, it marked the King of Pop's fearless leap into the 1990s. From the...

An American Girl In Munich: Impressions Of A Music Student This book is a result of an effort made by us towards making a contribution to the preservation and repair of original classic literature. In an attempt to preserve, improve and recreate the original...

Modern British Royal weddings are the ultimate in wedding celebrations. In many ways, they have been reflecting and setting world-wide fashions and standards for well over a century. This volume is the first in-depth discussion of the ways in which British Royal Weddings since...

The name of Pauline Viardot Garcia was well known during her lifetime, but after her death in 1910, she passed into obscurity. She was born in Paris in 1821, the youngest child of the Spanish tenor, Manuel Garcia; her sister was Maria Malibran, and...

Author: Tim HowellISBN-10: 1443898600ISBN-13: 9781443898607Publisher: Cambridge Scholars PublishingLanguage: EnglishPublished: 07/04/2017Pages: 360Format: HardcoverWeight: 1.23lbsSize: 8.20h x 5.70w x 1.10d

This volume presents a unique study of war songs created during and after World War II, known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War. The most popular war songs, such as Katyusha, The Sacred War, Dark Night, My Moscow, In the Dugout, Victory Day,...

While popular music in all its varied forms is a source of common interest and an insatiable curiosity among readers of all ages, thorough biographical information about its stars and superstars can be difficult to find.Consult this ongoing reference series for biographical information on...

Demonstrating the vibrant nature of current research on Maurice Ravel, one of the most significant figures in twentieth-century French music, a team of distinguished international scholars provides new interdisciplinary perspectives and insights. Through historical, critical, and analytical means, the volume reveals the symbiotic relationships...

Deep River: An Interpretation of Negro Spirituals is a non-fiction book written by Howard Thurman, originally published in 1945. The book explores the history and significance of African American spirituals, also known as Negro spirituals, which were created and sung by enslaved Africans in...

Digital Sampling is a book about the design and use of sampling technologies that have shaped the sounds of popular music. Discusses Fairlight CMI and E-Mu Systems and follows users across a range of musical worlds. A new approach to the study of sampling...

A comprehensive introduction to film music, this book provides a concise and illuminating summary of the process of film scoring, as well as a succinct overview of the rich history of contemporary film music.Written in a non-technical style, this book begins by presenting a...

This book by British music historian William Thomas Parke is a detailed history of the music scene in England during the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. Parke offers insight into the works of key composers of the era, such as Handel, Haydn, and Mozart, and...

Fragrant tropical flowers, opulent batik fabrics, magnificent bronze gamelan orchestras, and, of course, aromatic coffee. Such are the exotic images of Java, Indonesia's most densely populated island, that have hovered at the periphery of North American imaginations for generations. Through close readings of the...

Situating Salsa offers the first comprehensive consideration of salsa music and its social impact, in its multiple transnational contexts.Author: Lise WaxerISBN-10: 0815340206ISBN-13: 9780815340201Publisher: RoutledgeLanguage: EnglishPublished: 05/03/2002Pages: 350Format: PaperbackWeight: 1.05lbsSize: 9.18h x 6.08w x 0.74d

Popular Music on Screen examines the relationship between popular music and the screen, from the origins of the Hollywood musical to contemporary developments in music television and video. Through detailed examination of films, television programs and popular music, together with analysis of the economic,...

This book examines The Commitments (Parker, 1991) for the first time as a film first and foremost, rather than an adaptation of Roddy Doyle's bestselling novel, and as a significant cultural event in 1990s Ireland.Author: Nessa JohnstonISBN-10: 0367273128ISBN-13: 9780367273125Publisher: RoutledgeLanguage: EnglishPublished: 11/30/2021Pages: 124Format: HardcoverWeight:...

Once considered as little more than the froth in the wake of the First World War, a witty boy-hedonist who, in the giddy Twenties, tweaked the noses of moribund establishmentarians, Poulenc has in fact proved unexpectedly durable--more so than any of his colleagues among...

Fantasy Pieces examines from several vantage points a vital life-force of Robert Schumann's music, namely metrical conflict. Harald Krebs's imaginative yet rigorous study makes use of Schumann's fascinating projections of his own personality--the characters Florestan and Eusebius--as one means of addressing the biographical and...

Author: W. Scott BargerISBN-10: 1965142834ISBN-13: 9781965142837Publisher: Quill Hawk PublishingLanguage: EnglishPublished: 05/20/2026Pages: 98Format: HardcoverWeight: 0.67lbsSize: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.38d

A groundbreaking exploration of Belize's rich and diverse musical heritage, Music History of Belize: 1718-1985 traces the evolution of sound, culture, and identity from the colonial era to the rise of Punta Rock.Drawing on historical records, oral traditions, and cultural analysis, Derrick Straughan uncovers...

"Caruso's Method of Voice Production [The Scientific Culture of the Voice]" offers a comprehensive exploration into the vocal techniques and pedagogical theories associated with one of the most legendary tenors in history, Enrico Caruso. Authored by Victor Maurel, a celebrated operatic baritone and contemporary...

Before the convenience of the internet, accessing music wasn't for the faint of heart: fans waited for their favourite songs to come on the radio so they could record them on cassette tapes, made sure they were home to watch genre-specific video programs, and...

Time-travel to the punk scene of 1970s New York and beyond--as seen through the eyes of its chief reporter known as "the original punk" who gave the movement its name. Part memoir and part cultural history, Resident Punk offers a no-holds-barred expose chronicling the...

A Journey Into the Soul of American StringsThe banjo, the fiddle, and the mandolin are more than instruments-they are survivors, shape-shifters, and witnesses to history.In this interconnected series, Kevin L. Whitworth traces the hidden lives of these iconic stringed instruments, following their paths from...

The untold story of Canadian electronic music from post-war labs to global pop.For decades, the history of Canadian electronic music has existed in fragments--footnotes, anecdotes, and half-remembered stories preserved by enthusiasts and archivists. A Nation of Tinkerers gathers these scattered pieces into the first...

A lively compendium of musical practices and compositions that upend notions of creativity and expressivity while diversifying our sense of the musical canon. An artist draws two octaves of pitches randomly from a hat, just enough to set each syllable of the dictionary definition...

Step back into 1957 - the year Elvis Presley cemented his place as the King of Rock 'n' Roll. Loving You wasn't just Elvis's second movie; it was the project that transformed him from a chart-topping singer into a multimedia superstar. With its unforgettable...

Vincenzo Bellini on Stage and Screen, 1935-2020 offers nine case studies of the history of Vincenzo Bellini's operas on stage, on screen, and in sound, video and performance art. This investigation begins in 1935, the hundredth anniversary of the composer's death and the year...

This is the untold history of Oceania's 1960s lost psychedelic album, The Happy Prince. Recorded in Sydney by the La De Das, an Aotearoa/New Zealand band, this was the first LP in Australia that told a single story, creating an audio world. The La...

The life of enigmatic Wagner conductor, Reginald Goodall, by the author of the acclaimed Thomas Beecham: An Obsession with Music, newly available in paperback. When Sir Reginald Goodall died in 1990, at the age of 88, he had already acquired cult status and was...

The story behind the scandalous first performance of one of the most influential works in the history of music, as part of the stunning Landmark Library series. On 29 May 1913, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, a new ballet by Diaghilev's Ballets...

National Book Award nominee, critic and one of America's least compromising satirists, Alexander Theroux takes a comprehensive look at the colorful language of pop lyrics and the realm of rock music in general in The Grammar of Rock: silly song titles; maddening instrumentals; shrieking...

In terms of musical composition, all but the first five of his thirty-five years were astoundingly productive for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91). A stream of glorious symphonies, piano concertos, chamber music, operas and the sublime but unfinished Requiem poured from his pen. German philologist...