Music-History & Criticism

Fantasy has had a modern resurgence in cinema due largely to the success of superhero narratives and the two major fantasy series, the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Often regarded as mere escapism, works of both literature and cinema wishing to be...

This book is the first study of the Irish composer James Wilson (1922-2005). The first part of the book is a detailed biographical study of Wilson, from his birth and education in London through his wartime experiences in the Arctic to his decision to...

The revised edition of Sync or Swarm promotes an ecological view of musicking, moving us from a subject-centered to a system-centered view of improvisation. It explores cycles of organismic self-regulation, cycles of sensorimotor coupling between organism and environment, and cycles of intersubjective interaction mediated...

The Civil War in Song and Story, 1860-1865 is a historical account of the American Civil War, written by Frank Moore. The book is a collection of first-hand accounts, letters, poems, and songs that were written during the war. The book covers the period...

This book offers a systematic survey of ethos theory: the theory according to which the right sort of music can have a positive or negative effect on moral development. It also evaluates the extant empirical literature on music and moral development.Author: James O. YoungISBN-10:...

This collection delves into the politics of language choice when composing and performing popular music in punk, metal, hip hop and rap. It provides examples of language change, resistance, reclamation and revitalization from across the globe, giving readers insights into the work of artists,...

In this meticulously researched and beautifully illustrated history, Alfred G. Badger provides a comprehensive overview of the flute and its development over time. From the earliest flutes of ancient times to the modern Boehm flute, Badger traces the evolution of this remarkable instrument and...

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States,...

In a collection of essays from prominent music scholas both in the Czech Republic and abroad, this book provides a nuanced overview of major topics connected to the history of musical culture in the Czech lands (Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia) from the Middle Ages...

This is the memoir of an anonymous pop picker, covering two decades from his birth in the early 60s at the outbreak of Beatlemania. It's a different kind of music history, discussing what records actually did to people, not what posterity often claims they...

Johann Joseph Fux's reputation as a theorist and the long-term influence of his theoretical and pedagogical work have ensured that his name is widely known in music circles in the West.Author: Harry WhiteISBN-10: 0859678326ISBN-13: 9780859678322Publisher: RoutledgeLanguage: EnglishPublished: 01/09/1992Pages: 352Format: HardcoverWeight: 1.47lbsSize: 9.21h x 6.14w...

The golden age of Tin Pan Alley, from about 1880 to 1950, comes alive in this first in a series of books about the very collectible sheet music that now command surprising prices. Beautifully illustrated with more than 500 photos of original sheet music...

Someone has finally hit the entertainment jackpot in Las Vegas! This riveting and explosive tell-all book dives into the uncharted territory of Las Vegas entertainment politics.Author: L. S. BakerISBN-10: 0759683476ISBN-13: 9780759683471Publisher: 1st Book LibraryLanguage: EnglishPublished: 05/08/2002Pages: 108Format: PaperbackWeight: 0.27lbsSize: 8.00h x 5.00w x 0.26d

It is common to hear people say rock and roll music has lost its edge. Disillusioned by the sound of modern pop radio, many fans wonder why a revolutionary voice has not yet emerged to define these tumultuous times the way Bob Dylan, The...

Now for the first time, country music authority Charles K. Wolfe gathers together his profiles of 50 legends of country music, including Bill Monroe, Lefty Frizzell, and Kitty Wells.Author: Charles K. WolfeISBN-10: 0415928273ISBN-13: 9780415928274Publisher: RoutledgeLanguage: EnglishPublished: 12/20/2000Pages: 348Format: PaperbackWeight: 1.03lbsSize: 9.00h x 6.00w x...

Neil Young cannot be simply labeled. He has recorded as a solo artist, as a member of a hard rock trio, and with numerous other musician configurations. He can move from the soft sounds of early 1970s acoustic folk to the distorted, fuzz guitar...

A commonsense, self-contained introduction to the mathematics and physics of music; essential reading for musicians, music engineers, and anyone interested in the intersection of art and science."Mathematics can be as effortless as humming a tune, if you know the tune," writes Gareth Loy. In...

Music in Brazil is one of several case-study volumes that can be used along with Thinking Musically, the core book in the Global Music Series. Thinking Musically incorporates music from many diverse cultures and establishes the framework for exploring the practice of music around...

Audiences have long enjoyed Sergei Prokofiev's musical score for Sergei Eisenstein's 1938 film Alexander Nevsky. The historical epic cast a thirteenth-century Russian victory over invading Teutonic Knights as an allegory of contemporary Soviet strength in the face of Nazi warmongering. Prokofiev's and Eisenstein's work...

Author: Benjamin MarlinISBN-13: 9798232625573Publisher: Benjamin MarlinLanguage: EnglishPublished: 07/28/2018Pages: 288Format: PaperbackWeight: 0.85lbsSize: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.60d

Author: Benjamin MarlinISBN-13: 9798232363949Publisher: Benjamin MarlinLanguage: EnglishPublished: 09/23/2024Pages: 396Format: PaperbackWeight: 1.16lbsSize: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.81d

Author: Carter FoxISBN-13: 9798218813536Publisher: Carter Fox Ventures, LLCLanguage: EnglishPublished: 12/09/2025Pages: 120Format: PaperbackWeight: 0.28lbsSize: 8.00h x 5.00w x 0.25d

Anonymous, hidden, encrypted, incomprehensible - these are the forces and sounds that tell us the unheard in music. Iconic Frankfurt techno and experimental label -Mille Plateaux- returns with a new anthology of texts written by a collective of voices who assembled around the resurrection...

The Beatles pioneered so much in the recording studio during their short time together that it's easy to forget that they formed their own record company in April 1968. Their business plan: to find and fund new musical talent. By the end of the...

ITALIAN WESTERN. VIOLENT IMAGE, SAVAGE SOUNDTRACK.The Composers and the music of the Spaghetti Western.Music in an Italian western is far more than a background to the action; the music becomes an important and integral component of the film making process. It elevates and underlines...

"...all art, regardless of its form or content, is subjective. And if I could properly choose one offering from the art world that best describes the formative years of Black Sabbath, it would be Pablo Picasso's Guernica. The painting is a masterclass in depicting...

Recording technologies shaped the sound and meaning of 20th-century folk music in Britain, constructing a sonic aesthetics of authenticity in an era of rapid technological and social transformation. The folk revival that changed the sound of 20th century British popular music was sustained by...

Many Classical music lovers are familiar with George Frideric Handel's famous oratorio, "Messiah", but are not aware his preferred area of composition was Italian opera seria. Biographical books explore his career as an opera composer and the rise of the new pious genre when...

"Love is two minutes and fifty-two seconds of squelching noises" (Johnny Rotten, Rolling Stone) The theory is that sex sells. And sex sells music. The connections between music and sexuality are long-standing, 'rock'n'roll' itself being a slang term for sex, and there are many...

'Darcus Beese is a formidable cat' CHUCK D 'An inspiration' ANNIE LENNOX 'A prince of a man' BONO The must-read memoir from Darcus Beese - the first black president of Island Records and one of the greatest A&Rs of his generation. From growing up...

The North of England is regarded as a region economically and culturally lagging behind the South of England. However, this situation does not refer to popular music in which the North has had an influence which is comparable to that of London. Many bands...

CO-WINNER: The Triennial Alan Walker Book Award, sponsored by the American Liszt Society 2023 A new and wide-ranging collection of essays by leading international scholars, exploring the concept and practices of virtuosity in Franz Liszt and his contemporaries. In the annals of music history,...

In Choral Masterpieces: Major and Minor, historian Nicholas Tarling offers short essays on over 28 works, from major masterpieces such as Handel's Messiah and Bach's St. Matthew's Passion to off-the-beaten path choral works such as Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Hiawatha and Frederick Delius' A Mass of...

""Guide to the Music of Richard Wagner's Tetralogy: The Ring of the Nibelung, A Thematic Key (1895)"" by Hans von Wolzogen is a comprehensive guide to the music of Richard Wagner's famous four-opera cycle, ""The Ring of the Nibelung."" The book is intended to...

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our...

The Master-Singers of Nuremberg: A Dramatic Poem is a work of literature written by the renowned German composer and playwright, Richard Wagner. Originally published in 1912, the book tells the story of a group of master singers in the city of Nuremberg, who compete...

Explore the captivating world of 19th-century music with Daniel Gregory Mason's "The Romantic Composers," a meticulously prepared historical text exploring Romanticism in music. Journey through the lives and works of pivotal figures who shaped classical music history. This exploration delves into the essence of...

This classic Christmas oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach has been delighting audiences for centuries. Featuring beautiful vocal solos and intricate choral arrangements, this piece is perfect for anyone looking to celebrate the holiday season in a truly memorable way. With clear notation and helpful...

Situated at the intersection between the history, historiography and aesthetics of twentieth-century music, this study uses Benjamin Britten's operas to illustrate the ways in which composers, critics and audiences mediated the "great divide" between modernism and mass culture. Reviving mid-century discussions of the "middlebrow,"...

The first articles here focus on Johannes Tinctoris, the prominent late 15th-century music theorist. They deal with the discovery of his lost pedagogical motet, and his treatise on counterpoint; this forms the basis of a wide-ranging investigation of contemporary practices of improvisation and composition...

Experiencing Berlioz offers an accessible pathway into the underlying allure of Berlioz's music. His views on rehearsing and conducting, bumpy career ride and failures, the journey of a work through revisions and editions, and historical performance practices provide a backdrop to discussions of his...

In the last ten years or so an interest in 'authenticity' has reached a wide public. Many of the best-selling records of Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mozart are those in which period techniques and period instruments are used. There is however a danger that...

Author: Benjamin MarlinISBN-13: 9798232739966Publisher: Benjamin MarlinLanguage: EnglishPublished: 09/30/2025Pages: 412Format: PaperbackWeight: 1.21lbsSize: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.84d

Author: Benjamin MarlinISBN-13: 9798232683535Publisher: Benjamin MarlinLanguage: EnglishPublished: 05/13/2017Pages: 186Format: PaperbackWeight: 0.56lbsSize: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.40d

Polish-born, Soviet-domiciled composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919-1996) is the 21st century's most remarkable rediscovery in the field of art music. He enjoyed considerable renown in his adopted Russia from the 1940s to the 1970s. Subsequently, however, his reputation tailed off, as he increasingly became regarded...

Can three songs reveal the soul of jazz?3 Songs: How the Genius of America Created Three Jazz Standards (and why my brain thinks they are related) is an inspired deep dive into the heart of American music.This richly illustrated, thoroughly researched, and deeply personal...

Can three songs reveal the soul of jazz?3 Songs: How the Genius of America Created Three Jazz Standards (and why my brain thinks they are related) is an inspired deep dive into the heart of American music.This richly illustrated, thoroughly researched, and deeply personal...

Offers the first comprehensive account of a centuries-old tradition of encrypting covert messages into music, from the Middle Ages to the present day. Question: What do J. S. Bach, beef cabbage, coffee, the SATOR Square, and Marlene Dietrich have in common? Answer: Composers have...

"One of Elvis Presley's most authentic and timeless albums, explored in full depth."In January 1971, Elvis Presley released Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old) - a bold, roots-driven concept album that took him back to the music of his childhood. More than just a...

Author: Richard WardISBN-13: 9798298798938Publisher: Independently PublishedLanguage: EnglishPublished: 08/19/2025Pages: 130Format: PaperbackWeight: 0.40lbsSize: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.28d