The Cambridge Companion to Wagner

Author: Thomas S. Grey
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139825941
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 692

Book Description
Richard Wagner is remembered as one of the most influential figures in music and theatre, but his place in history has been marked by a considerable amount of controversy. His attitudes towards the Jews and the appropriation of his operas by the Nazis, for example, have helped to construct a historical persona that sits uncomfortably with modern sensibilities. Yet Wagner's absolutely central position in the operatic canon continues. This volume serves as a timely reminder of his ongoing musical, cultural, and political impact. Contributions by specialists from such varied fields as musical history, German literature and cultural studies, opera production, and political science consider a range of topics, from trends and problems in the history of stage production to the representations of gender and sexuality. With the inclusion of invaluable and reliably up-to-date biographical data, this collection will be of great interest to scholars, students, and enthusiasts.

The Cambridge Companion to Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen

Author: Mark Berry
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108916139
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 409

Book Description
The Companion is an essential, interdisciplinary tool for those both familiar and unfamiliar with Wagner's Ring. It opens with a concise introduction to both the composer and the Ring, introducing Wagner as a cultural figure, and giving a comprehensive overview of the work. Subsequent chapters, written by leading Wagner experts, focus on musical topics such as 'leitmotif', and structure, and provide a comprehensive set of character portraits, including leading players like Wotan, Brünnhilde, and Siegfried. Further chapters look to the mythological background of the work and the idea of the Bayreuth Festival, as well as critical reception of the Ring, its relationship to Nazism, and its impact on literature and popular culture, in turn offering new approaches to interpretation including gender, race and environmentalism. The volume ends with a history of notable stage productions from the world premiere in 1876 to the most recent stagings in Bayreuth and elsewhere.

The Cambridge Companion to the Harpsichord

Author: Mark Kroll
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107156076
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 407

Book Description
Covers every aspect of the harpsichord and its music, including composers, genres, national styles, tuning, and the art of harpsichord building.

The Cambridge Companion to Music in Digital Culture

Author: Nicholas Cook
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107161789
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 347

Book Description
Digital technology has profoundly transformed almost all aspects of musical culture. This book explains how and why.

The Cambridge Companion to Grand Opera

Author: David Charlton
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139825895
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 524

Book Description
This 2003 Companion is a fascinating and accessible exploration of the world of grand opera. Through this volume a team of scholars and writers on opera examine those important Romantic operas which embraced the Shakespearean sweep of tragedy, history, love in time of conflict, and the struggle for national self-determination. Rival nations, rival religions and violent resolutions are common elements, with various social or political groups represented in the form of operatic choruses. The book traces the origins and development of a style created during an increasingly technical age, which exploited the world-renowned skills of Parisian stage-designers, artists, and dancers as well as singers. It analyses in detail the grand operas by Rossini, Auber, Meyerbeer and Halévy, discusses grand opera in Russia and Germany, and also in the Czech lands, Italy, Britain and the Americas. The volume also includes an essay by the renowned opera director David Pountney.

Richard Wagner: Parsifal

Author: Lucy Beckett
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521296625
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Book Description
A comprehensive account of Wagner's last, and strangest opera.

The Cambridge Companion to Elgar

Author: Daniel M. Grimley
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521826235
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 280

Book Description
See:

The Cambridge Companion to Berlioz

Author: Peter Bloom
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107494060
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 332

Book Description
Still chiefly known as the extravagant composer of the Symphonie fantastique, Berlioz was an artist caught in the crossfire between the academic classicism of the French musical establishment and the romantic modernism of the Parisian musical scene. He was a thinker in an age that invented both the religion of art and the notion of the 'genius' who preached and practised it. This Companion contains essays by eminent scholars on Berlioz's place in nineteenth-century French cultural life, on his principal compositions (symphonies, overtures, operas, sacred works, songs), on his major writings (a delightful volume of memoires, a number of short stories, large quantities of music criticism, an orchestration treatise), on his direct and indirect encounters with other famous musicians (Gluck, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner), and on his legacy in France. The volume is framed by a detailed chronology of his life and a usefully annotated bibliography.

The Cambridge Wagner Encyclopedia

Author: Nicholas Vazsonyi
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781108795913
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 899

Book Description
Richard Wagner is one of the most controversial figures in Western cultural history. He revolutionized not only opera but the very concept of art, and his works and ideas have had an immeasurable impact on both the cultural and political landscapes of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. From "absolute music" to "Zurich" and from "Theodor Adorno" to "Hermann Zumpe," the vividly-written entries of The Cambridge Wagner Encyclopedia have been contributed by recognized authorities and cover a comprehensive range of topics. More than eighty scholars from around the world, representing disciplines from history and philosophy to film studies and medicine, provide fascinating insights into Wagner's life, career, and influence. Multiple appendices include listings of Wagner's works, historic productions, recordings, and addresses where he lived, to round out a volume that will be an essential and reliable resource for enthusiasts and academics alike.

The Cambridge Companion to Richard Strauss

Author: Charles Youmans
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139828525
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 369

Book Description
Richard Strauss is a composer much loved among audiences throughout the world, both in the opera house and the concert hall. Despite this popularity, Strauss was for many years ignored by scholars, who considered his commercial success and his continued reliance on the tonal system to be liabilities. However, the past two decades have seen a resurgence of scholarly interest in the composer. This Companion surveys the results, focusing on the principal genres, the social and historical context, and topics perennially controversial over the last century. Chapters cover Strauss's immense operatic output, the electrifying modernism of his tone poems, and his ever-popular Lieder. Controversial topics are explored, including Strauss's relationship to the Third Reich and the sexual dimension of his works. Reintroducing the composer and his music in light of recent research, the volume shows Strauss's artistic personality to be richer and much more complicated than has been previously acknowledged.