Analyzing Schubert - S.Clark - 2011

When Schubert's contemporary reviewers first heard his modulations, they famously claimed that they were excessive, odd and unplanned. This book argues that these claims have haunted the analysis of Schubert's harmony ever since, outlining why Schubert's music occupies a curiously marginal position in the history of music theory. Analyzing Schubert traces how critics, analysts and historians from the early nineteenth century to the present day have preserved cherished narratives of wandering, alienation, memory and trance by emphasizing the mystical rather than the logical quality of the composer's harmony. This study proposes a new method for analyzing the harmony of Schubert's works. Rather than pursuing an approach that casts Schubert's famous harmonic moves as digressions from the norms of canonical theoretical paradigms, Suzannah Clark explores how the harmonic fingerprints in Schubert's songs and instrumental sonata forms challenge pedigreed habits of thought about what constitutes a theory of tonal and formal order.

Goethe and Schubert: the unseen bond - K.S.Whitton - 1999

Franz Schubert set 80 of Goethe's poems to music; the resulting lieder are masterpieces of the song literature. Whitton discusses the cultural background of the era, describing Goethe's interest in music and musicians, and Schubert's surprisingly wide knowledge of contemporary literature. Each of the songs is treated, with translation and discussion of the background of both text and music.

Franz Schubert: A Biography - E.Norman - 1999

In his short, tumultuous life, Franz Schubert (1797-1828) produced an astonishing amount of music. Symphonies, chamber music, opera, church music, and songs (more than 600 of them) poured forth in profusion. His "Trout" Quintet, his "Unfinished" Symphony, the last three piano sonatas, and above all his song cycles Die Schone Mullerin and Winterreise have come to be universally regarded as belonging to the very greatest works of music? Who was the man who composed this amazing succession of masterpieces, so many of which were either entirely ignored or regarded as failures during his lifetime? In this new biography, Elizabeth McKay paints a vivid portrait of Schubert and his world. She explores his family background, his education and musical upbringing, his friendships, and his brushes and flirtations with the repressive authorities of Church and State. She discusses his experience of the arts, literature, and theater, and his relations with the professional and amateur musical world of his day. She traces the way Schubert's manic-depression became an increasingly significant influence in his life, responsible at least in part for social inadequacies, professional ineptitude, and idiosyncrasies in his music. And she examines Schubert's decline after he contracted syphilis, looking at its effect on his music and emotional life. 

Music Education and the Art of Performance in the German Baroque - J.Butt - 2003

In considering the role of practical music in education this book explores the art of performance in Germany during the Baroque period. The author examines the large number of surviving treatises and instruction manuals used in the Lutheran schools during the period 1530-1800 and builds up a picture of the function and status of music in both school and church. This understanding of music as a functional art-- musica practica--in turn gives us insight into contemporary performance of the sacred work of Praetorius, Schutz, Buxtehude or Bach.

John Christian Bach - Mozart's Friend and Mentor - H.Gartner - 2003

The youngest surviving son of Johann Sebastian Bach, John Christian (born Johann, he adopted the English form of his name in maturity) represents a unique link between the baroque and classical worlds. His early musical training was with his father but his own musical preferences led him to Italy and study with Padre Martini. He abandoned the Lutheranism of his youth, becoming a Roman Catholic and composing much sacred music as organist of Milan Cathedral. He became Mozart's friend and mentor, having met him when the child prodigy visited London in 1764. During his lifetime he was the most successful of the musical Bachs, although he died deeply in debt, and until quite recent years his music has been largely ignored. This impeccably researched biography of the man and his times is evidence that his true stature is now being recognized.

Bach's Changing World Voices in the Community - C.K.Baron - 2008

The Leipzig middle-class evolved with the cooperation and gratitude of an extravagant, greedy, and disinterested absolutist ruler. Bach's Changing World documents how this community and other German communities responded to a variety of religious, social, and political demands that emerged during the years of the composer's lifetime. An accepted, admired, and trusted member of this community, as evidenced by the commissions he received for secular celebrations from royalty and members of the middle-class alike -- in addition to functioning as church composer -- Bach shared its values.BR> Contributors: Carol K. Baron, Susan H. Gillespie, Katherine Goodman, Joyce L. Irwin, Tanya Kevorkian, Ulrich Siegele, John Van Cleve, and Ruben Weltsch. Carol K. Baron is Fellow for Life in the Department of Music at Stony Brook University, where she was co-founder and administrator of the Bach Aria Festival and Institute. 

Глен Гульд. Избранное. Книга I и II - 2006