George Crumb The Alchemy Of Sound

The Devil and the Perception of Schnittke's Early Style -- The Mythologems in Schnittke's First Symphony -- Postlude -- Appendix 1. An interview with George Crumb -- Appendix 2. The English translation of the texts by García Lorca from George Crumb's Ancient Voices of Children -- Appendix 3. Text excerpts from Stockhausen's Licht -- Selected bibliography -- List of Illustrations -- Index

This book studies George Crumb’s The Winds of Destiny (2004) and Black Angels (1970) as artifacts of collective memory and cultural trauma. It situates these two pieces in Crumb’s output and unpacks the complex methodologies needed to understand these pieces as contributions and challenges to traditional narratives of the Civil War and the Vietnam War. The Winds of Destiny is shown to be a critical commentary on the legacy of American wars and militarism, both concepts crucial to American identity. The Winds of Destiny also acts as an ironic war memorial as a means of critiquing such concepts. Black Angels has long been associated with the Vietnam War. This book shows how this association began and how it endures through connections to iconic Vietnam War media, including films and books. Together these analyses show the legacy of trauma in American collective memory, which is in a continuous crisis. Crumb’s musical critiques point to a need to resist conventional narratives and to begin to heal trauma on a collective level. This book will be of interest to students of contemporary American music, American studies, and memory studies. It benefits readers by newly situating Crumb’s music within these three fields of study.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Paeg -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- List of illustrations -- Preface -- Notes on contributors -- Introduction: music for the dead and the living -- PART I: Going home -- 1 Into the profound deep: pulled by a song -- 2 'Farewell vain world, I'm going home': negotiating death in the sacred harp tradition -- 3 Crossing over, returning home: expressions of death as a place in George Crumb's River of Life -- PART II: 'Lest we forget': music, history and myth -- 4 Public mourning, the nation and Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings -- 5 Swinging in heaven, boppin' in hell: jazz and death -- 6 'Sad and solemn requiems': disaster songs and complicated grief in the aftermath of Nova Scotia mining disasters -- PART III: approaching by turning away : metaphorical death -- 7 Moving between worlds: death, the otherworld and traditional Irish song -- 8 Dying for love in trouvère song -- PART IV: The restless dead -- 9 To the tune of 'Queen Dido': the spectropoetics of early modern English balladry -- 10 'Break on through to the other side': songs of death in supernatural horror films -- 11 'And the stars spell out your name': the funeral music of Diana, Princess of Wales -- 12 Barthes's orphic quest: music and mourning in Camera Lucida -- Index

Musical Currents from the Left Coast, edited by Jack Boss and Bruce Quaglia, presents a timely snapshot of the analytical concerns and methodologies that have proliferated throughout the current moment in North American music theoretical circles. The repertoire spanned within this volume is extensive. It covers music from J.S. Bach through the late 19th Century and continues finally to the modernist, avant garde, and post-modernist repertoire of the past century. Previously neglected aspects of musical structure, such as rhythm and meter, are presented here on equal footing with the traditional preoccupations of harmony and thematic process. Meter in particular is treated in great depth here: it is explored from the perspectives of both listener and performer and treats repertoire as diverse as Bach, Chopin, traditional African music and the popular music throughout the world that has disseminated from that tradition. The music and ideas of composer Arnold Schoenberg are central to many of the essays presented here. Schoenberg’s oft remarked upon masterpiece, Klavierstuck, Op.11, No.1, forms the focus of an entire section of the book. Four notable Schoenberg scholars of the younger generation revisit this seminal work on the eve of its centenary in order to reflect not only upon the work itself, but also upon the prodigious discourse that has surrounded it since nearly the date of its composition. More broadly, Schoenberg’s compositional and analytical concerns resonate through many of the other essays presented here, too. His concepts of “The Musical Idea” and “Developing Variation” are treated extensively in relation to the music of Anton Webern and Johannes Brahms, respectively. Musical Currents from the Left Coast will be of great interest to any individuals and institutions with an investment in the contemporary discourse of music theory and will be of special interest to scholars beyond that field who are also engaged with the work of Arnold Schoenberg.

In the last decade of the 19th century, modernist sensibilities reached a critical mass and emerged more frequently in music as composers began employing dissonance, polyrhythm, atonality, and densities. Conversely, many 20th-century composers eschewed modernist devices and wrote accessible works in a tonal idiom, which drew chiefly on classical, romantic, and folk models. Then the postmodern sensibility followed, with its enthusiasm for the unprecedented availability of virtually every type of music, andit engendered numerous sub-groups, including multiculturalism, minimalism, multimedia, and free improvisation. Historical Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Classical Music focuses on modernist and postmodern classical music worldwide from 1890to the present. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, an extensive bibliography, and over 400 cross-referenced dictionary entries, with more than 60 entries explaining the methods, styles, and acoustic and electronic media peculiar tonew music, and over 350 entries giving essential information on the lives and work of the people who have composed and performed that music. Those entries also include pop, jazz, and rock composer/musicians whose work either overlaps the realm of classical music or else is so radical within its own field that it merits discussion in this context. This book is a must for anyone, musician or non-musician, student or professional, who seeks to research and learn more about any significant aspect of modern and contemporary classical music worldwide.

This volume honors and extends the contributions of educator and scholar Dr. Michael J. Budds to the field of musicology, particularly the study of American music. As the longtime editor of two book series for the College Music Society, Budds nurtured a wide range of scholarship in American music and had a lasting impact on the field. This book brings together scholars who worked with Budds as a colleague, editor, or mentor to carry on his legacy of passionate engagement with America’s rich and varied musical heritage. Ranging through jazz, gospel, Americana, and film music to American classical, and addressing music’s social contexts and analytical structure, the research gathered here attests to the diversity of the mosaic that is American music and the numerous scholarly approaches that have been taken to the subject.

Today’s music theory instructors face a changing environment, one where the traditional lecture format is in decline. The Routledge Companion to Music Theory Pedagogy addresses this change head-on, featuring battle-tested lesson plans alongside theoretical discussions of music theory curriculum and course design. With the modern student in mind, scholars are developing creative new approaches to teaching music theory, encouraging active student participation within contemporary contexts such as flipped classrooms, music industry programs, and popular music studies. This volume takes a unique approach to provide resources for both the conceptual and pragmatic sides of music theory pedagogy. Each section includes thematic "anchor" chapters that address key issues, accompanied by short "topics" chapters offering applied examples that instructors can readily adopt in their own teaching. In eight parts, leading pedagogues from across North America explore how to most effectively teach the core elements of the music theory curriculum: Fundamentals Rhythm and Meter Core Curriculum Aural Skills Post-Tonal Theory Form Popular Music Who, What, and How We Teach A broad musical repertoire demonstrates formal principles that transcend the Western canon, catering to a diverse student body with diverse musical goals. Reflecting growing interest in the field, and with an emphasis on easy implementation, The Routledge Companion to Music Theory Pedagogy presents strategies and challenges to illustrate and inspire, in a comprehensive resource for all teachers of music theory.