Discoveries from the Fortepiano meets the demand for a manual on authentic Classical piano performance practice that is at once accessible to the performer and accurate to the scholarship. Uncovering a wide range of eighteenth-century primary sources, noted keyboard pedagogue Donna Gunn examines contemporary philosophical beliefs and principles surrounding Classical Era performance practices. Remarkably researched and engagingly written, Discoveries from the Fortepiano is an indispensable aid to any pianist who seeks an academically and artistically sound approach to the performance of Classical works.

An annual of international Beethoven studies, Beethoven Forum sustains and promotes the high level of scholarship inspired by Beethoven's extraordinary works. Volume 2 represents the wide range of approaches that enrich the understanding and appreciation of Beethoven and his interpreters. Michael C. Tusa describes Beethoven's life-long affinity for the key of C-minor, showing Beethoven's consistencies in technique and structure. Tia Denora clarifies how Beethoven's early recognition as a great musician was linked to the social aspirations of his Viennese patrons. Beginning with Tovey's renowned metaphor of the harmonic "Cloud" in the Eroica symphony, Lawrence Earp reconsiders the extensive attention Beethoven gave to the passage. Lewis Lockwood resolves issues that have troubled scholars and musicians about the Scherzo of the F Major String Quartet (Op. 59, No. 1). William Drabkin, one of the world's premier authorities on the Missa Solemnis, analyzes the sketches and autographs of that mass's later movements. Noting the renewed interest in questions about the meaning of music, Kevin Korsyn proposes a rereading of J. W. N. Sullivan's Beethoven: His Spiritual Development and shows its relevance to the comprehension of the A Minor String Quartet, (Op. 132). The importance of Carl Dahlhaus's Ludwig van Beethoven und seine Zeit was immediately acknowledged upon its publication in 1987. Translated into English in 1991, the book will further extend its influence. To assess that influence, three Beethoven scholars provide independent appraisals of the book. Hermann Danuser places the book in the context of Dahlhaus's other works and stresses Beethoven's determination to give each of his works individuality. John Daverio discusses the cultural background to Dahlhaus's outlook on "wit" and "reflectivity." And James Webster critiques the assumptions that underlie Dahlhaus's musical analyses. All relate the book to Dahlhaus's other works and indicate in what ways the book can serve as a catalyst for future study.

A TIME Magazine Top 10 Nonfiction Book of 2012 A New Yorker Best Book of the Year Los Angeles Magazine's #1 Music Book of the Year This revelatory book of music history examines what is perhaps the best known and most-popular symphony ever written—and its famous four-note opening. Reaching back before Beethoven’s time, Matthew Guerrieri uncovers premonitions of the opening notes in the rhythms of ancient Greek poetry and the music of the French Revolution. He discusses the Fifth’s impact when it premiered, tracing the artistic, philosophical, and political reverberations across Europe to China, Russia, and the United States, from Romanticism to ring tones, from propaganda to pop. This fascinating piece of musical detective work is a treat for music lovers of every stripe.

A vivid portrait of Mozart and Haydn's greatest achievements and young Beethoven's works under their influence.

The Oratorio in the classical Era is the third volume of Howard Smither's monumental History of the Oratorio, continuing his synthesis and critical appraisal of the oratorio. His comprehensive study surpasses in scope and treatment all previous works on the subject. A fourth and final volume, on the oratorio in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, is forthcoming. In this volume Smither discusses the Italian oratorio from the 1720s to the early nineteenth century and oratorios from other parts of Europe from the 1750s to the nineteenth century. Drawing on works that represent various types, languages, and geographical areas, Smither treats the general characteristics of oratorio libretto and music and analyzes twenty-two oratorios from Italy, England, Germany, France, and Russia. He synthesizes the results of specialized studies and contributes new material based on firsthand study of eighteenth-century music manuscripts and printed librettos. Emphasizing the large number of social contexts within which oratorios were heard, Smither discussed examples in Italy such as the Congregation of the Oratory, lay contrafraternities, and educational institutions. He examines oratorio performances in German courts, London theaters and English provincial festivals, and the Parisian Concert spirituel. Though the volume concentrates primarily on eighteenth-century oratorio from the early to the late Classical styles, Smither includes such transitional works as the oratorios of Jean-Francios le Seur in Paris and Stepan Anikievich Degtiarev in Moscow. A History of the Oratorio is the first full-length history of the genre since Arnold Schering's 1911 study. In addition to synthesizing current thought about the oratorio, this volume contributes new information on relationships between oratorio librettos and contemporary literary and religious thought, and on the musical differences among oratorios from different geographical-cultural regions. Originally published in 1987. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

“An effort to expand sonata theory more solidly into the nineteenth-century repertoire.” —Notes In Sonata Fragments, Andrew Davis argues that the Romantic sonata is firmly rooted, both formally and expressively, in its Classical forebears, using Classical conventions in order to convey a broad constellation of Romantic aesthetic values. This claim runs contrary to conventional theories of the Romantic sonata that place this nineteenth-century musical form squarely outside inherited Classical sonata procedures. Building on Sonata Theory, Davis examines moments of fracture and fragmentation that disrupt the cohesive and linear temporality in piano sonatas by Chopin, Brahms, and Schumann. These disruptions in the sonata form are a narrative technique that signify temporal shifts during which we move from the outer action to the inner thoughts of a musical agent, or we move from the story as it unfolds to a flashback or flash-forward. Through an interpretation of Romantic sonatas as temporally multi-dimensional works in which portions of the music in any given piece can lie inside or outside of what Sonata Theory would define as the sonata-space proper, Davis reads into these ruptures a narrative of expressive features that mark these sonatas as uniquely Romantic. “A major achievement.” —Michael L. Klein, author of Music and the Crises of the Modern Subject