Die englische Komponistin Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) zählt zu den interessantesten Persönlichkeiten ihrer Epoche. In einer Zeit, in der Frauen kreative Schaffenskraft oft abgesprochen wurde, beschritt sie unbeirrt ihren Weg als professionelle Komponistin und schrieb eine Reihe von Opern sowie Orchesterwerke, Kammermusik und Lieder, die zu ihren Lebzeiten mit Erfolg aufgeführt wurden. Der Band dokumentiert die Beiträge zu zwei wissenschaftlichen Symposien, die anlässlich von Ethel Smyths 150. Geburtstag im Jahre 2008 in Detmold und Oxford stattfanden. The English composer Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) stands out as one of the most intriguing artistic figures of her day. Despite living at a time when women were often held to be utterly lacking in creative powers, she made her way unswervingly as a professional composer, writing several operas, orchestral works, chamber music and songs - works that were performed with success during her lifetime. This volume brings together papers delivered at two conferences held in Detmold and Oxford in 2008 on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Ethel Smyth's birth.

Gottlieb Muffat (1690-1770) has been heralded as one of the first composers of keyboard music to display 'distinctly Austrian traits'. In light of both the extent and quality of his œuvre, he was undoubtedly the single most important composer of keyboard music in Vienna in the first half of the eighteenth century. A prodigious child, he performed for the Emperor when he was around ten years old and his formative years were shaped by two of the most renowned composers of the period: his father Georg and Johann Joseph Fux. Muffat served as organist at the Viennese imperial court for over half a century and was responsible for teaching several members of the imperial family. This book explores both his career and quotidian existence and presents much hitherto unknown information about other members of this musical family. A thematic catalogue, which includes descriptions of all known manuscript sources of his music, comprises the second part of this study and serves to highlight the significance of his output and the reception and transmission of his work.