Paul Hindemith had a multifaceted career as an internationally acclaimed composer, performer, festival organizer, teacher, lecturer, and writer. Born in Germany in 1895, he was a leading member of the musical avant-garde, and when the Nazis came to power his compositions eventually were banned as "decadent art." In 1938 Hindemith went into voluntary exile in Switzerland and in 1940 migrated to the United States, where he became a citizen. His return to Europe after the war in response to urgent calls for help in rebuilding European musical life gave rise to many inner emotional problems. This selection of letters written by Hindemith spans his entire career, from the First World War until shortly before his death in 1963. Translated and edited by a leading authority on Hindemith, the letters (some of which were written in English) reveal that he was an observant, engaging, and opinionated correspondent who took a keen interest in contemporary culture and politics. The first such selection to appear in English, the letters deal with personal and professional matters and are addressed to his wife, publishers, and friends in both Europe and America. Among the many important personalities with whom he came into contact were the composers Stravinsky and Milhaud, the conductors Mengelberg, Furtwängler, Koussevitzky, and Klemperer, and the choreographers Massine and Balanchine. Published to coincide with the centenary of Hindemith's birth, the letters fill out our portrait of him and provide an absorbing chronicle of his life and times.

This is the first book-length study of the genre of 'artist-opera', in which the work's central character is an artist who is uncomfortable with his place in the world. It investigates how three such operas (Pfitzner's Palestrina (1915), Krenek's Jonny spielt auf (1926) and Hindemith's Mathis der Maler (1935)) contributed to the debate in early twentieth-century Germany about the place of art and the artist in modern society, and examines how far the artist-character may be taken as functioning as a persona for the real composer of the work. Because of their concern with the place of art within society, the works are also engaged with inherently political questions, and each opera is read in the light of the political context of its time: conservatism circa World War I, Americanism and democracy, and the rise of National Socialism.

Paul Hindemith: A Research and Information Guide is an annotated bibliography concerning both the nature of primary sources related to the composer and the scope and significance of the secondary sources which deal with him, his compositions, and his influence as a musician and teacher. The second edition includes research published since the publication of the first edition and provides electronic resources.

The Other Classical Musics will help both students and general readers to appreciate musical traditions mostly unfamiliar to them.

"Notes for Violists: A Guide to the Repertoire provides historical and analytical information about thirty-five pieces of classical music written for the viola. Arranged alphabetically by composer, the book covers some of the best-known examples of string music repertoire prominently involving the viola. A single chapter is devoted to each of the thirty-five works. The selected string repertoire includes concertos, chamber music, and works for solo viola composed between the early part of the eighteenth century through the end of the twentieth century. Each chapter includes biographical information about the composer and historical information about the work. A detailed musical analysis of each work is also included. Numerous charts and musical examples provide further references for the reader"--

The monograph consists of a set of correspondence with Miloš Šafránek, a Czech diplomat, music journalist, Martinů's biographer, and a promoter of his work. The volume contains the diplomatic transcriptions of 168 letters, six postcard, five postal cards, one telegram, and one lettercard from the period of 1928-1959. The vast majority of the correspondence is unilateral, addressed to Šafránek; only two of the items were sent by Šafránek. The method of diplomatic transcription, chosen by the authors of the edition, respects the peculiarities of Martinů's linguistic expression. Comprehensive annotations provide historical context and illustrate the political circumstances of the most tumultuous years of the twentieth century, but they also comment on the genesis of compositions.

Leading authorities explore, in direct and accessible language, chamber-music masterpieces by twenty-one prominent composers since 1900.