A bold re-examination of the religious and political history of Ottonian Germany through its musical and liturgical books.

by Sister Mary Antonine Goodchild, O.P. What a wonderful find this is: an ideal textbook on chant for junior high, high school, or really any age. It is mercifully free of verbiage or exaggerated detail. It is short and completely clear on all aspects of learning to chant (notes, rhythm, Latin, style), and it contains a vast amount of the basic repertoire, in neumes and with English translations. It even has study questions! Many of us have wished that such a book would be written. It took Fr. Samuel Weber to point out that such a book already exists, and now, praise be to God, it is in print again. As the title says, it is the perfect text for Church and school. It came out in 1944 but it isn't in the slightest bit dated. This is priced for mass distribution.

Siena, blessed with neither the aristocratic nor the ecclesiastical patronage enjoyed by music in other northern Italian centers like Florence, nevertheless attracted first-rate composers and performers from all over Europe. As Frank A. D'Accone shows in this scrupulously documented study, policies developed by the town to favor the common good formed the basis of Siena's ambitious musical programs. Based on decades of research in the town's archives, D'Accone's The Civic Muse brilliantly illuminates both the sacred and the secular aspects of more than three centuries of music and music-making in Siena. After detailing the history of music and liturgy at Siena's famous cathedral and of civic music at the Palazzo Pubblico, D'Accone describes the crucial role that music played in the daily life of the town, from public festivities for foreign dignitaries to private musical instruction. Putting Siena squarely on the Renaissance musical map, D'Accone's monumental study will interest both musicologists and historians of the Italian Renaissance.