First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This is the first full-length study of British women's instrumental chamber music in the early twentieth century. Laura Seddon argues that the Cobbett competitions, instigated by Walter Willson Cobbett in 1905, and the formation of the Society of Women Musicians in 1911 contributed to the explosion of instrumental music written by women in this period and highlighted women's place in British musical society in the years leading up to and during the First World War. Seddon investigates the relationship between Cobbett, the Society of Women Musicians and women composers themselves. The book’s six case studies - of Adela Maddison (1866-1929), Ethel Smyth (1858-1944), Morfydd Owen (1891-1918), Ethel Barns (1880-1948), Alice Verne-Bredt (1868-1958) and Susan Spain-Dunk (1880-1962) - offer valuable insight into the women’s musical education and compositional careers. Seddon’s discussion of their chamber works for differing instrumental combinations includes an exploration of formal procedures, an issue much discussed by contemporary sources. The individual composers' reactions to the debate instigated by the Society of Women Musicians, on the future of women's music, is considered in relation to their lives, careers and the chamber music itself. As the composers in this study were not a cohesive group, creatively or ideologically, the book draws on primary sources, as well as the writings of contemporary commentators, to assess the legacy of the chamber works produced.

20th-Century Chamber Music features an introduction giving a chronological overview of 20th-century chamber music and the major composers in the style, setting in context the following chapters that cover a wide selection of chamber works grouped thematically, including program music; vocal chamber music; works for new ensembles; the modern sonata; and contemporary string quartets. Composers covered range from Schoenberg and Bartók to Toru Takemitsu and George Crumb. The book is ideal for a course focussing on the history of chamber music or a unit in a 20th-century music on the chamber works of the era. Plus, students and scholars will find it an excellent resource summarizing current research.

This is the first comprehensive overview of instrumental chamber music from the 16th century to the present. There are comparisons of different genres, composers, and periods. Situations for chamber music at different moments in history are brought into a continuum, and all aspects of chamber music are placed into perspective. A History of the Idea of Chamber Music is chronologically organized at the most general level. Beyond that, national schools figure prominently, as well as genres and personalities. Throughout this book the composition of chamber music, the performance of chamber music, and the social, economic, political, and aesthetic conditions for chamber music have been considered per se and as they interact. (From the Introduction)

Few joys equal the pleasure of playing music on the instrument you love, a joy that can be enhanced by joining fellow musicians in a piece of chamber music. Despite the extraordinary growth of interest in chamber music, there has not been a single book or even a combination of books to help a chamber musician or program planner determine what music, if any, exists for a given combination of instruments. This unique book fills that gap. Authors Victor Rangel-Ribeiro and Robert Markel, both musicians themselves, have gathered over 8,000 listings of pieces for three to 20 musicians. Culled from over 100 catalogues of music publishers worldwide plus other sources, Chamber Music covers the last 500 years of music. It includes not only a complete listing of the standard chamber music repertoire but thousands of other, lesser-known pieces written for an array of instrumental combinations - including the voice. More than 5,000 listings are for 20th-century music. Chamber Music is divided into three sections for easy access to information. The first contains music composed up to the time of Haydn and Mozart; the second, music from Beethoven to the present. Each listing contains the composer's name and dates, the title of the piece, the opus or catalogue number, if any, the year composed or published, if known, the key, if any, the duration of the piece, if specified by the composer or publisher, the instrumentation of the piece - including indications for voices and unusual instruments - and finally the name of the publisher. Comments, where appropriate, show when instrumental substitutions can be made, when the composer has not specified particular instruments, what unusual instruments are required, when a conductor might be needed, or any other relevant information of interest to the player. The third section, the "Master Quick-Reference Index," lists a number of instrumental combinations and directs the reader to composers who have written for those particular ensembles. Comprehensive and easy to use, for the amateur or professional musician or anyone with an interest in the subject, Chamber Music is sure to enhance any music lover's reference shelf.

From the exhilarating impact of Isaac Albeniz at the beginning of the century to today's complex and adventurous avant-garde, this complete interpretive history introduces twentieth-century Spanish music to English-speaking readers. With graceful authority, Tomas Marco, award-winning composer, critic, and bright light of Spanish music since the 1960s, covers the entire spectrum of composers and their works: trends and movements, critical and popular reception, national institutions, influences from Europe and beyond, and the effect of such historic events as the Spanish Civil War and the death of Franco. Marco's penetrating aesthetic critiques are threaded throughout each phase of this rich account. Marco provides detailed coverage of the key figures, induding a chapter devoted entirely to Manuel de Falla--Spain's most celebrated twentieth-century composer--and a panoramic survey of recent arrivals on the contemporary music scene. Exploring the rise and fall of the zarzuela, the author highlights innovative works in this authentic Spanish genre. He analyzes the attempts to find an audience for Spanish opera; demonstrates the flowering of symphonic and chamber music at the beginning of this century; traces currents such as romanticism, impressionism, and neoclassicism; and tracks the influence of Spain's distinctive regional folk traditions. Covering musical innovation after Spain's emergence from its period of isolation, Marco notes the speed with which many composers absorbed the work of Stravinsky and Bartok, the twelve-tone system, aleatory forms, electronic techniques, and other European developments. English-speaking scholars, musicians, critics and general readers have for decades been without full information on the rich and varied work coming out of Spain in this century. This lively history fills a long-felt need and fills it superbly, with the knowledge and insights of a major figure in the musical world.

Winner of the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism A New York Times Book Review Top Ten Book of the Year Time magazine Top Ten Nonfiction Book of 2007 Newsweek Favorite Books of 2007 A Washington Post Book World Best Book of 2007 In this sweeping and dramatic narrative, Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker, weaves together the histories of the twentieth century and its music, from Vienna before the First World War to Paris in the twenties; from Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia to downtown New York in the sixties and seventies up to the present. Taking readers into the labyrinth of modern style, Ross draws revelatory connections between the century's most influential composers and the wider culture. The Rest Is Noise is an astonishing history of the twentieth century as told through its music.