Notes articles from December 1998

Notes archives from December 1998

The Bay Psalm Book tercentenary, 1698-1998.
December 1, 1998... In 1698, the Boston printers Bartholomew Green and John Allen brought out a ninth edition of the Bay Psalm Book.(1) In it one sees the first music printed in the British colonies. Music had been printed in the New World as early as the 1540s in...

"Infinite riches in a little room": the music collections in the Pierpont Morgan Library.(part 1)
December 1, 1998... When, in early 1972, I first walked through the wrought-iron gates and passed the rugged bronze doors that secure the East 36th Street entrance to the Morgan Library Annex, I was overwhelmed. A first visit to this august institution can...

The Ernst von Dohnanyi collection at the Florida State University.
December 1, 1998... Between the years 1949 and 1960, the pianist, composer, conductor, and pedagogue Ernst yon Dohnanyi (1877-1960) was on the faculty of the Florida State University (FSU). Having already commemorated his contribution to the school in 1987 through...

Trends in the price of music monographs and scores as reflected in 'Notes,' 1993-1997.
December 1, 1998... This article is the fourth in a series of annual price-trend analyses based on data drawn from the "Book Reviews," "Books Recently Published," "Music Reviews," and "Music Received" features in Notes. As in the previous installments, the data...

Composer's Mosaic.(Software Review)(Evaluation)
December 1, 1998... Composer's Mosaic, version 1.58, music notation software for Macintosh. Cambridge, Mass.: Mark of the Unicorn, 1998. $595 (academic price, $250; upgrade from other notation programs, $149). Requires 68020-based Macintosh or faster (PowerPC...

The Ring Disc: An Interactive Guide to Wagner's Ring Cycle.(Software Review)(Evaluation)
December 1, 1998... Interactive CD-ROM for IBM PC and compatibles. Urbana, Ill.: Media Cafe, 1997. $99.99. Requires an IBM or compatible with Pentium processor running Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0, with 8 MB RAM, 4x CD-ROM drive, 800 x 600 screen resolution with...

Africa - Folk Music Atlas.(Software Review)(Evaluation)
December 1, 1998... Edited by Leonardo D'Amico and Francesco Mizzau. (World Music Atlas, 1.) Firenze: Amharsi, 1996. Book, CD-ROM for IBM PC and compatibles, 3 audio CDs. Requires PC 486 DX2, 66MHz or better preferred; double-speed CD-ROM, 8 MB of RAM, 4 MB free...

Jean Sibelius: The Hameenlinna Letters: Scenes from a Musical Life, 1874-1895.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Edited by Glenda Dawn Goss. Esbo, Finland: Schildts Forlag, 1997. [263 p. ISBN 951-50-0866-2. Fmk 145.] Over the past century, Jean Sibelius's reputation has undergone dramatic swings in the prestige market. This roller-coaster ride has...

Jean Sibelius: A Guide to Research.(Review)
December 1, 1998... By Glenda D. Goss. (Garland Composer Resource Manuals, 41.) New York: Garland Publishing, 1998. [xxi, 298 p. ISBN 0-8153-1171-0. $54.] Over the past century, Jean Sibelius's reputation has undergone dramatic swings in the prestige market....

Blues and Gospel Records: 1890-1943, 4th ed.(Review)
December 1, 1998... 4th ed. Compiled by Robert M.W. Dixon, John Godrich, and Howard Rye. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997. [xlix, 1870 p. ISBN 0-19-816239-1. $95.] Robert M.W. Dixon's and John Godrich's discographical efforts for pre-World War II ("prewar")...

John Coltrane: His Life and Music.(Review)
December 1, 1998... By Lewis Porter. (The Michigan American Music Series.) Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998. [xvii, 409 p. ISBN 0-472-10161-7. $29.95.] Lewis Porter is unquestionably one of the leading names in contemporary jazz scholarship. In...

The Last Prodigy: A Biography of Erich Wolfgang Korngold.(Review)
December 1, 1998... By Brendan G. Carroll. Portland, Ore.: Amadeus Press, 1997. [464 p. ISBN 1-57467-029-8. $39.95.] Erich Wolfgang Korngold, who was born in Brunn in 1897 and first established his career in Vienna, became a film composer in Hollywood in the...

Ruth Crawford Seeger: A Composer's Search for American Music.(Review)
December 1, 1998... By Judith Tick. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. [xiv, 457 p. ISBN 0-19-506509-3. $39.95.] The addition of Ruth Crawford's song "Rat Riddles" (1930) to the seventh edition of the venerable Norton Scores anthology (New York: W. W....

The Music of Alban Berg.(Review)
December 1, 1998... By Dave Headlam. (Composers of the Twentieth Century.) New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996. [xi, 460 p. ISBN 0-300-06400-4. $45.] Dave Headlam's Music of Alban Berg is the first comprehensive study of Berg's oeuvre since the publication...

Perception and Cognition of Music.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Edited by Irene Deliege and John Sloboda. Hove, East Sussex: Psychology Press, 1997. [xvii, 461 p. ISBN 0-86377-452-0. $79.95.] The nineteen papers in this volume were selected from over two hundred presented in July 1994 at the Third...

Indian Music and the West.(Review)
December 1, 1998... By Gerry Farrell. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997. [xi, 241 p. ISBN 0-19-816391-6. $60.] When Lord Cornwallis, the British general at the Battle of Yorktown, resigned the field, his life took a turn that proved to be curiously fortuitous for...

Musical Americans: A Biographical Dictionary, 1918-1926.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Edited by Mary DuPree. (Fallen Leaf Reference Books in Music, 23.) Berkeley: Fallen Leaf Press, 1997. [xiii, 303 p. ISBN 0-914913-13-1. $37.95.] That fame is often a fleeting phenomenon is well illustrated by the group of 'American...

La musica negli archivi e nelle biblioteche delle Marche.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Edited by Gabriele Moroni. (Fondi storici nelle biblioteche marchigiane, 4.) Fiesole: Nardini, 1996. [270 p. ISBN 88-4041122-4.] This volume aims to inventory music material held in libraries and archives in the Marche region of Italy,...

Describing Music Materials: A Manual for Descriptive Cataloging of Printed and Recorded Music, Music Videos, and Archival Music Collections, for Use with AACR2 and APPM.(Review)
December 1, 1998... 3rd ed. By Richard P. Smiraglia, rev. and enl. with the assistance of Taras Pavlovsky. (Soldier Creek Music Series, 5.) Lake Crystal, Minn.: Soldier Creek Press, 1997. [xi, 234 p. ISBN 0-936996-75-7. $60.] Fifteen years ago, Richard...

Beyond MIDI: The Handbook of Musical Codes.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Edited by Eleanor Selfridge-Field. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1997. [xvii, 630 p. ISBN 0-26219394-9. $50.] As its title implies, Beyond MIDI is not just another addition to the many MIDI books currently on the market. In fact, less than...

Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music.(Review)
December 1, 1998... By Dietrich Bartel. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997. [xv, 471 p. ISBN 0-8032-1276-3. $50.] This substantial book, an expanded version of the author's Handbuch der musikalisohen Figurenlehre (Laaber: Laaber-Verlag, 1985),...

Towards a History of Spanish Villancico.(Review)
December 1, 1998... By Paul R. Laird. (Detroit Studies in Musicology; Studies in Music, 19.) Warren, Mich.: Harmonie Park Press, 1997. [xix, 233 p. ISBN 0-89990-075-5. $35.] The use of the villancico... was an important part of Spanish religious life by the...

German Music Criticism in the Late Eighteenth Century: Aesthetic Issues in Instrumental Music.(Review)
December 1, 1998... By Mary Sue Morrow. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. [xiii, 253 p. ISBN 0-521-58227-X. $64.95.] This book is a significant contribution to the continuing efforts by historians of eighteenth-century music to gain control over the...

English Opera in Late Eighteenth-Century London: Stephen Storace at Drury Lane.(Review)
December 1, 1998... By Jane Girdham. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997. [xiv, 272 p. ISBN 0-19-816254-5. $89.] Anna (Nancy) Storace was one of eighteenth-century opera's darlings. A precociously gifted prima buffa who displayed and developed her talents while...

The Gallery Tradition: Aspects of Georgian Psalmody: Papers from the International Conference Organised by the Colchester Institute, August 1995.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Edited by Christopher Turner. Ketton: SG Publishing in association with Anglia Polytechnic University, 1997. [xi, 109 p. ISBN 0-9529336-0-8. [pounds]26.] Interest in country psalmody in Britain is of relatively recent standing. The 1995...

Schubert's Vienna.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Edited by Raymond Erickson. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997. [xvi, 283 p. ISBN 0-300-07080-2. $35.] Schubert's Vienna succeeds splendidly as the book its editor intended, written by specialists "for a broad, nonspecialist public"...

Schubert-Handbuch.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Edited by Walther Durr and Andreas Krause. Kassel: Barenreiter; Stuttgart: Metzler, 1997. [xxii, 684 p. ISBN 3-76182002-X (Barenreiter); 3-476-01418-5 (Metzler). DM 128.] The two hundredth anniversary of Franz Schubert's birth prompted an...

Onstage with Grieg: Interpreting His Piano Music.(Review)
December 1, 1998... By Einar Steen-Nokleberg. Translated by William H. Halverson. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997. [ix, 413 p. ISBN 0253-33248-6. $49.95.] The piano works of Edvard Grieg - apart from selected Lyric Pieces and the Concerto op. 16 -...

Nineteenth-Century Piano Music: Essays in Performance and Analysis.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Edited by David Witten. (Perspectives in Music Criticism and Theory, 3.) New York: Garland Publishing, 1997. [xvi, 310 p. ISBN 0-8153-1502-3. $52.] This collection of essays is dedicated to "pianists in practice rooms around the world."...

Debussy Studies.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Edited by Richard Langham Smith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. [xvi, 235 p. ISBN 0-521-46090-5. $64.95.] This collection of essays contributes significantly to a growing body of literature that received its impetus from two...

Darius Milhaud: Modality and Structure in Music of the 1920's.(Review)
December 1, 1998... By Deborah Mawer. Aldershot, Hants: Scolar Press, 1097. [xiii, 408 p. ISBN 185928-249-0. $84.95.] The year 1992 marked the centenary of Darius Milhaud's birth and brought about a renewed interest in his music, with numerous performances...

The Twisted Muse: Musicians and Their Music in the Third Reich.(Review)
December 1, 1998... By Michael H. Kater. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. [xv, 327 p. 0-19-509620-7. $35.] In his most recent work, Michael Kater demonstrates how music was inextricably intertwined with Nazi politics, and the extent to which few...

Nationalizing Blackness: Afrocubanismo and Artistic Revolution in Havana, 1920-1940.(Review)
December 1, 1998... By Robin D. Moore. (Pitt Latin American Series.) Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1997. [xii, 320 p. ISBN 0-8229-5645-4. $19.95.] Cuba from 1920 to 1940 was a nation engaged in considerable social, economic, and political...

A Miles Davis Reader.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Edited by Bill Kirchner. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997. [ix, 273 p. ISBN 1-56098-774-X (cloth); 1-56098-802-9 (pbk.). $29.95 (cloth); $13.95 (pbk.).] Editor Bill Kirchner, a jazz musician, record producer, and...

Sign-Off for the Old Met: The Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts, 1950-1966.(Review)
December 1, 1998... By Paul Jackson. Portland, Ore.: Amadeus Press, 1997. [xv, 644 p. ISBN 1-57467-030-1. $49.95.] The Saturday matinee performances of the Metropolitan Opera have been regularly broadcast in this country since 1931, and the effect of such a...

Techniques of the Contemporary Composer.(Review)
December 1, 1998... By David Cope. New York: Schirmer Books, 1997. [xiii, 250 p. ISBN 0-02-864737-8. $32.] David Cope's Techniques of the Contemporary Composer is a thoroughly reworded and updated version of his earlier New Music Composition (New York:...

John Cage As....(Review)
December 1, 1998... By Sam Richards. Oxford: Amber Lane Press, 1996. [xi, 194 p. ISBN 1-872868-17-7. [pounds]16.95.] Sam Richards and Joan Retallack have a similar perspective on their shared subject, John Cage. Richards, according to the book jacket of John...

Musicage: Cage Muses on Words, Art, Music.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Edited by Joan Retallack. Hanover, N.H.: Wesleyan University Press, University Press of New England, 1996. [xlvii, 360 p. ISBN 08195-6311-0. $19.95.] Sam Richards and Joan Retallack have a similar perspective on their shared subject, John...

Johann Sebastian Bach: Kantaten zum 3. und 4. Sonntagh nach Epiphanias.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Hrsg. von Ulrich Leisinger (BWV 111, 156, 81) und Peter Wollny (BWV 73, 72, 14). (Neue Ausgabe samtlicher Werke, Ser. I: Kantaten, Bd. 6.) Kassel: Barenreiter, 1996. [Zur Edition, p. v-vi; facsims., p. vii-xii; scores, 170 p....

Johann Sebastian Bach: Kantaten zum 22. und 23. Sonntagh nach Trinitatis.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Hrsg. von Andreas Glockner. (Neue Ausgabe samtlicher Werke, Ser. I: Kantaten, Bd. 26.) Kassel: Barenreiter, 1994. [Zur Edition, p. v-vii; facsims., p. viii-xiii; scores, 174 p. Cloth. BA 5083. DM 180.] Kritischer Bericht. Kassel:...

Johann Sebastian Bach: Kantaten zu Marienfesten, II.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Hrsg. von Matthias Wendt (BWV 1) und Uwe Wolf (BWV 147, 10). (Neue Ausgabe samtlicher Werke, Ser. I: Kantaten, Bd. 28.2.) Kassel: Barenreiter, 1995. [Zur Edition, p. v-vi; facsims., p. vii-xii; scores, 177 p. Cloth. ISMN...

Joahann Sebastian Bach: Ratswahlkantaten, II.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Hrsg. von Christine Frode. (Neue Ausgabe samtlicher Werke, Ser. I: Kantaten, Bd. 32.2.) Kassel: Barenreiter, 1994. [Zur Edition, p. v-vi; facsims., p. vii-xii; scores, 168 p. Cloth. BA 5077. DM 180.] Kritischer Bericht. Kassel: Barenreiter,...

Georg Friedrich Handel. Rinaldo: Opera seria in tre atti, HWB 7b.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Hrsg. von David R.B. Kimbell. (Hallische Handel-Ausgabe, Serie II: Opern, Bd. 4.2.) Kassel: Barenreiter, 1996. [Editorial policy, pref. in Ger., Eng., p. vii-xii; facsims., p. xiii-xviii; Libretto-Druck, Thomas Wood, London 1731 (facsim....

Georg Friedrich Handel. Tamerlano: Dramma per musicain tre atti, HWV 18.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Hrsg. von Terence Best. (Hallische Handel-Ausgabe, Serie II: Opern, Bd. 15.) Kassel: Barenreiter, 1996. [Editorial policy, pref. in Ger., Eng., p. vi-xxvii; facsims., p. xxviii-xxxii; Libretto-Druck, London 1724 (facsim. reprod.), p. xxxiii-lx;...

Jean-Philippe Rameau: Pieces de clavecin en concerts, RCT 8-12 et RCT 5.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Edition de Denis Herlin et Davitt Moroney. Paris: Gerard Billaudot, c1996. (Opera omnia, ser. I: Musique instrumentale, vol. 2.) (Musica gallica.) [Gen. pref. in Fr., Eng., p. ix-x; foreword in Fr., Eng. (historical context, notes on...

Kurt Weill: Die Dreigroschenoper: A Facsimile of the Holograph Full Score. Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Edited by Edward Harsh. (The Kurt Weill Edition, ser. IV: Miscellanea, vol. 1.) New York: Kurt Weill Foundation for Music; Valley Forge, Pa.: European American Music, 1996. [Pref. in Ger., Eng., p. vii-viii; Dreigroschenoper Chronology,...

Music of South Slavic Epics from the Bihac Region of Bosnia.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Transcribed by Stephen Erdely. (Milman Parry Studies in Oral Tradition.) New York: Garland, 1995. [Series foreword, 1 p.; pref., p. 1-3; essays "The Recordings in the Parry Collection," "Transcription of Melodies," "On Epic Singing," p. 5-27;...

John Ward: Consort Music of Five and Six Parts.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Transcribed and edited by Ian Payne. (Musica Britannica, 67.) London: Stainer and Bell, 1995. [Pref. in Eng., Fr., Ger., p. xv-xvii; introd. in Eng., p. xix-xxv; editorial notes, p. xxvi-xxvii; acknowledgments, p. xxviii; facsims.,...

William Cranford: Consorts of Five Parts (Fantasias, 1 & 2, In Nomine, and Go from my Window).(Review)
December 1, 1998... (Fantasias 1 & 2, In Nomine, and Go from My Window). Edited by Virginia Brookes. (Viol Consort Series, 31.) Albany, Calif.: PRB Productions, c1997. [Pref., 1 p.; textual commentary, 1 p.; score, 13 p. and 5 parts. ISBN...

William Cranford: Six Fantasias for Six Viols (2 Trebles, 2 Tenors, 2 Basses).(Review)
December 1, 1998... (2 Trebles, 2 Tenors, 2 Basses). Edited by Virginia Brookes. (Viol Consort Series, 27.) Albany, Calif.: PRB Productions, c1996. [Pref., p. iii-v; score, 33 p. and 6 parts. ISBN 1-56571-128-9; PRB VB9. $28.]

John Milton: Three Fantasies for Five Viols (Two Trebles, Two Tenors, and Bass).(Review)
December 1, 1998... Edited by Rita Morey. (Viol Consort Series, 30.) Albany, Calif.: PRB Productions, c1996. [Pref. and textual commentary, 1 p.; score, 12 p. and 5 parts. ISBN 1-56571-145-9; PRB RM2. $15.]

Thomas, Tomkins: Five Consort Anthems.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Edited by David Pinto and Ross W. Duffin. London: Fretwork Editions, c1994. [Introd., sources, acknowledgments, p. iii-vii; crit. notes, p. viii-ix; score, p. 1-71. ISBN 1898131-01-5; FE10. [pounds]13 (score); [pounds]35 (score &...

John Jenkins: Consort Music of Three Parts.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Transcribed and edited by Andrew Ashbee. (Musica Britannica, 70.) London: Stainer and Bell, 1997. [Pref. in Eng., Fr., Ger., p. xv-xvii; introd. in Eng., p. xix-xxiii; editorial and performance notes, p. xxiv-xxv; acknowledgments, p. xxvi;...

Late-Seventeenth-Century English Keyboard Music.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS.Mus.Sch. D.219; Oxford, Christ Church, Mus. MS. 1177. Edited by Candace Bailey. (Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era, 81.) Madison, Wis.: A-R Editions, c1997. [Acknowledgments, p. vii; introd., p....

Hayes Biggs. E. M. am Flugel: Poem-Etude for Piano Solo (1992).(Review)
December 1, 1998... New York: C.F. Peters, c1993. [Notes by the composer, 2 p., score, 12 p. Edition Peters no. 67486. $7; duration: ca. 6[minutes].] The number and quality of compositions written for solo piano over the last thirty years is impressive and...

Chester Biscardi. Incitation to Desire (Tango) (for) Piano Solo (1984).(Review)
December 1, 1998... New York: C.F. Peters, c1996. [Notes on the work, performance notes, 2 p.; score, 6 p. Edition Peters no. 67596b. $12.50; duration: ca. 3[minutes].] The number and quality of compositions written for solo piano over the last thirty years...

David Chaitkin: Impromptu (for) Piano Solo (1989).(Review)
December 1, 1998... New York: Henmar Press; C. F. Peters, c1993. [Score, 7 p. Edition Peters no. 67427. $6.50; duration: ca. 4[minutes].] The number and quality of compositions written for solo piano over the last thirty years is impressive and heartening....

David Chaitkin: Prelude and Dance (for) Piano Solo.(Review)
December 1, 1998... (Fallen Leaf Publications in Contemporary Music, 71.) Berkeley, Calif.: Fallen Leaf Press, c1995. [Notes, 1 p.; score, p. 3-11; notes on the composer, back cover verso. $22; duration: ca. 5 1/2[minutes].] The number and quality of...

Iain Hamilton: A Book of Watercolours for Piano (1993).(Review)
December 1, 1998... Bryn Mawr, Penn.: Theodore Presser, c1996. [Score, 24 p. 410-41301. $12.50; duration: ca. 17[minutes].] The number and quality of compositions written for solo piano over the last thirty years is impressive and heartening. Much of this...

Robert Muczynski: Desperate Measures (Paganini Variations) for Piano.(Review)
December 1, 1998... Robert Muczynski. Desperate Measures (Paganini Variations) for Piano op. 48. Bryn Mawr, Penn.: Theodore Presser, c1996. [Score, 12 p.; notes on the composer, back cover verso. 41041307. $10; duration: ca. 10[minutes].] The number and...

Michael Torke: Laetus for Piano [1982].(Review)
December 1, 1998... New York: Hendon Music; Boosey & Hawkes, c1994. [Score, 16 p. PIB 488. $16.50; duration: ca. 8[minutes].] The number and quality of compositions written for solo piano over the last thirty years is impressive and heartening. Much of this...