American Musical Life in Context and Practice to 1865.

Ed. by James R. Heintze. Essays in American Music, 1; Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, 1583. New York: Garland, 1994. ISBN 0-8153-08167. Pp. x, 366. $57.

This volume is the first in a Garland series, edited by James R. Heintze and Michael Saffle, devoted to the study of American music. For this inaugural volume, Heintze invited nine scholars to provide essays on topics of their own choosing. The editor's stated purpose is "to provide a sampling of areas of research currently under pursuit and, nearing the onset of the twenty-first century, to provide a stimulus for future research into American music" (p. vii). The material covered in this volume is, therefore, varied. I find this to be an attractive attribute; others might be frustrated by the lack of focus.

The essays are arranged in a chronological sequence beginning with Sterling E. Murray's …