Oxford Composer Companions: Haydn - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198662165 ISBN 13: 9780198662167

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2002

Synopsis

This second volume in the acclaimed new Companion series on major composers is devoted to the immensely prolific Austrian composer and the father of both the symphony and the string quartet.
In more than 900 A-to-Z entries, Haydn's world is brought to vivid life. All of his music is highlighted including his symphonies, concertos, masses, oratorios, operas, string quartets and other chamber works, sonatas, and miscellaneous choral pieces. Family, friends, patrons and contemporaries (Mozart and the young Beethoven among them), ideas, influences, and aesthetics all played a major role in his life and are illuminated throughout the text.
An invaluable resource for students, teachers, and music lovers, this volume contains a wealth of information including maps, a chronology, a list of works, and expert assessments of Haydn's compositions and increasing popularity.

About this title

About the Author:

David Wyn Jones is Lecturer in Music at the University of Wales, Cardiff and co-editor of the Haydn Yearbook.

From Booklist:

Similar in format to the Oxford Composer Companions book on J. S. Bach (1999), this well-planned, scholarly encyclopedia is a comprehensive and informative reference source on the life, music, and times of the prolific and influential eighteenth-century composer of classical music.

A "Thematic Overview" listing the book's entries under broad topics and then subdivided by specific subjects related to Haydn helps readers focus on the areas of knowledge they are researching (e.g., biography; composers; family, friends, and acquaintances; cities, towns, and villages; individual musical works). This is followed by a Haydn family genealogical chart and a sketchy map of Europe and England. The main body of the encyclopedia consists of almost 1,000 alphabetically arranged entries related to Haydn's life, music, and historical era. Each entry is followed by the initials of the author, whose full name can be determined by referring to a list of contributors located at the beginning of the book. Many entries also cite one or two sources used in the preparation of the entry. In addition, there are several megaentries that give in-depth treatment to subjects like Haydn's life, his compositional method, the keyboard sonata, and the symphony.

Appendixes include a list of Haydn's works in chart format, noting details like instruments scored for, musical key, date, and Hoboken number as well as a chart of "text incipits" noting movements in Haydn's vocal music cross-referenced to the Hoboken catalogue. There is unfortunately no index, which would help readers identify specific subjects within the text of entries.

This reference source provides comprehensive and accurate information similar to that found in the 100-page article on Haydn in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2d ed, Groves, 2001). It is most useful as a complement to The New Grove Dictionary in academic libraries supporting graduate-level programs in music and in large public libraries. RBB
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About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0198662165
• ISBN 13: 9780198662167
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 544
• Editor: Wyn Jones David