The New Grove Wagner - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312233248 ISBN 13: 9780312233242

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002

Synopsis

This German-born composer was quite possibly the most controversial musical figure of the 19th century. A great literary, philosophical, and political man as well as a musical talent, he pursued his artistic aims with ruthless determination in his public and private life as well as through his many critical and theoretical writings. His contribution to the development of the German Romantic opera included the training of a more dramatically powerful type of opera singer and the extension of thematic development. His life and works arouse passions like no other composer's and his works are hated as much as they are worshipped. The New Grove Wagner is a fascinating guide to this challenging, yet stimulating, composer. About The New Grove II Composer Biography Series:These new, fully re-written editions of some of the most popular titles in the New Grove composer biography series last published in the 1980s build on the enormous success of those books, offering fresh new insights drawn from the most recent scholarship. Focusing on some of the greatest and most influential composers of the last few centuries of the millennium, these titles are derived from the second edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Most excitingly, as they will be published before the dictionary, they offer sneak previews of some of the best, most up-to-date entries in this landmark, end-of-the-century edition of the most authoritative, comprehensive, and widely respected music encyclopedia in the world. In addition to the re-written editions of The New Grove Wagner, The New Grove Haydn,and The New Grove Mozart comes for the first time The New Grove Stravinsky, the first in a series of New Grove composer biographies that will cover the great masters of the 20th century, never before published as individual volumes. This series is edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. Both men live in the United Kingdom and have edited The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition.

About this title

About the Author

Barry Millington is a music critic for The Times (London)and editor of the BBC Music Magazine.

From Library Journal

In the early 1980s, Grove issued a "Composer Biography" series, with material taken from the first edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Likewise, these slim volumes are spin-offs of the second edition (LJ 3/15/01); consequently, the same new scholarship, fresh perspectives, and updated bibliographies that mark the NGII mark these books the first releases in the new series. For the first time, Stravinsky gets a title of his own. To some extent, the updates have been edited to appeal to a lay audience. For example, in the NGII article on Haydn, there is a section titled "Style, Aesthetics, and Compositional Method," which in the biography is reworded "Style and Method." In the NGII's coverage of Stravinsky, the dictionary section is titled "Posthumous Reputation and Legacy," but here it appears as "Then and Since." However, the texts themselves have not been dumbed down. Each book contains a works list, a bibliography, an index, and 12 pages of black-and-white illustrations (not seen); at press time, the publisher could not confirm whether the illustrations will be the same ones used in the NGII. As with the earlier editions, the work lists include page numbers where pieces are discussed in the text. Excellent for students and scholars, these manageable biographies are recommended for libraries where the earlier editions circulated well. Bonnie Jo Dopp, Univ. of Maryland Libs., College Park
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0312233248
• ISBN 13: 9780312233242
• Binding: Paperback
• Editor: Barry Millington