Music in the Culture of the Renaissance and Other Essays, Two Volumes

The writings gathered here finally make available in one place Lowinsky's major essays—including four previously unpublished ones—in two volumes that are lavishly provided with musical examples and illustrations.

"Professor Lowinsky's method is the only kind of 'writing about music' that I value."—Igor Stravinsky

This is a set of 43 essays (39 previously published) by one of the most influential musicologists of the century. Lowinsky is remembered primarily for his interdisciplinary writings on Renaissance topics, which call upon art history and social history for evidence and support of his often controversial musical points. These essays span Lowinsky's career, beginning with his dissertation in 1935 and ending with his death in 1985. Many have been slightly revised here and provided with additional notes to bring them up to date. The largely related topics are gathered into seven large subject areas: Music and the History of Ideas, Musical Iconography, The Sixteenth-Century Motet, Josquin Des Pres, Cipriano de Rore as Court Composer, Musica Ficta, The Compositional Process, and Views and Reviews, in which Lowinsky defends himself and attacks others. Blackburn's introduction and the forewords by Howard Brown and Ellen Harris relate the various topics to one another and also provide fascinating and affectionate portraits of this complex scholar, explaining the source and motives for the adversarial position he often took in his writings and personal relationships. Highly recommended for music collections.
- Timothy J. McGee, Univ. of Toronto
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.