Music Research

This engaging biography portrays Bach as the living, breathing, and sometimes imperfect human being that he was while bringing to bear all the advances of the last half-century of Bach scholarship.

Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901-1953) is frequently considered the most significant American female composer in this century. Written with unique insight and compassion, this book offers the definitive treatment of a fascinating twentieth-century figure.

From four-time Pulitzer Prize nominee David Margolick, STRANGE FRUIT explores the story of the memorable civil rights ballad made famous by Billie Holiday in the late 1930s. Margolick's careful reconstruction of the story behind the song includes a discography of "Strange Fruit" recordings as well as newly uncovered photographs that capture Holiday in performance at Greenwich Village's Cafe Society. A must for jazz aficionados.

From Please Please Me to Abbey Road, this collection of essays tells the fascinating story of the Beatles - the creation of the band, their musical influences, and their cultural significance, with emphasis on their genesis and practices as musicians, songwriters, and recording artists. Through detailed biographical and album analyses, the book uncovers the background of each band member and provides expansive readings of the band's music. * Traces the group's creative output from their earliest recordings through their career * Pays particular attention to the social and historical factors which contributed to the creation of the band * Investigates the Beatles' unique enduring musical legacy and cultural power * Clearly organized into three sections, covering Background, Works, and History and Influence, the Companion is ideal for course usage, and is also a must-read for all Beatles fans

Extending the inquiry of his early groundbreaking books, Christopher Small strikes at the heart of traditional studies of Western music by asserting that music is not a thing, but rather an activity.

The Culture of Jazz is a collection of essays by Frank Salamone that view jazz from an anthropological perspective. It focuses on aspects of jazz culture and the ways in which jazz scrutinizes the American lifestyle. These essays explore many dimensions of the jazz life and its perspectives on cultural realities.

Addressing Western and non-Western music, composers from Francesca Caccini to Charles Ives, and musical communities from 12th-century monks to contemporary opera queens, these essays explore questions of gender and sexuality.

This innovative collection of articles offers a major comprehensive overview of new developments in cultural theory as applied to Western music. Written by leading scholars from disciplines including historical musicology, sociology, ethnomusicology, anthropology, popular music studies, and film studies, the essays provide unprecedented insights into how cultural identities and differences are constructed in music.

The Cambridge History of Western Music Theory is the first comprehensive history of Western music theory to be published in the English language. A collaborative project by leading music theorists and historians, the volume traces the rich panorama of music-theoretical thought from the Ancient Greeks to the present day. Recognizing the variety and complexity of music theory as an historical subject, the volume has been organized within a flexible framework. Some chapters are defined chronologically within a restricted historical domain, whilst others are defined conceptually and span longer historical periods. Together the thirty-one chapters present a synthetic overview of the fascinating and complex subject that is historical music theory. Richly enhanced with illustrations, graphics, examples and cross-citations as well as being thoroughly indexed and supplemented by comprehensive bibliographies of the most important primary and secondary literature, this book will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars alike.