Ewen, David. "Piston, Walter." American Composer: A Biographical Dictionary. New York: Putnam's Sons, 1982.
Some may argue over the episodic nature of Ewen's biographical writing. It might be true that more scholars perfer fact-oriented narrative. But the episodes Ewen use in such a dictionary is a part of fun for readers, and sometimes give facts a lively sense.
I personally like this dictionally, probably more than AmeriGrove. But I usually read both Ewen and AmeriGrove to have different way to see things. The thing I like in Ewen's this dictionary is that he includes a brief quote from each composer. In the section called "The Composer Speaks," Ewen gave us to read what each composer write about his/her own music or own belief on general, creative world.
Five words of the week
serendipity
The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident
grapevine
1. A vine on which grapes grow.
2.a. The informal transmission of information, gossip, or rumor from person to person. b. A usually unrevealed source of confidential information.
spikiness < spiky
1. Having one or more projecting sharp points.
2. Grouchy or cross in temperament.
obeisance
1. A gesture or movement of the body, such as a curtsy, that expresses deference or homage.
2. An attitude of deference or homage.
periphery
1. A line that forms the boundary of an area; a perimeter.
2. The surface of a solid.
3.a. The outermost part or region within a precise boundary. b. A zone constituting an imprecise boundary.
Forbes, Elliot. "The Music of Randall Thompson." The Musical Quarterly 35 (1949): 1-25.
This is a very good overview on the music of Thompson. Forbes uses many example to talk about actual pieces of the composer. The style is a bit informal, but not as "dry" as a dictionary article. Maybe one unfortunate elements of this article is the ending without any summary. But for those who want to know about his representative works, this article works, but only to the works written before 1949.
Chase, Gilbert and David Wright. "Foss, Lukas." The New Grove Dictionary of American Music. The New Grove Dictionary of American Music. London: Macmillan, 1968. 2: 153-55.
When I finish reading the whole thing, I had a strong feeling that this is a bit unorthdox dictionary article. Yes, it is very organized chronologically. But I thought I was reading a chapter from a book rather than an encyclopedia article. Maybe having an clear conclusion at the end is a part of reason.
Kerr, Stephen P. "A Brief Biography of James Clifton Williams." Journal of Band Research 34-1 (Fall, 1998).
The first half of the article is a rather straightforward biography of Clifton Williams, based heavily on two doctoral dissertation. Since this journal is not an academic publication but inteded for a more general reader, such information might be valuable. Copies of dissertations are expensive and not to handy to most readers, I guess.
The second half is an overview of Clifton William's band pieces. I wish the author gave a more detailed account on each composition.
As a whole, this article is a nice survey for general reader, but many of them want to know more, while they become familiar with books and dissertations cited in endnotes.
Dello Joio, Norman. "The Quality of Music." Music Educators Journal 48/5 (April-May 1962).
A passionate statement by a leading American composer. I personally think that he is underestimated by many Americans. Although his compositions have been widely performed, there are not so many serious studies (only one book and a few dissertations).
Certainly he is not the most radical avant-garde, but he was writing accessible music. Such accessible music does not mean not-elevated commercial music. Dello Joio has a talent for writing beatiful melodies with fascinating harmony.
His argument in the article is based on his much experiene with musical world and convincing.
Crawford, Richard. "Rethinking the Rhapsody." Institute for Studies in Amercan Music Newsletter. 28/1 (Fall, 1998): 1, 2, and 5.
The author's asosciation, as a musicologist, with Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue is sitimulating. This article is not academic or formal, but it fun to read.
Crawford gives and interesting insights in academic or art worlrd from the 1920s to 1940s. At that time, there was a tendency to consider Gershwin was not a part of "art" music and was in the "commercial marketplace." Things have been changed since then.
Lang, Paul Henry. Music in the Western Civlization. New York: Norton, 1941.
While I was listening to the first movement of Mahlar's Third Symphony, I read a section on Mahler's music. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed with the fact that Lang, a great musicologist of the century had a rather superficial view on Mahler's music.
His comments focuses on "theatrical aspects of Mahler's symphony, especially of the Eighth. He also talks about titanicism and spectacle in Mahler's music, dismissing psycological complexity in Mahler's musical narrative. Lang says that Mahler lacks cohesive beauty, but the loss of cohesiveness is, I think, an important element in Mahler's music.
Lang also said that if we listened to his music on phonograph, most of music's spectacle would be lost. My immediate response to his comment was that Lang may not have listened to Mahler in a live performance.
Barlett, Irving H. The American Mind in the Mid-Nineteenth Century. New York: Crowell, 1967.
Since I am studying American music, it is more intersting to read books about American ideas rather than facts and years in history books.
The author is good at compiling information, and he uses quotation quite effectively. Different from the Wellek book, the contents is more concrete and filled with actual ideas.
Rough generalization of a certain ethnic group's character is dangerous, but a good sampling of various aspects of Americans, seen in this book, would help us understand how to deal with certain nationality and ethinicity.
Five words of the week
inimical
1. Injurious or harmful in effect; adverse.
2. Unfriendly; hostile.
quixotic
1. Caught up in the romance of noble deeds and the pursuit of unreachable goals; idealistic without regard to practicality.
2. Capricious; impulsive.
abate
‹tr.
1. To reduce in amount, degree, or intensity; lessen.
2. To deduct from an amount; subtract.
3. Law. a. To put an end to. b. To make void.
‹intr.
1. To fall off in degree or intensity; subside.
2. Law. To become void.
imminent
About to occur; impending
antalize
Wellek, René. The Concept of Baroque in Literary Scholarship." In Concepts of Criticism. Edited by Stephen G. Nichols Jr. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1963.
This chapter gives many names and books to know for a better understanding of the concet, baroque. The article, however, does not give clear ideas of the issues in books and scholars by using examples. Readers would know what to read but not what they should know and think so much.
Thomson, Susan. "Composer Lukas Foss: Diversity and Plurality." Soundout 20 October 1966.
I am glad to find that recently the internet becomes much better media to get insightful information on my academic interests. Lukas Foss is a German-born American composer, who have written enourmous number of pieces in a variety of musical styles.
In this article, Lukas Foss talks candidly about how his music has been changed throughout his career and gives his "favorite" pieces from each musical language he used in the past.
The article would be one of the most substantial documents on his music, and it is available on the 'Net.
Rosenfeld, Paul. "Lukas Foss--A New Talent." Modern Music 10/3 (March--April 1939): 180-82.
Probably written very quickly, the ideas in the article are not neatly organized. The discussion goes somewhere else sometimes. Paragraphes are not well-constructed.
The whole article is a brief instroduction to an American composer, Lukas Foss. Since the information, when the author write the article, seems to have been limited, he would have had a hard time, saying something fruitful. he knows a bit of biography, he knows a little about his pieces, few of which have been published at that time, and he knows recent activity of the composer. Rosenfeld did everything he could in a limited time and space in a limited space in a periodical journal.
Felder, David. "An Interview with Donald Erb." The Composer 10 and 11 (1978-79 and 1979-80): 43-52.
The interview covers various aspects of music. It starts with Erb's experince with Nadia Boulanger, a composer-teacher in Paris. As some other American composers, did, he faced a different musical prespectives from Boulanger that what he learned in the United States. Erb could not totally accept Boulanger's technique-oriented teaching and conservative view on modern music.
Then the interview goes into Erb's musical style and ideas on creation. For Erb, a composition is not an abstract sound "on paper" but an experience, communicating with audience.
I heard some of his music and found the music a little rough and unsophisticated. It is well-planned but sometimes sounds bombastic.
De Sesa, Gary. "A Comparison between a Descriptive Analysis of Leonard Bernstein's Mass and the Musical Implications of the Critical Evaluations Thereof." Ph. D. diss., New York University, 1984.
The first part of this dissertation is rather a section-to-section descriptive analysis, as the title imples. It is important for somebody to do such an anylysis to raise the problems involved in the music itself, but it might be very interesting reading only to those who have a score at hand or those who are deeply interested in the monstrous piece. But the second half of the dissertation, arbeit it is short, seems more readible and entertaining to many readers. It is a critical overview of critics' reviews on the Mass. These reviews serve as a resource to understand how people reacted to the piece and how they perceived it.
It is understandable to see hostile reactions and praise as well as controversies over the piece immediately after the first performance. Although the composer Bernstein never expected to have such overwhelming reactions from listeners, his eclectic music with conservative genre must have caused a lot of discussion. Today, having a rock group in church is not totally new to everybody, the premier was in the late 1960s. And the piece was written for the opening of the Lincoln Center, which is mainly open for conservatic concert music.
Personally, I did not find the Mass too radical. Even thought the composer employed electronic instruments and Broadway singing style, piece does not have an entertaining feeling, which is expected in a popular song. I did not find the piece is successful as art music, either, because the piece does not have anything new, but merely the mixture of something available to Bernstein's time.
I do like his musicals very much, but some of his serious works just do not communicate, from my humble point of view.
Suriano, Gregory R., ed. Gershwin in His Time: A Biographical Scrapbook, 1919-1937. New York: Gramerey, 1988.
As the title of the book says, this is a collection of articles and reviews from newspapers and periodicals in Gershwin's time. It also has many colar pictures that are fun to look around.
Furthremore, some of the articles in this book are written by Gershwin himself. Especially interesting is how he and other people talk about a new musical genre called jazz. The time was the 1920s.
An essential source reading for anyone who is interested in Gershwin's time and his music.
McClure, Steve. Nippon Pop. Tokyo: Tuttle, 1998
A nice guide book to recent Japanese pop musicians in the English language. The information is so updated that I do not know several musicians mentioned in the book!! The book is written by the Japanese chief bureau of the Billboard, and the description of each musicians are more journalistic, rather than strictly musical. For those who need more historical and academic accounts, one needs to consult Japanese sources. However, I do not see so many documents on recent Japanese music even in Japanese, either.
The book is filled with beautiful photographs of Japanese pop stars. It will be a nice coffee-table book for those who are intersted in Japanese pop music. A part of each description on the musician is translated in Japanese, too. You can learn Japanese, maybe?
Five words of the week
vigilant.
On the alert; watchful
conformity.
1. Similarity in form or character; agreement.
2. Action or behavior in correspondence with current customs, rules, or styles.
intermittently
1. Stopping and starting at intervals.
2. Alternately containing and empty of water.
discern
1. To perceive with the eyes or intellect; detect.
2. To recognize or comprehend mentally.
3. To perceive or recognize as being different or distinct; distinguish.
exultation < exalt
1. To raise in rankm power, or character
2. To elevate by praise or in estimation: GLORIFY
3. ELETE
4. To raise high
5. To enhance the activity: INTENSIFY (rounsing and ~~ing the imagination--George Eliot)
poignant
1.a. Physically painful. b. Keenly distressing to the mind or feelings. c. Profoundly moving; touching.
2. Piercing; incisive.
3.a. Neat, skillful, and to the point. b. Astute and pertinent; relevant.
4. Agreeably intense or stimulating.
5. Archaic. a. Sharp or sour to the taste; piquant. b. Sharp or pungent to the smell.