Books in the Cambridge Library Collection - Music series

Grove's Dictionary was first published in the 1880s in response to a growing demand for a book that would give both professionals and amateurs access to information about composers, instruments, performers, works, and the structure of music itself. It is a fascinating document of the musical world of its time.

This fascinating two-volume selection, published in 1888, demonstrates importance to Wagner of the encouragement of Liszt - an established performer when Wagner was barely known and widely ridiculed, a musical mentor, an enthusiastic critic and eventually a father-in-law.

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) was one of the most original and colourful composers of his generation. The letters reflect the man - exuberant, imaginative, idealistic, opinionated and witty - and give us a fascinating, first-hand, insight into his life. This two-volume selection includes letters to family, friends and fellow musicians.

Michael Kelly (1762-1826) was an Irish singer and composer who studied music in Italy and performed all over Europe. He later joined London's Theatre Royal as both performer and composer. Volume 1 of his 1826 autobiography is a charming and event-filled account of his early life and musical training.

Adolf Bernhard Marx (1795-1866) was a German composer, music critic and university teacher. His influential publications included this two-volume study, published in 1863, of the radical innovations in operatic composition that Gluck had pioneered a century earlier. Marx's account is chronologically organised, and includes biographical details and music examples.

Pianist and composer Ignaz Moscheles (1794-1870) was a central figure in European musical life. This two-volume biography, compiled by his wife Charlotte from diaries and letters, records his dealings with many great musicians of the time, including Mendelssohn. Reissued here is the 1873 English translation.

Beethoven was a prolific letter writer, with thousands of examples surviving to this day. This illustrated collection of more than 1,200, published in English translation in 1909, includes the 'Heiligenstadt Testament', one of many documents that provide valuable insights into the mind of a musical genius.

Beethoven was a prolific letter writer, with thousands of examples surviving to this day. This two-volume collection, in English translation, appeared in 1866 and includes the 'Heiligenstadt Testament', one of many documents providing us with startling and personal insights into the character and preoccupations of a musical genius.

Charles Burney (1726-1814), the music historian, is best remembered for his General History of Music and the accounts of his musical tours in Europe. This three-volume publication is the novelist Fanny Burney's heavily edited version of her father's memoirs, adding her own stylised accounts of events.

The writer, composer and organist Thomas Busby (1754-1838) published this three-volume work in 1825. Gossipy, informative and highly entertaining, it yields all manner of insights into musical life through history. The anecdotes are presented across the three volumes as a delightful potpourri, interspersed with pen portraits of eminent musicians.

This two-volume survey of German music, from 1854, offers lively descriptions of the musical life of German cities, and extended essays on Spohr, Beethoven, Schubert and Mendelssohn, but Chorley is by no means an uncritical observer, noting with concern the rise of nationalism in Germany after 1848.

This biography, first published in 1796, recounts the life of Italian poet and librettist Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782). Alternating biographical narrative with translations of the poet's correspondence, it provides a faithful account of Metastasio's complex life and affairs. Volume 1 covers Metastasio's life from his early childhood until 1751.

Grove's Dictionary was first published in the 1880s in response to a growing demand for a book that would give both professionals and amateurs access to information about composers, instruments, performers, works, and the structure of music itself. It is a fascinating document of the musical world of its time.

Grove's Dictionary was first published in the 1880s in response to a growing demand for a book that would give both professionals and amateurs access to information about composers, instruments, performers, works, and the structure of music itself. It is a fascinating document of the musical world of its time.

Grove's Dictionary was first published in the 1880s in response to a growing demand for a book that would give both professionals and amateurs access to information about composers, instruments, performers, works, and the structure of music itself. It is a fascinating document of the musical world of its time.

This three-volume book, first published in 1841, originated in a journal written by the music critic Chorley while travelling in Europe. His aim was to 'illustrate the present state of theatrical, orchestral, and chamber music abroad'. Volume 1 describes his visits to Paris and Brunswick, focusing on opera.

Grove's Dictionary was first published in the 1880s in response to a growing demand for a book that would give both professionals and amateurs access to information about composers, instruments, performers, works, and the structure of music itself. It is a fascinating document of the musical world of its time.

A. B. Marx was a scholar, teacher and critic of music, and a friend of Mendelssohn. This influential book, published in German in 1855 and translated into English in the same year, consists of two parts: a survey of the significance of music to civilisation, and a guide to musical education.

This is the first of two volumes originally published in 1862 in which the long-time music critic of The Athaneum gives a year-by-year commentary on the European operas, ballets, singers and dancers popular in London from 1830 to 1859. Volume 1 covers the period 1830-1847.

This book describes the journey of Novello & Co., the influential Victorian music publisher, from a 'simple parlor shop' to 'the germ of the mart for supplying England' with cheap music. Established in 1811, Novello can be credited with several successful initiatives to foster a popular love for music.

This alphabetical reference book, first published in 1897, lists over 2,500 famous and lesser-known musicians born in Britain and its colonies from the eleventh to the nineteenth century. It gives dates and brief biographies for composers and performers, and lists important works with first performance and publication details.

Charles Burney (1726-1814), the music historian, is best remembered for his General History and the accounts of his tours in Europe during which he undertook research for the History. The work is elegantly written, offering a fascinating view of Burney's musical enthusiasms and a reflection of contemporary taste.

This is a translation of the second (1858) edition of Berlioz's treatise by Mary Cowden Clarke, daughter of music publisher Vincent Novello. The work was quick to establish itself as a standard text, and reflects Berlioz's keen understanding of instrumentation and the orchestra as both composer and conductor.

American author Alexander Wheelock Thayer (1817-97) sought to write an authoritative biography of the composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). A landmark in its use of source material, it remained unfinished at his death. This three-volume English edition, translated and revised from German versions, was first published in 1921.

American author Alexander Wheelock Thayer (1817-97) sought to write an authoritative biography of the composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). A landmark in its use of source material, it remained unfinished at his death. This three-volume English edition, translated and revised from German versions, was first published in 1921.

American author Alexander Wheelock Thayer (1817-97) sought to write an authoritative biography of the composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). A landmark in its use of source material, it remained unfinished at his death. This three-volume English edition, translated and revised from German versions, was first published in 1921.

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), a larger-than-life composer who impressed all who met him, is beloved the world over, his genius vividly displayed in his Messiah and Zadok the Priest. This biography by the composer and author William Smith Rockstro (1823-95) was first published in 1883.

Sir John Hawkins (1719-1789), a lawyer and member of the Academy of Ancient Music, published his pioneering five-volume history in 1776 just after the first volume of Burney's. Despite Hawkins' work suffering badly in the resulting competition between the two, it is nonetheless of indispensable value to music scholars.

Best remembered for the foundation of St Michael's College, Tenbury, Ouseley first published this work, the first of three on music theory, in 1868. It offers a structured approach to the subject, including exercises and musical examples, and will be of interest to music students and historians.

Published in 1862, these essays present the theories of the philosopher and historian Joseph Goddard (1833-1910) on the connection between music and the human mind. They show how musical phenomena such as rhythm, tone and phrase are more effective than any other art form in expressing thought and morality.