Books in the Cambridge Music Handbooks series

This new guide to Handel's most celebrated work traces the course of Messiah from Handel's initial musical response to the libretto, through the oratorio's turbulent first years to its eventual popularity with the Foundling Hospital performances.

Charles Ives's massive Concord Sonata, his second sonata for piano, named after the town of Concord in Massachusetts, is central to his output and clearly reflects his aesthetic perspective. Geoffrey Block's wide-ranging 1996 account of the work thus provides an ideal introduction to this fascinating composer.

Bruckner's Eighth Symphony (1890), one of the last of the great Romantic symphonies, is a grandly complex masterpiece. This book explores this many-faceted work from several angles, offering an accessible guide to its compositional history and reception and to its musical design.

La mer stands at the centre of Debussy's achievement. In this study it is considered in the context of Debussy's personal and musical development. Discussion of performance styles draws on current recordings, and studies of rhythm, motif and tonality show how Debussy generates 'narratives' across the movements.

Even in Beethoven's day the 'Moonlight' Sonata was a popular favourite. This 1999 book provides an accessible introduction to the Sonatas Opp. 27 and 31 (including The 'Moonlight' and 'The Tempest'), aimed at pianists, students, and music lovers. It begins with the works' historical background - the emergence of a 'piano culture' at the end of the eighteenth century, Beethoven's aristocratic milieu in Vienna, and his oft-quoted intention to follow a new compositional path. An account of the sonatas' genesis is followed by a discussion of their reception history, including a survey of changing performing styles since the mid-nineteenth century. The concept of the Sonata quasi una Fantasia is examined in relation to the cult of artistic sensibility in early-nineteenth-century Vienna. The study concludes with a critical introduction to each sonata.

Widely regarded as Brahms' supreme achievement in the field of chamber music, the Clarinet Quintet is here placed in the context of the history of the clarinet and its repertory, and of Brahms' own compositions before 1891.

This guide to Mozart's two most popular piano concertos presents the historical background of the works, placing them within the context of Mozart's compositional and performance activities at a time when his reputation as both composer and pianist was at its peak.

This Music Handbook examines Liszt's B minor Sonata - regarded as one of the pinnacles of Romantic piano music. It opens with a survey of Liszt's early attempts at sonata composition, and goes on to discuss different interpretative approaches. The book also contains details of performance practice and the performing history of the work.

This book is the first comprehensive guide to Holst's orchestral suite The Planets. It considers the music in detail and places the work in its historical context, describing the circumstances of its composition and its meteoric rise to popular acclaim.

David Schiff considers Rhapsody in Blue as musical work, historical event and cultural document. He traces the history of the Rhapsody's composition, performance and reception, placing it within the context of American popular song and jazz.

A guide to Monteverdi's Vespers, providing all the information the reader needs for an in-depth appreciation of the music settings, the debate surrounding the intention of the volume, and the problems of performance nowadays.

This Handbook covers Handel's best known public music, the Water Music, and the Music for the Royal Fireworks. Christopher Hogwood sets the music in its political and musical context, with many contemporary reactions quoted, and considers important performing details, together with advice and suggestions for the modern player and listener.

In this fascinating description of Janacek's most important works The Glagolithic Mass and its history, Paul Wingfield brings together information on all significant aspects of the work. In particular he quotes important letters from and to the composer.

Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra has proved to be one of the most popularly successful works of the twentieth century. This book contains both a discussion of the historical and musical contexts of the piece and detailed technical information about it. Intended for use by both students and general readers, it is the first book devoted exclusively to the Concerto for Orchestra.

An analysis of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto - of supreme importance as the composer's last instrumental work.

A fresh look at the work and its composer with implications beyond Sibelius himself into the entire repertory of Post-Wagnerian symphonic composition.

An informative and wide ranging guide which places Musorgsky's original piano work in the context of Russian cultural life.

This comprehensive guide to Stravinsky's most revolutionary work, tells in vivid detail the story of its inception and composition and of the stormy rehearsals which led to the scandalous premiere. It provides a highly readable account of the music and concludes by posing a radical challenge to established views.

Beethoven's Violin Concerto was the only significant work of this genre to appear between Mozart's five concertos of 1775 and Mendelssohn's E minor Concerto of 1844. This is the first individual study of the Concerto, exploring the work's background and its indifferent initial reception.

Vivaldi's celebrated The Four Seasons are among the most popular works of all time and represent the composer's remarkable innovation in the field of the Baroque concerto. This detailed guide examines the work's origin and construction in a way that enables the reader to distinguish what is extraordinary about the Seasons, whilst providing an ideal introduction to Vivaldi's music in general.

A guide to Mozart's most famous string quartets, dedicated to his friend, Joseph Haydn. Provides full synopsis of each piece and examines the music in relation to Mozart's earlier quarters. Charts their reception through a broad range of sources: letters, diaries, contemporary criticism and biographies.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band represents the highpoint of the recording career of the Beatles. This is the first detailed study to be made of this or any other such album, and is a fascinating approach to this legendary work.

The Mass in B Minor is arguably Bach's greatest single work. This guide considers the work from many angles, offering the reader basic information in a concise and accessible form. John Butt gives an absorbing account of the work's genesis, its historical context, and its reception by later generations.

Chopin's E minor and F minor Piano Concertos played a vital role in his career as a composer-pianist. This Handbook re-evaluates them so that their many outstanding qualities can be fully appreciated. It describes their genesis, Chopin's own performances and his use of them as a teacher.

This fascinating new guide places the Brandenburg concertos in their historical context, investigates their sources, traces their origins and discusses the changing traditions of performance.

Many listeners and players are fascinated by Bach's Goldberg Variations. In this wideranging and searching study, Professor Williams, one of the leading Bach scholars of our time, helps them probe its depths and understand its uniqueness. He considers the work's historical origins, especially in relation to all Bach's Clavierubung volumes and late keyboard works, its musical agenda and its formal shape, and discusses significant performance issues. In the course of the book he poses a number of key questions. Why should such a work be written? Does the work have both a conceptual and a perceptual shape? What other music is likely to have influenced the Goldberg and to what extent is it trying to be encyclopedic? What is the canonic vocabulary? How have contemporaries or musicians from Beethoven to the present day seen this work and, above all, how has its mysterious beauty been created?

This book is about the popular Quartet for the End of Time by Messiaen, which was first performed in 1941. The book describes how the work was composed in a prisoner-of-war camp and discusses the music in detail. Like most of Messiaen's music, the Quartet is strongly Christian in inspiration.

This guide to Tippett's wartime oratorio A Child of our Time discusses the significant musical and literary features of this remarkable work within its historical, social and stylistic context.

Pierrot Lunaire (1912) is one of the most important music theatre works ever written. This is the first guide in English to a work which continues to be performed, broadcast and recorded worldwide.

Larry Todd offers a historical, stylistic, and analytical guide to three remarkable works which secured for Mendelssohn no small measure of his fame.