Books in the Studies in Musical Genesis, Structure, and Interpretation series

Although Berg decided immediately after seeing Buchner's play Woyzeck in May 1914 to set it to music, he did not complete his opera until 1922, with the Berlin premiere taking place in 1925. Using compositional sketches, diaries, notebooks and other archival material, Hall reveals the challenges Berg faced in completing his masterpiece.

Looking at one of the twentieth century's most notorious musical masterpieces, John Cage's Concert for Piano and Orchestra examines Cage's compositional process, its infamous performance history, and its influence on philosophical ideas of what music actually is.

William Kinderman's detailed study of Parsifal, described by the composer as his "last card," explores the evolution of the text and music of this inexhaustible yet highly controversial music drama across Wagner's entire career.

Anna Stoll Knecht's Mahler's Seventh Symphony offers a new interpretation of Gustav Mahler's most controversial work, based on a confrontation between genetic and analytic approaches. Exposing new facets of Mahler's musical humor, this book freshly reconsiders the composer's cultural identity, revealing the Seventh's pivotal role within his output.

Following the earlier volumes in the Studies in Musical Genesis and Structure series, Mahler's Fourth Symphony is a study of origins of one of Mahler's most popular and accessible works. James Zychowicz examines how the composition evolved from the earliest ideas to the finished score, and in doing so sheds new light on Mahler's working process.