Description
Book SynopsisDivided into two parts, this work focuses on the symphonies of Germany and the Nordic countries and discusses in detail the symphonies of Weber, Spohr, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Lindblad, Berwald, Svendsen, Gade, Nielsen, Sibelius, Berlioz, Liszt, Raff, and Strauss. It discusses the style of specific works and their contexts.
Trade ReviewWhen complete, this series will be the most exhaustive study available of the symphony in the Western tradition. This release shares with its predecessors (v. 2, CH, Apr'03, 40-4510; v. 4, CH, Mar'04, 41-3953; v.3, part B, CH, Sep'08, 46-0179) a brilliance of detail. Like the earlier releases, this volume provides complete analyses of each symphony, details of first performances, and rich bibliographic resources. Moreover, Brown (who died before part B of this volume was complete) discusses formal and technical detail in a comparative way, placing each work in the context not only of its composer, but of time and place. Examining areas of compositional creativity other than Vienna (volumes 2 and 4 concern the rich Viennese tradition), Brown analyzes the works of Franz Berwald, Joachim Raff, Mikhail Glinka and other relative unknowns and also calls attention to the influence of Mendelssohn (as mentor) and Rachmaninoff (as contrapuntalist). Written with wry good humor, this scholarly volume uncovers a rich world of previously under-appreciated masterpieces. Serious students of music—whether student, performer, conductor, or avid listener—will find this latest volume in this masterful series both informative and readable. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers.
-- M. Neil * Choice *
This work is highly recommended for all larger public and academic libraries, and smaller libraries with specialized music collections. . . . conductors, musicologists, and others connected with symphonic music would certainly benefit from having these volumes in their libraries.
-- Robert L. Wick * American Reference Books Annual *
Written with wry good humor, this scholarly volume uncovers a rich world of previously under-appreciated masterpieces. Serious students of music—whether student, performer, conductor, or avid listener—will find this latest volume in this masterful series both informative and readable. . . . Essential.November 2008
-- M. Neil * Augustana College (IL) *
Table of ContentsList of Plates
List of Tables
Preface to the Series
Preface to Volume III
Postscript
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Orchestral Instrumentation
Identification of the Works
Volume III Part A: Germany and the Nordic Countries
Section One—The German Classic/Romantic Symphony from ca. 1800 to 1857
Chapter One—After Beethoven: Leipzig as the Epicenter of the Symphony
Chapter Two—The Symphonies of Carl Maria von Weber and Richard Wagner: Two Symphonic
Chapter Three—The Symphonies of Louis Spohr
Chapter Four—The Symphonies of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
Chapter Five—The Symphonies of Robert Schumann
Section Two—The Symphony in Northern Europe
Chapter Six—The Symphony in Nineteenth-Century Sweden
Chapter Seven—The Symphony in Norway
Chapter Eight—The Symphony in Denmark from ca. 1830 to ca. 1925
Chapter Nine—The Symphony in Finland from ca. 1850 to 1936
Section Three—The Avant-Garde/New School Symphonists
Chapter Ten—Hector Berlioz
Chapter Eleven—Franz Liszt
Chapter Twelve—Joachim Raff
Chapter Thirteen—Richard Strauss
Notes
Bibliography of Works Cited
Index
Index of Works
Volume III Part B: Great Britain, Russia, France
Section Four—The British Symphony
Chapter Fourteen—The Symphony in Great Britain: From Potter to Elgar
The Symphonic Milieu from ca. 1800 to ca. 1850
The Symphonic Milieu from ca. 1850 to 1912
Section Five—The Russian Symphony
Chapter Fifteen—The Symphony in Russia: From Glinka to Rachmaninoff
Section Six—The French Symphony
Chapter Sixteen—The French Symphony after Berlioz: From the Second Empire to the First World War
Introduction: The Symphony in Mid-Century
Between Saint-Saëns's Second and Third: The "Revival" of Instrumental Music after 1870French Symphonies after 1885: Classical and Romantic Camps
Between the Mountain Air and d'Indy's Second: The Symphony at the Turn of the Century
Notes
Bibliography of Works Cited
Index
Index of Works
