Unlike much of Berlioz' music, this meditation on the childhood of Christ is restrained, lyrical, and delicate. The three-part work is scored for seven solo voices, chorus, and orchestra, combining dramatic action and theatricality with philosophical reflection and moments of serene contemplation. The singing text appears in French and German.
Victor Lederer surveys the music of Hector Berlioz, one of the most pioneering orchestrators in history, and introduces the general music lover to both his masterpieces such as Les Troyens and lesser known gems. A bold innovator in the 19th century, Berlioz was a musical dramatist with an output that is less familiar than it should be and often misunderstood. His most famous and popular pieces are the thrilling programmatic symphonies, the Symphonie fantastique and Harold en Italie. The “dramatic symphonies” Roméo et Juliette and La damnation de Faust are both driven by conflict and excitement, which contrast his piercing, long-limbed melodies and startling harmonic shifts. Berlioz’s strongly profiled musical style possesses high rhythmic energy, and manic outbursts that are instantly identifiable as his, and he is widely acknowledged as one of the most innovative and effective orchestrators in history. The book is accompanied by online audio tracks to select Berlioz works from the Naxos library.
An Index to Music in Selected Historical Anthologies of Western Art Music is the essential reference for music history and music theory instructors for finding specific listings and details for all the pieces included in more than 140 anthologies published between 1931 and 2016. Containing over 5,000 individual listings, this concise book is an indispensable tool for teaching music history and theory. Since many anthologies exist in multiple editions, this Index provides instructors, students, and researches with the means to locate specific compositions in both print and online anthologies. This book includes listings by composer and title, as well as indexes of authors, titles, and first lines of text for music from antiquity through the early twenty-first century.
