John La Montaine is known primarily for his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 9, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1959. In addition, he has won countless awards for composition. However, his compositions for voice and piano are not yet an established part of the vocal solo repertoire. This work illustrates La Montaine's music for voice and piano through an analysis of musical and dramatic elements that support the text and drama. A biographical study provides details about the composer's life such as musical training, personal influences, awards and goals. In addition, the issues of philosophy, creativity, methods, musical styles, and textual considerations are discussed and are the basis for the following analysis.
John La Montaine is known primarily for his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 9, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1959. In addition, he has won countless awards for composition. However, his compositions for voice and piano are not yet an established part of the vocal solo repertoire. This work illustrates La Montaine's music for voice and piano through an analysis of musical and dramatic elements that support the text and drama. A biographical study provides details about the composer's life such as musical training, personal influences, awards and goals. In addition, the issues of philosophy, creativity, methods, musical styles, and textual considerations are discussed and are the basis for the following analysis.
Any singer longing to have a career in opera, particularly in Europe, should be familiar with the European system of classifying voices know as Fach. The Opera Singer's Career Guide: Understanding the European Fach System presents valuable information to help readers learn, understand, and use the Fach system to their professional advantage. More than just soprano, alto, tenor, or bass, students and professionals alike should know the 25 different Fach categories fully defined here, along with the examples of roles, audition arias, and European opera houses and agents provided. Based on careful research and personal experience, singer and teacher Pearl Yeadon McGinnis describes the features, characteristics, and benefits of the Fach system, including voice categorization and classification and using Fach to train the young voice. She provides practical information on maintaining a career in opera, such as the different types, procedures, and pitfalls of opera auditions; types of opera contracts and contract negotiations; and the value of networking. She explains the different styles of European opera houses and gives an example of life in a state level German opera house, including the various performance spaces, the makeup and responsibilities of an ensemble, and the jobs and functions of opera house personnel. A glossary and several appendixes supply tools for auditioning, such as newly classified roles for Children, Lyric, and Beginner singers; roles for the established Fach categories; lists of opera agents and houses in the German speaking countries; and suggested audition arias by Fach. In addition, practical details are offered about establishing and maintaining residency in Europe, obtaining permission to live and work in Europe, and helpful hints about customs and travel.
Larrick shares his knowledge of the theory and composition of percussion music. In the first section, more than a dozen brief entries address such topics as music education's treatment of drummers and the notation of Western music. In the second section, Larrick presents an annotated bibliography of music theory books found in the University Library at the U. of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The third section contains bibliographical references for a wide range of materials relating to percussion. A life-long performer, Larrick is the author of a number of scholarly books on percussion. Annotation : 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).
Bendikas' research work is particularly praiseworthy, given the difficulty of recreating the ephemeral experience of any staged production. Her examples are specific, grounded in impeccable scholarship, and employed to make important forays into matters of twentieth-century stage practice and theory as well as suggesting important questions about aesthetics and artistry in general. For theatre practitioners, the implications of Ponnelle's work for performance are immensely valuable. - Langdon Brown, University at Albany This work is the first full-length analysis of the major productions of Jean-Pierre Ponnelle (1932-1988), who has been hailed internationally as one of the most important opera directors/designers of the last century. In a career spanning four decades he was in demand at the leading opera houses of the world where he regularly collaborated with world-class conductors and singer-actors producing an enormous range of operas representing every period, genre and style from Monteverdi and Rossini to Wagner and Strauss. He was instrumental in reinstating the seria operas of Mozart into the active repertoire and was a formidable champion for new works. These credentials
This study asserts that Stravinsky's Octour pour instruments a vents (1923) is pivotal within Stravinsky's progressions in regard to orchestrational practice, instrumental choices, and compositional choices, and presents it as the point in which all of these transitions came together for the first time. After an opening discussion of Stravinsky's early life and compositional career, it concentrates on setting up the Octet and Concerto through discussion of the years leading up to their composition. In addition to placing the two works within their context of their position and broader influence upon Stravinsky's surrounding production, it provides a full musical analysis of the Octet, followed by comparative analysis between it and the Concerto. The analysis is predominantly centered around compositional practices and orchestrational techniques.
