Béla Bartók (1881-1945) was one of the most important composers and musical thinkers of the 20th century. His contributions as a composer, as a performer and as the father of ethnomusicology changed the course of music history and of our contemporary perception of music itself. At the center of Bartók's oeuvre are his string quartets, which are generally acknowledged as some of the most significant pieces of 20th century chamber music. The String Quartets of Béla Bartók brings together innovative new scholarship from 14 internationally recognized music theorists, musicologists, performers, and composers to focus on these remarkable works from a range of theoretical and methodological perspectives. Focusing on a variety of aspects of the string quartets-harmony and tonality, form, rhythm and meter, performance and listening-it considers both the imprint of folk and classical traditions on Bartók's string quartets, and the ways in which they influenced works of the next generation of Hungarian composers. Rich with notated music examples the volume is complemented by an Oxford Web Music companion website offering additional notated as well as recorded examples. The String Quartets of Béla Bartók, reflecting the impact of the composer himself, is an essential resource for scholars and students across a variety of fields from music theory and musicology, to performance practice and ethnomusicology.

Leading authorities explore, in direct and accessible language, chamber-music masterpieces by twenty-one prominent composers since 1900.

"With a narrative supported by a substantial number of musical examples and references, Bela Bartok: A Celebration is essential for music teachers and students. Theorists, ethnomusicologists, and musicians will find this an indispensable resource for future research and for understanding Bartok's compositional processes and methodology."--BOOK JACKET.

The universally acclaimed and award-winning Oxford History of Western Music is the eminent musicologist Richard Taruskin's provocative, erudite telling of the story of Western music from its earliest days to the present. Each book in this superlative five-volume set illuminates-through a representative sampling of masterworks-the themes, styles, and currents that give shape and direction to a significant period in the history of Western music. Music in the Early Twentieth Century , the fourth volume in Richard Taruskin's history, looks at the first half of the twentieth century, from the beginnings of Modernism in the last decade of the nineteenth century right up to the end of World War II. Taruskin discusses modernism in Germany and France as reflected in the work of Mahler, Strauss, Satie, and Debussy, the modern ballets of Stravinsky, the use of twelve-tone technique in the years following World War I, the music of Charles Ives, the influence of peasant songs on Bela Bartok, Stravinsky's neo-classical phase and the real beginnings of 20th-century music, the vision of America as seen in the works of such composers as W.C. Handy, George Gershwin, and Virgil Thomson, and the impact of totalitarianism on the works of a range of musicians from Toscanini to Shostakovich

Compositional Process in Elliott Carter’s String Quartets is an interdisciplinary study examining the evolution and compositional process in Elliott Carter’s five string quartets. Offering a systematic and logical way of unpacking concepts and processes in these quartets that would otherwise remain opaque, the book’s narrative reveals new aspects of understanding these works and draws novel conclusions on their collective meaning and Carter’s place as the leading American modernist. Each of Carter’s five string quartets is driven by a new idea that Carter was exploring during a particular period, which allows for each quartet to be examined under a unique lens and a deeper understanding of his oeuvre at large. Drawing on key ideas from a variety of subjects including performance studies, philosophy, music cognition, musical meaning and semantics, literary criticism, and critical theory, this is an informative volume for scholars and researchers in the areas of music theory and musicology. Analyses are supplemented with sketch study, correspondence, text manuscripts, and other archival sources from the Paul Sacher Stiftung, the Library of Congress, and the New York Public Library.

A detailed and long-overdue study of Frank Bridge's music and its socio-cultural and aesthetic contexts

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- List of musical examples -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Pre-conditions -- 3 Creative cycles -- 4 Transformation-notation -- 5 Archetypes -- 6 Dreamscapes -- 7 From concept to composition -- 8 First movement: compositional peregrinations -- 9 Interlude -- 10 Second movement -- Bibliography -- Index