Extensively revised with new material, the book also includes a study of Imogen Hoist's music and a chronological list of her works, revealing her as a composer of tremendous talent, whose music deserves to be much more familiar.

A leading figure of English music in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Gustav Holst is best known for his orchestral tour de force, The Planets. He composed music of startling originality in many forms, drawing inspiration from sources as varied as English folk-song, oriental melody, the Apocrypha, and Sanskrit literatures, as well as from such writers as Keats, Hardy, and Whitman. In this study of her father's music, Imogen Holst discusses Holst's pieces of the early 1890s, the musical consequences of his holiday in Algeria in 1908, problems of performance in The Planets, and editing Holt's music. The volume also includes a list of important dates in Holst's life, a list of his published work, and a bibliography.

Imogen Holst's brilliantly lucid book introduces the reader to the language of musical terms, highlighting and analysing the historical development of music's texture, harmony, and form. The perfect complement to The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music, it can be read by anyone - absolutebeginners and those who wish to consolidate and extend what they already know. But it not only informs: ultimately, for performers and listeners alike it encourages livelier participation.

The Time by the Sea is about Ronald Blythe's life in Aldeburgh during the 1950s. He had originally come to the Suffolk coast as an aspiring young writer, but found himself drawn into Benjamin Britten's circle and began working for the Aldeburgh Festival. Although befriended by Imogen Holst and by E M Forster, part of him remained essentially solitary, alone in the landscape while surrounded by a stormy cultural sea. But this memoir gathers up many early experiences, sights and sounds: with Britten he explored ancient churches; with the botanist Denis Garrett he took delight in the marvellous shingle beaches and marshland plants; he worked alongside the celebrated photo-journalist Kurt Hutton. His muse was Christine Nash, wife of the artist John Nash. Published to coincide with the centenary of Britten's birth, this is a tale of music and painting, unforgettable words and fears. It describes the first steps of an East Anglian journey, an intimate appraisal of a vivid and memorable time.

Imogen Holst's Tune (Faber, 1962) is a searching enquiry into the invention of tune and at the same time a comprehensive anthology of tunes from folksong to the present day. Plainsong, street-cries, the songs of the English lutenists, Bach's dances, and Mozart's arias - whatever the origins and character of the tunes in question, Imogen Holst (daughter of the composer, Gustav Holst) has something fresh and revealing to say about them. And she does not confine herself to familiar ground. One of her most illuminating chapters is devoted to the music of India, where a raga can provide improvised 'tune' of several hours duration. This chapter is the result of her personal experience of studying music in India, and it is typical of her vivid approach to the subject. Her book is for everyone who likes to sing, play, whistle, hum or listen to a good tune.

This volume is based on a selection of papers presented during a study course devoted to Gloriana held at the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies in 1991. Glorianahas been a source of controversy since its premire as part of the Coronation celebrations in 1953. It was planned as a national opera of broad appeal by its authors, Benjamin Britten and William Plomer, but, despite wide coverage in the media, the opera failed to establish itself in the repertoire until a new production in 1966 revealed it to be a powerful and stageworthy work. In recent years it has attracted an increasing amount of scholarly attention. This volume offers essays by ROBERT HEWISON, PHILIP REED, ANTONIA MALLOY, DONALD MITCHELL and PETER EVANS which explore the opera's cultural background, the early stages of its creative evolution, the first critical responses, and various aspects of the work itself: these are supplemented by a list of source materials for the opera and the works derived from it, and an extensive bibliography.

For slightly over two decades, the College Band Directors National Association published the CBDNA Journal, a research outlet for all types of subjects of interest to the membership. Following cessation of activities in 2002, Michael Votta, Jr., the Journal's most recent editor, assembled representative articles on composers and their works, historical research and composition analysis investigations, and produced this fine collection of writings. As a source of well-constructed research by some of the country's leading musicians, it fills a much needed place in everyone's library.

The first comprehensive guide to Holst's orchestral suite considers the music in detail and places the work in its historical context.