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The systematic academic study of music gave rise to works of description, analysis and criticism, by composers and performers, philosophers and anthropologists, historians and teachers and by a new kind of scholar - the musicologist. This series makes available a range of significant works encompassing all aspects of the developing discipline.

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178 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Music

Page 1 of 9

Life of Moscheles
  • With Selections from his Diaries and Correspondence
  • Volume 1
  • Charlotte Moscheles
  • Edited and translated by Arthur Duke Coleridge
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    02 October 2014
    First published in:
    1873
  • Born in Prague, pianist and composer Ignaz Moscheles (1794–1870) studied in Vienna and rapidly became a central figure in European musical life. He lived and worked in London for twenty-five years, leaving in 1846 to become principal professor of piano at the Leipzig Conservatoire at the invitation of his great friend Mendelssohn. As a pianist, he was renowned for his incisive technique rooted in the tradition of Clementi, and also much admired for his extempore performances. As a composer his output was mainly for the piano, and his studies are still in use today. First published in 1872–3, this lively biography, compiled from his diaries and letters by his wife Charlotte, records his dealings with and feelings about many great musicians of the nineteenth century. Reissued here is the 1873 English translation by Arthur Duke Coleridge, founder of the Bach Choir. Volume 1 covers the years up to 1836.

Life of Moscheles
  • With Selections from his Diaries and Correspondence
  • Volume 2
  • Charlotte Moscheles
  • Edited and translated by Arthur Duke Coleridge
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    02 October 2014
    First published in:
    1873
  • Born in Prague, pianist and composer Ignaz Moscheles (1794–1870) studied in Vienna and rapidly became a central figure in European musical life. He lived and worked in London for twenty-five years, leaving in 1846 to become principal professor of piano at the Leipzig Conservatoire at the invitation of his great friend Mendelssohn. As a pianist, he was renowned for his incisive technique rooted in the tradition of Clementi, and also much admired for his extempore performances. As a composer his output was mainly for the piano, and his studies are still in use today. First published in 1872–3, this lively biography, compiled from his diaries and letters by his wife Charlotte, records his dealings with and feelings about many great musicians of the nineteenth century. Reissued here is the 1873 English translation by Arthur Duke Coleridge, founder of the Bach Choir. Volume 2 covers 1836 to 1870, and includes a list of works.

Richard to Minna Wagner
  • Letters to his First Wife
  • Volume 1
  • Richard Wagner
  • Edited and translated by William Ashton Ellis
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    02 October 2014
    First published in:
    1909
  • The German actress Minna Planer (1809–66) was Wagner's first wife. Though it lasted until her death, their marriage, never an easy one, was punctuated by long periods of separation, and during its early years Minna was the main breadwinner. William Ashton Ellis (1852–1919) abandoned his medical career to devote himself to his Wagner studies. Best known for his translations of Wagner's prose works, he published in 1909 this collection of letters from the composer, translated from the originals in Baron Hans von Wolzogen's Richard Wagner an Minna Wagner (1908). Concerned predominantly with domestic and business affairs, many of them complaining at Minna's lack of support, the letters offer an intriguing and intimate view of this larger-than-life composer. Spanning 1842–58, Volume 1 covers the couple's period in Dresden, Wagner's hurried departure after the 1849 uprising, and the years in Zurich culminating in the relationship with Mathilde Wesendonck.

The Life of Franz Schubert
  • Volume 2
  • Heinrich Kreissle von Hellborn
  • Edited and translated by Arthur D. Coleridge
  • Appendix by George Grove
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    02 October 2014
    First published in:
    1869
  • The astonishing creative genius of Franz Schubert (1797–1828) produced an extraordinary quantity of music: song cycles, symphonies, piano and chamber works – all now recognised as masterpieces. Such acclaim did not exist in the years immediately after his death, and it was only later, when the rediscovery of Schubert's music (led by George Grove) was gathering pace, that this work, the first full-length biography of the composer, appeared in 1865. Written by Heinrich Kreissle von Hellborn (1812–69), a Viennese lawyer and member of the city's Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, the work incorporates reminiscences of Schubert's friends as collected by Ferdinand Luib for his prospective biography. This 1869 English translation by Arthur Duke Coleridge, founder of the Bach Choir, contains an appendix by Grove on Schubert's symphonies and his rediscovery in Vienna of several manuscripts as well as the partbooks for Rosamunde. Volume 2 covers 1824 to 1828, and includes a list of works and Grove's appendix.

Richard to Minna Wagner
  • Letters to his First Wife
  • Volume 2
  • Richard Wagner
  • Edited and translated by William Ashton Ellis
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    02 October 2014
    First published in:
    1909
  • The German actress Minna Planer (1809–66) was Wagner's first wife. Though it lasted until her death, their marriage, never an easy one, was punctuated by long periods of separation, and during its early years Minna was the main breadwinner. William Ashton Ellis (1852–1919) abandoned his medical career to devote himself to his Wagner studies. Best known for his translations of Wagner's prose works, he published in 1909 this collection of letters from the composer, translated from the originals in Baron Hans von Wolzogen's Richard Wagner an Minna Wagner (1908). Concerned predominantly with domestic and business affairs, many of them complaining at Minna's lack of support, the letters offer an intriguing and intimate view of this larger-than-life composer. Spanning the period 1858–63, Volume 2 covers their uneasy, brief reconciliation in Paris, Wagner's concerns over Minna's failing health, and her return to Dresden in 1862, which marked their final separation.

The Life of Franz Schubert
  • Volume 1
  • Heinrich Kreissle von Hellborn
  • Edited and translated by Arthur D. Coleridge
  • Appendix by George Grove
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    02 October 2014
    First published in:
    1869
  • The astonishing creative genius of Franz Schubert (1797–1828) produced an extraordinary quantity of music: song cycles, symphonies, piano and chamber works – all now recognised as masterpieces. Such acclaim did not exist in the years immediately after his death, and it was only later, when the rediscovery of Schubert's music (led by George Grove) was gathering pace, that this work, the first full-length biography of the composer, appeared in 1865. Written by Heinrich Kreissle von Hellborn (1812–69), a Viennese lawyer and member of the city's Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, the work incorporates reminiscences of Schubert's friends as collected by Ferdinand Luib for his prospective biography. This 1869 English translation by Arthur Duke Coleridge, founder of the Bach Choir, contains an appendix by Grove on Schubert's symphonies and his rediscovery in Vienna of several manuscripts as well as the partbooks for Rosamunde. Volume 1 charts Schubert's life up to the composition of Rosamunde in 1823.

Reminiscences of Michael Kelly, of the King's Theatre, and Theatre Royal Drury Lane
  • Including a Period of Nearly Half a Century
  • Volume 1
  • Michael Kelly
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    20 October 2011
    First published in:
    1826
  • Michael Kelly (1762–1826) was an Irish singer and composer who studied music in a Naples conservatory before touring Europe and performing for royalty. His voyage to Italy began with a brush with pirates, one of whom was a childhood acquaintance. Kelly also found himself stranded penniless in Venice, spent a night in prison after a fist fight at the theatre, and had a narrow escape from revolutionary France. He is probably best remembered for creating the roles of Don Basilio and Don Curzio in the first performance, in 1786, of Le Nozze di Figaro, of which he describes the rehearsal period and reception. He later joined London's Theatre Royal as both a performer and composer and opened a music shop, which went bankrupt. These memoirs, published in 1826, provide rich first hand insights into a key period in theatre history. Volume 1 covers Kelly's early life and musical training.

Reminiscences of Michael Kelly, of the King's Theatre, and Theatre Royal Drury Lane
  • Including a Period of Nearly Half a Century
  • Volume 2
  • Michael Kelly
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    20 October 2011
    First published in:
    1826
  • Michael Kelly (1762–1826) was an Irish singer and composer who studied music in a Naples conservatory before touring Europe and performing for royalty. His voyage to Italy began with a brush with pirates, one of whom was a childhood acquaintance. Kelly also found himself stranded penniless in Venice, spent a night in prison after a fist fight at the theatre, and had a narrow escape from revolutionary France. He is probably best remembered for creating the roles of Don Basilio and Don Curzio in the first performance, in 1786, of Le Nozze di Figaro, of which he describes the rehearsal period and reception. He later joined London's Theatre Royal as both a performer and composer and opened a music shop, which went bankrupt. These memoirs, published in 1826, provide rich first-hand insights into a key period in theatre history. Volume 2 covers Kelly's later musical and theatrical career.

Beethoven's Letters (1790–1826)
  • From the Collection of Dr Ludwig Nohl
  • Volume 2
  • Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Edited and translated by Grace Jane Wallace
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    06 November 2014
    First published in:
    1866
  • Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) was a prolific letter writer, with thousands of examples surviving to this day. Often written in great haste - 'in der Eile' was a common sign-off - they allow us to follow the great composer's anxieties and preoccupations, revealing the human figure behind some of the greatest music ever written. Despite the fact that 'many of Beethoven's letters slumber in foreign lands, especially in the unapproachable cabinets of curiosities belonging to various close-fisted English collectors', the German musicologist Ludwig Nohl (1831–85) published his collection of letters in 1865, and this two-volume English translation by Grace Jane Wallace (1804–78) appeared the following year, reflecting the fact that interest in Beethoven had not diminished nearly forty years after his death. In Volume 2 we read of Beethoven's despair as his health fails, and of his efforts to fulfil the commission that would become his greatest masterpiece, the Ninth Symphony.

Wagner and his Isolde
  • Gustav Kobbé
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    13 November 2014
    First published in:
    1905
  • The German poet Mathilde Wesendonck (1828–1902), author of the texts of the Wesendonck Lieder, was the wife of Wagner's patron, the wealthy silk merchant Otto Wesendonck. From 1852 until 1858, the Wagners lived next to the Wesendoncks in Zurich and an intense relationship developed between Wagner and Mathilde, subsequently reflected in the impossible love at the heart of his opera Tristan und Isolde. Prepared by the American musicologist Gustav Kobbé (1857‒1918), who provides a helpful connecting narrative, this 1905 translation of a selection of 'the most intimate and striking' of Wagner's impassioned letters to Mathilde charts the course of the opera's creation. Written between 1853 and 1863, the letters show Wagner thinking aloud not only about Tristan but also the planning of Parsifal. As Mathilde's letters to Wagner were destroyed, the exact nature of their relationship and of her inspiration musically will never be fully established.

The Music of Nature
  • Or, An Attempt to Prove that What Is Passionate and Pleasing in the Art of Singing, Speaking and Performing upon Musical Instruments, Is Derived from the Sounds of the Animated World
  • William Gardiner
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    31 July 2014
    First published in:
    1832
  • The English composer and concert producer William Gardiner (1770–1853) published this work in 1832 in order to explain the 'true principles of musical taste and expression' by listening to the 'germs of melody' in nature. Here he musically notates the sounds of oxen, a Newfoundland dog, a blackbird, a cooing dove and even an angry child in an attempt to combine natural history, personal observation and historical anecdotes with his passion for music. Notable for introducing Beethoven's music to Britain, Gardiner sets out his general beliefs about the adaptability of the human ear, the differences between noise and sound, singing and oratory, and the musicality of ordinary language. He also discusses many noted singers of his day and delves into the different techniques used by singers and instrumentalists to elicit emotion in their audiences.

Letters to Wesendonck et al.
  • Richard Wagner
  • Edited and translated by William Ashton Ellis
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    01 January 2015
    First published in:
    1899
  • William Ashton Ellis (1852–1919) abandoned his medical career in order to devote himself to his Wagner studies. Best known for his translations of Wagner's prose works, Ellis also translated Wagner's letters to family and friends. In this 1899 publication, most of the letters are those which Wagner wrote to the wealthy retired silk merchant Otto Wesendonck, who provided Wagner with generous financial support and whose wife, Mathilde, provided the words for the Wesendonck Lieder. Also included here are letters to the German writer Malwida von Meysenbug, who was also a friend of Nietzsche, and to the novelist Eliza Wille, at whose house in Zurich, a meeting place for the cognoscenti, Wagner was a regular guest. She later published her memories of the composer. Despite the stylistic idiosyncrasies of the translations, these letters remain of value because they capture something of the colour of Wagner's prose and personality.

The Life of Beethoven
  • Including his Correspondence with his Friends, Numerous Characteristic Traits, and Remarks on his Musical Works
  • Volume 1
  • Anton Schindler
  • Edited and translated by Ignaz Moscheles
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    06 November 2014
    First published in:
    1841
  • Violinist and conductor Anton Schindler (1795–1864) became Beethoven's unpaid private secretary for two periods in the 1820s, notably caring for the composer in his last months. Schindler published his biography of Beethoven in 1840, and in 1841 this English translation appeared, with a preface and additional letters provided by the pianist Ignaz Moscheles (1794–1870), who in 1814 had prepared the piano version of Fidelio for publication by Artaria. That the biography is unreliable has long been recognised, as it presents Schindler's idealised, romantic view of Beethoven, whom he revered, and contains inaccuracies and fabrications uncovered by later research. While the work must therefore be approached with care, it remains nonetheless an important source of first-hand information through its use of documents unavailable to other early biographers. Volume 1 covers Beethoven's life to the completion of the Ninth Symphony in 1824.

An Account of the Musical Celebrations on St Cecilia's Day in the Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
  • William Henry Husk
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    13 November 2014
    First published in:
    1857
  • Cecilia, a martyr of the early Christian church, has traditionally been honoured as the patron saint of music. Precisely how that association arose remains uncertain, yet she has inspired many composers over the centuries, notably Henry Purcell and Benjamin Britten. A music scholar and contributor to the first edition of Grove's Dictionary, William Henry Husk (1814–87) joined the Sacred Harmonic Society in 1834 and served as its librarian from 1852. This captivating work, first published in 1857, was prompted by what Husk felt to be unaccountable neglect by music historians of an important aspect of musical life. His carefully researched summary traces the musical celebrations of Cecilia's feast day, 22 November, in Britain and Europe from 1571 to 1846. An appendix gives the texts of numerous odes written for St Cecilia's Day, including pieces by Dryden and Brady, set to music by Handel and Purcell respectively.

Beethoven's Letters (1790–1826)
  • From the Collection of Dr Ludwig Nohl
  • Volume 1
  • Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Edited and translated by Grace Jane Wallace
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    06 November 2014
    First published in:
    1866
  • Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) was a prolific letter writer, with thousands of examples surviving to this day. Often written in great haste - 'in der Eile' was a common sign-off - they allow us to follow the great composer's anxieties and preoccupations, revealing the human figure behind some of the greatest music ever written. Despite the fact that 'many of Beethoven's letters slumber in foreign lands, especially in the unapproachable cabinets of curiosities belonging to various close-fisted English collectors', the German musicologist Ludwig Nohl (1831–85) published his collection of letters in 1865, and this two-volume English translation by Grace Jane Wallace (1804–78) appeared the following year, reflecting the fact that interest in Beethoven had not diminished nearly forty years after his death. Volume 1 includes the letter by the thirteen-year-old Beethoven which declares his life's commitment to the craft of music, and the still poignant 'Heiligenstadt Testament'.

Family Letters of Richard Wagner
  • Richard Wagner
  • Edited and translated by William Ashton Ellis
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    13 November 2014
    First published in:
    1911
  • William Ashton Ellis (1852–1919) abandoned his medical career in order to devote himself to his Wagner studies. Best known for his translations of Wagner's prose works and of Carl Friedrich Glasenapp's multi-volume biography of the composer, Ellis published in 1911 this English translation of Wagner's Familienbriefe, spanning the years 1832–74. An inveterate letter writer, Wagner was the youngest-but-one of ten children and Ellis describes the character of these letters to his sisters, his mother, his brother-in-law and his nieces as a reflection of the composer in the 'driest and most neutral of lights', claiming that within the family it is impossible to be pretentious. An appendix by Glasenapp, giving brief biographical details of family members, is also included. Despite the stylistic idiosyncrasies of the translations, these letters remain of importance, capturing something of the tone of Wagner's prose style and shedding light on his extraordinary life.

Beethoven's Letters
  • A Critical Edition with Explanatory Notes
  • Volume 1
  • Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Translated by J. S. Shedlock
  • Edited by Alfred Christlieb Kalischer
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    06 November 2014
    First published in:
    1909
  • Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) was a prolific letter writer. Often written in great haste - he regularly signed off 'in der Eile' - his correspondence allows us to follow his anxieties and preoccupations. From his first letter, written at the age of thirteen, wherein he declared his lifelong commitment to the craft of music, through the poignant 'Heiligenstadt Testament', up to the final codicil to his will, these documents reveal the human figure behind some of the greatest music ever written. In this two-volume English translation of 1909, John South Shedlock (1843–1919) retains as far as possible the idiosyncratic and error-ridden texts as written by the great composer. Volume 1 covers the years to 1816, and includes the heartbreaking unsent 1802 letter to his brothers in which Beethoven reveals his misery over his increasing deafness and his determination to overcome his physical and emotional weaknesses.

Wagner at Home
  • Judith Gautier
  • Translated by Effie Dunreith Massie
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    13 November 2014
    First published in:
    1910
  • Daughter of the poet Théophile Gautier, Judith Gautier (1845–1917) grew up among Europe's literary avant-garde, quickly establishing her own career as a writer. An unapologetic admirer of Richard Wagner from an early age, she described her moment of revelation on playing through the overture to The Flying Dutchman as 'vertigo of the spirit'. Her enthusiasm led to several works on the composer, including a translation of his poem for Parsifal, during the composition of which an intense intimacy developed between them (gently, but firmly, defused by Cosima). Reissued here is the 1910 English translation by Effie Dunreith Massie of Gautier's highly charged account of her first two visits to Wagner and Cosima in Switzerland in 1869 and 1870. Gautier describes the idyllic atmosphere and offers the reader an effusive pen-portrait of Wagner's complex personality. The work also features facsimile pages of Wagner's letters to Gautier, showing part of the score for Parsifal.

The Life of Beethoven
  • Including his Correspondence with his Friends, Numerous Characteristic Traits, and Remarks on his Musical Works
  • Volume 2
  • Anton Schindler
  • Edited and translated by Ignaz Moscheles
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    06 November 2014
    First published in:
    1841
  • Violinist and conductor Anton Schindler (1795–1864) became Beethoven's unpaid private secretary for two periods in the 1820s, notably caring for the composer in his last months. Schindler published his biography of Beethoven in 1840, and in 1841 this English translation appeared, with a preface and additional letters provided by the pianist Ignaz Moscheles (1794–1870), who in 1814 had prepared the piano version of Fidelio for publication by Artaria. That the biography is unreliable has long been recognised, as it presents Schindler's idealised, romantic view of Beethoven, whom he revered, and contains inaccuracies and fabrications uncovered by later research. While the work must therefore be approached with care, it remains nonetheless an important source of first-hand information through its use of documents unavailable to other early biographers. Volume 2 covers the period 1824–7, and includes Schindler's observations on Beethoven's music and character.

Letters of Richard Wagner to Emil Heckel
  • With a Brief History of the Bayreuth Festivals
  • Richard Wagner
  • Translated by William Ashton Ellis
  • Edited by Karl Heckel, Emil Heckel
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    13 November 2014
    First published in:
    1899
  • A great admirer of Richard Wagner, the music publisher Emil Heckel (1831–1908) founded the first Wagner Society in Mannheim in 1871. His purpose was to inspire others to help raise the necessary funds for the inaugural Bayreuth Festival. William Ashton Ellis (1852–1919) abandoned his medical career in order to devote himself to his Wagner studies. Best known for his translations of Wagner's prose works, he published in 1899 this English translation of Heckel's memoirs (originally edited by his son Karl), interwoven with letters from Wagner to Heckel, who is described by the composer as his 'energetic friend'. Notwithstanding the stylistic idiosyncrasies of the translation, the work provides a valuable first-hand account of the progress made towards establishing what would become one of the world's most prestigious music festivals. The letters span the years 1871 to 1883.

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