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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 3 of 9

A General History of Music, from the Earliest Times to the Present
  • Comprising the Lives of Eminent Composers and Musical Writers
  • Volume 2
  • Thomas Busby
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    27 June 2013
    First published in:
    1819
  • The writer, composer and organist Thomas Busby (1754–1838) is best remembered for his highly entertaining Concert Room and Orchestra Anecdotes (1825), which paints a vivid picture of musical life at the time. The son of a coach painter, Busby was originally articled to the composer Jonathan Battishill, but found the experience unrewarding. His compositions (many now lost) include songs, theatre music and oratorios. His literary output included journal articles and monographs, among them A Grammar of Music (also reissued in this series) and A General History of Music. First published in 1819, this two-volume work proved controversial as it was alleged that Busby had plagiarised the great histories of Burney and Hawkins (also available in the Cambridge Library Collection). However, acknowledging his indebtedness to them, Busby provided a popular interpretation of their work for the general reader. Volume 2 covers the period from the sixteenth century to Busby's own time, with a particular emphasis on England.

Some Ancient Christmas Carols, with the Tunes to Which They Were Formerly Sung in the West of England
  • Davies Gilbert
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    12 December 2013
    First published in:
    1822
  • A significant figure in the scientific community of his day, and a mentor to the chemist Sir Humphry Davy and his successor as president of the Royal Society, Davies Gilbert (1767–1839) also represented his native Cornwall in Parliament for almost thirty years. His love of his county and his concern to preserve its customs led him to publish in 1822 this collection of eight Christmas folk carols, the first of its kind, drawing on Cornwall's rich oral tradition. In his preface, Davies paints a heartwarming picture of the Christmas Eves of his childhood when, 'in the evening, cakes were drawn hot from the oven; cyder or beer exhilarated the spirits in every house; and the singing of Carols was continued late into the night'. From 'The Lord at first did Adam make' to 'Let all that are to mirth inclined', these simple ballads reflect the West of England's festive heritage.

Life of Mozart
  • Volume 3
  • Otto Jahn
  • Translated by Pauline D. Townsend
  • Preface by George Grove
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    05 September 2013
  • In terms of musical composition, all but the first five of his thirty-five years were astoundingly productive for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–91). A stream of glorious symphonies, piano concertos, chamber music, operas and the sublime but unfinished Requiem poured from his pen. German philologist and archaeologist Otto Jahn (1813–69) was inspired to write a scholarly biography of Mozart following a conversation at Mendelssohn's funeral in 1847. He immersed himself in intensive research on the composer and his music, publishing the first edition of this landmark work in four volumes between 1856 and 1859. A second edition followed in 1867, incorporating new material and making use of Köchel's 1862 catalogue of Mozart's works. It is from this edition that Pauline D. Townsend made her three-volume English translation, first published in 1882. Volume 3 discusses the Mozart–Da Ponte operas and the Requiem, and also includes a list of his works.

Musical History, Biography, and Criticism
  • Being a General Survey of Music, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time
  • George Hogarth
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
  • George Hogarth (1783–1870), music critic and journalist, is also remembered as a friend of Sir Walter Scott and the father-in-law of Charles Dickens. His lengthy writing career included posts as music critic with The Harmonicon, the Morning Chronicle (where he first met Dickens), the Evening Chronicle (which he co-edited), and the Daily News. He also served as music critic for The Illustrated London News and was secretary to the Philharmonic Society between 1850 and 1864. His account of the first fifty years of the Society has also been reissued in this series. The present work, first published in 1835, is his lively history of music from ancient to modern times, aimed squarely at the general reader. It is couched in 'simple and perspicuous language, avoiding technical phraseology and abstruse discussions'. The final chapter presents an invaluable first-hand account of contemporary music and musical life in England.

History of the Modern Music of Western Europe
  • From the First Century of the Christian Era to the Present Day
  • Raphael Georg Kiesewetter
  • Translated by Robert Müller
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    24 October 2013
  • A high-ranking official in the Imperial War Office in Vienna, Raphael Georg Kiesewetter (1773–1850) is better known for his musicological activities. An accomplished amateur musician, he studied with Albrechtsberger, hosted private concerts of early music, and was closely involved in the affairs of Vienna's Society of the Friends of Music. His important collection of scores is now in the Austrian National Library. He also wrote a number of books and articles, including a pioneering study of Arabic music which was the first to use original sources, owing to the assistance of orientalist Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall. Originally published in German in 1834 and reissued here in its 1848 English translation, the present work is considered Kiesewetter's most significant and remains accessible to the general reader. Based on an evolutionary approach influenced by the Enlightenment, the book presents seventeen epochs which are named after their most characteristic composers.

Elements of Musical Composition
  • Comprehending the Rules of Thorough Bass, and the Theory of Tuning
  • William Crotch
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    24 October 2013
  • An exceptional child prodigy at the keyboard, the organist and composer William Crotch (1775–1847) attracted the attention of both George III and Charles Burney, going on to become one of the most eminent musical figures of his day. Following a period of study in Cambridge, at the age of fifteen he was appointed organist at Christ Church, Oxford. At twenty-one he assumed the university's chair of music, a post he retained until his death. The first principal of the Royal Academy of Music between 1822 and 1832, Crotch is remembered today for his oratorio Palestine. The present work, first published in 1812, made his expertise available to a wider audience. A clearly written primer on music theory, composition and figured bass, it includes an abundance of musical examples. Crotch's Substance of Several Courses of Lectures on Music (1831) is also reissued in this series.

Singing for Schools and Congregations
  • A Grammar of Vocal Music, with a Course of Lessons and Exercises Founded on the Tonic Solfa Method, and a Full Introduction to the Art of Singing at Sight from the Old Notation ...
  • John Curwen
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    19 September 2013
  • John Curwen (1816–80), minister and music educationist, is remembered for his promotion in Britain of the tonic sol-fa system of teaching singing. He had an innate understanding of the social value of music in education, and it was in response to being asked in 1841 to recommend the best way of teaching music in Sunday schools that he developed Norwich schoolteacher Sarah Glover's system from her Scheme for Rendering Psalmody Congregational (1835). He would spend the rest of his life refining it. Not to be confused with John Hullah's 'fixed doh' system, Curwen's method spread rapidly and by the 1860s over 180,000 people in Britain were learning tonic sol-fa. First published in 1843 and reissued here in its revised and expanded edition of 1848, this thorough textbook sets out Curwen's method, complete with a wide range of exercises for class practice.

The History of Music
  • Volume 2
  • Emil Naumann
  • Translated by Ferdinand Christian Wilhelm Praeger
  • Edited by F. A. Gore Ouseley
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    27 June 2013
    First published in:
    1888
  • Scholar and composer Emil Naumann (1827–88) studied with Mendelssohn, and his compositions reflect the style of his teacher. He published several works on musical aesthetics and history, of which Illustrierte Musikgeschichte, written between 1880 and 1885, is his best known. It went through many editions and this English translation, first published in 1888, was prepared by the composer, pianist and writer Ferdinand Praeger (1815–91). To rectify the work's marked neglect of English music, chapters were added by its editor, the eminent Victorian musician Sir Frederick Gore Ouseley (1825–89), Professor of Music at Oxford. Lavishly illustrated and with musical examples throughout, this two-volume history was intended to 'aid in fostering ever-increasing interest in the most emotional and cherished of all the arts'. Volume 2 covers the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and includes an index.

Music and Education
  • Joseph Mainzer
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    19 September 2013
  • Published in 1848, this short work by Joseph Mainzer (1801–51) argues for the considerable value of music as part of general education. A German priest, teacher and composer, Mainzer had an important influence on the development of amateur music and the choral movement in the first half of the nineteenth century. Attracting large numbers of adult labourers, he gave free singing classes, using his own highly influential teaching system. Music, Mainzer argues here, not only brings direct moral and social benefits, but also takes the place of potentially harmful habits and leisure activities, such as the drinking of alcohol. The work defines music in relation to its educational value and potential, exploring the origins, development and moral influence of music since the ancient Greeks. Mainzer also discusses the ways in which music is taught at all levels.

A General History of Music
  • From the Infancy of the Greek Drama to the Present Period
  • William Smith Rockstro
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    27 June 2013
  • A friend and pupil of Mendelssohn, the composer and author William Smith Rockstro (1823–95) was regarded as an expert on early music. He contributed articles on the subject to Sir George Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians as well as teaching counterpoint and plainsong at the Royal College of Music. His published output includes biographies of Handel (1883), Mendelssohn (1884) and the opera singer Jenny Lind (1891), all of which are reissued in this series. The present work was first published in 1886. In its narrative of musical history since the Greeks, it gives due weight to the development of music in England and includes, naturally, a chapter on Handel that reflects his enduring influence on national taste. The final section of the book discusses the contemporary musical scene and considers the importance of the recently deceased Wagner for the music of the future.

Mendelssohn
  • William Smith Rockstro
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    26 September 2013
    First published in:
    1884
  • The composer, virtuoso pianist and conductor Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47) was lionised by the music-loving public during his lifetime, and his music is still greatly admired today. A versatile child prodigy, he wrote music for A Midsummer Night's Dream while he was still a teenager. Masterpieces such as the octet for strings, the 'Italian' symphony, the violin concerto and his great oratorio Elijah followed. His extraordinary ability was such that he was made an honorary member of the Philharmonic Society in 1829 at the age of only twenty during the first of his ten visits to Britain. A great advocate of Johann Sebastian Bach, Mendelssohn did much to reawaken interest in his music. This eminently readable short biography by the composer William Smith Rockstro (1823–95) was first published in 1884 as part of Francis Hueffer's 'Great Musicians' series. A list of Mendelssohn's works is included as an appendix.

Musical Biography
  • Or, Memoirs of the Lives and Writings of the Most Eminent Musical Composers and Writers, Who Have Flourished in the Different Countries of Europe during the Last Three Centuries
  • Volume 2
  • William Bingley
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
  • A naturalist and Church of England clergyman, William Bingley (1774–1823) wrote widely on botany, topography and zoology. Works such as his Tour of North Wales (1800), Animal Biography (1802) and Memoirs of British Quadrupeds (1809) enjoyed great popularity. He served as curate of the priory in Christchurch, Hampshire, and from 1816 to 1823 as minister of Fitzroy Chapel in Charlotte Street, London. This two-volume publication, which first appeared in 1814, is one of his many works of compilation. Bingley takes as his principal sources the great music histories of Hawkins and Burney (also reissued in this series), to which he acknowledges his debt. The work comprises vignettes of chiefly Italian, German and British composers of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, touching also on French and Spanish musicians. Volume 2 focuses on the eighteenth century, including a chapter devoted to Handel which reflects the composer's considerable standing.

The Life of George Frederick Handel
  • With an Introductory Notice by George Grove
  • William Smith Rockstro
  • Introduction by George Grove
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    04 July 2013
  • Beloved not only in Britain, George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) is admired as a composer the world over. His inventive and sensitive melodic genius and his exuberant brilliance in depicting the spectacular are best displayed in his Messiah and Zadok the Priest. Larger than life, Handel impressed all who met him and was adept at promoting his works, arranging for their publication and even selling them from his home in London's Brook Street. His dogged determination to triumph over the many reverses of his career and the fickle enthusiasms of the Georgian public is the stuff of three-volume novels. This sympathetic and highly readable biography by the composer and author William Smith Rockstro (1823–95) was first published in 1883. Wherever possible, autograph manuscripts have been consulted and the book contains the first detailed catalogue of Handel's output. Among other works, Rockstro's biography of Mendelssohn is also reissued in this series.

The Mendelssohn Family (1729–1847)
  • From Letters and Journals
  • Volume 2
  • Sebastian Hensel
  • Translated by Carl Klingemann
  • Introduction by George Grove
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    19 September 2013
  • Sebastian Hensel (1830–98), nephew of the composer, virtuoso pianist and conductor Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47), originally intended this work to be 'not only of the family but for the family', drawing on their letters and diaries. Persuaded by friends to publish his narrative in 1879, Hensel in particular provides a first-hand insight into the lives of his uncle, lionized by the music-loving public of his day, and Felix's beloved sister Fanny (1805–47), herself a talented composer and pianist. Translated from the German revised second edition by Felix's close friend, diplomat Carl Klingemann (1798–1862), this 1881 two-volume collection made available for the first time in English a great deal of valuable source material. Covering the period 1836–47, Volume 2 focuses on the final decade of Fanny and Felix's lives, and includes a delightful description by George Grove of Felix's personal appearance.

The History of Music
  • Volume 1
  • Emil Naumann
  • Translated by Ferdinand Christian Wilhelm Praeger
  • Edited by F. A. Gore Ouseley
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    18 July 2013
    First published in:
    1888
  • Scholar and composer Emil Naumann (1827–88) studied with Mendelssohn, and his compositions reflect the style of his teacher. He published several works on musical aesthetics and history, of which Illustrierte Musikgeschichte, written between 1880 and 1885, is his best known. It went through many editions and this English translation, first published in 1888, was prepared by the composer, pianist and writer Ferdinand Praeger (1815–91). To rectify the work's marked neglect of English music, chapters were added by its editor, the eminent Victorian musician Sir Frederick Gore Ouseley (1825–89), Professor of Music at Oxford. Lavishly illustrated and with musical examples throughout, this two-volume history was intended to 'aid in fostering ever-increasing interest in the most emotional and cherished of all the arts'. Volume 1 covers the music of ancient civilisations through to the eighteenth century.

Life of Mozart
  • Volume 1
  • Otto Jahn
  • Translated by Pauline D. Townsend
  • Preface by George Grove
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    05 September 2013
  • In terms of musical composition, all but the first five of his thirty-five years were astoundingly productive for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–91). A stream of glorious symphonies, piano concertos, chamber music, operas and the sublime but unfinished Requiem poured from his pen. German philologist and archaeologist Otto Jahn (1813–69) was inspired to write a scholarly biography of Mozart following a conversation at Mendelssohn's funeral in 1847. He immersed himself in intensive research on the composer and his music, publishing the first edition of this landmark work in four volumes between 1856 and 1859. A second edition followed in 1867, incorporating new material and making use of Köchel's 1862 catalogue of Mozart's works. It is from this edition that Pauline D. Townsend made her three-volume English translation, first published in 1882. Volume 1 covers Mozart's life to 1778, including tours with his father and employment under Archbishop Colloredo.

The Life of Haydn, in a Series of Letters Written at Vienna
  • Followed by the Life of Mozart, with Observations on Metastasio, and on the Present State of Music in France and Italy
  • Stendhal
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    22 August 2013
    First published in:
    1817
  • Marie-Henri Beyle (1783–1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal, is remembered today for such novels as Le Rouge et le Noir. In his lifetime, he wrote in a variety of literary genres and under a multitude of names. Louis-Alexandre-César Bombet was his choice of pseudonym for these early works, originally published in French in 1814. His lives of Haydn and Mozart were substantially derived from works by Giuseppe Carpani and Théophile Winckler respectively. Despite this audacious plagiarism, Stendhal's passion for music is evident, especially for Mozart, whose Clemenza di Tito he had enjoyed in Königsberg during the winter of 1812 whilst serving in Napoleon's army. Of especial interest to the modern reader are Stendhal's frequent digressions expressing his forthright opinions on the issues and figures of his day. This reissue is of Robert Brewin's English translation of 1817, with additional notes by the composer William Gardiner.

Musical Biography
  • Or, Memoirs of the Lives and Writings of the Most Eminent Musical Composers and Writers, Who Have Flourished in the Different Countries of Europe during the Last Three Centuries
  • Volume 1
  • William Bingley
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
  • A naturalist and Church of England clergyman, William Bingley (1774–1823) wrote widely on botany, topography and zoology. Works such as his Tour of North Wales (1800), Animal Biography (1802) and Memoirs of British Quadrupeds (1809) enjoyed great popularity. He served as curate of the priory in Christchurch, Hampshire, and from 1816 to 1823 as minister of Fitzroy Chapel in Charlotte Street, London. This two-volume publication, which first appeared in 1814, is one of his many works of compilation. Bingley takes as his principal sources the great music histories of Hawkins and Burney (also reissued in this series), to which he acknowledges his debt. The work comprises vignettes of chiefly Italian, German and British composers of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, touching also on French and Spanish musicians. Volume 1 covers the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The introduction gives a brief account of early church music.

The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Volume 3
  • Alexander Wheelock Thayer, Hermann Deiters, Hugo Riemann
  • Edited and translated by Henry Edward Krehbiel
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    05 September 2013
  • This authoritative biography of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) was a landmark in its meticulous research and use of source material. For the American author Alexander Wheelock Thayer (1817–97), it represented a lifelong labour of love, yet it remained unfinished at his death. His friend Hermann Deiters (1833–1907) edited and translated Thayer's work into German, publishing three volumes which covered Beethoven's life to 1816. Since Deiters also died before the biography could be completed, musicologist Hugo Riemann (1849–1919) was called upon to conclude the work. The final German volumes appeared in 1907 and 1908. It was the American critic Henry Edward Krehbiel (1854–1923) who prepared the present work, the first and considerably revised English version, published in three volumes in 1921. Volume 3 covers Beethoven's final years, his ninth symphony and late quartets.

The Mendelssohn Family (1729–1847)
  • From Letters and Journals
  • Volume 1
  • Sebastian Hensel
  • Translated by Carl Klingemann
  • Introduction by George Grove
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    19 September 2013
  • Sebastian Hensel (1830–98), nephew of the composer, virtuoso pianist and conductor Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47), originally intended this work to be 'not only of the family but for the family', drawing on their letters and diaries. Persuaded by friends to publish his narrative in 1879, Hensel in particular provides a first-hand insight into the lives of his uncle, lionized by the music-loving public of his day, and Felix's beloved sister Fanny (1805–47), herself a talented composer and pianist. Translated from the German revised second edition by Felix's close friend, diplomat Carl Klingemann (1798–1862), this 1881 two-volume collection made available for the first time in English a great deal of valuable source material. Covering the period 1729–1835, Volume 1 charts the family's history from the birth of philosopher Moses Mendelssohn to the death of his son, banker Abraham Mendelssohn Bartholdy, who was the father of Felix.

Page 3 of 9