Average customer rating:
- The Most Desirable Edition of This Book
- A must for musicians and lovers of music out there!
|
The New Oxford Companion to Music: Volume 1: A-J Volume 2: L-Z
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| Reference
| Music
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Music
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| Classics
| Comic
| Contemporary
| Literary
Music
| Bibliographies & Indexes
| Publishing & Books
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Entertainment Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Reference Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The Oxford Companion to Music
ASIN: 0193113163 |
Book Description
This complete encyclopedia encompasses music of all kinds from ancient times to the present day. Written by a team of 90 expert contributors, these 6,600 articles cover composers, and individual works; musical instruments; opera; music of different countries; Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque,
Classical, Romantic, Jazz, and popular music; definitions of musical terms; rudiments and theory of music; and standard forms and genres.
Customer Reviews:
The Most Desirable Edition of This Book.......2005-01-17
I've been comparing The New Oxford Companion to Music, ed. Denis Arnold (1983; 2 volumes, 2,017 pages) with the latest edition: The Oxford Companion to Music, ed. Alison Latham (2002; 1,434 pages). In the estimable series of Oxford Companions you can usually expect the new edition to supersede and replace the old one. In this case, however, it's not that simple. A glance at the above reveals that the new edition, in one volume, is some 583 pages shorter than the preceding edition, in two volumes. Losing almost 600 pages of 2,000 represents a very substantial loss of material.
Moreover, when we examine the two editions, we discover that the 1983 edition is lavishly, indeed beautifully, illustrated ("1,100 halftone illustrations and line drawings, 405 music examples"). None of the illustrations are in color, but there is an abundance of well-chosen, functional, illuminating photos, portraits, paintings, manuscripts, figures, line drawings, plates, tables, musical examples. The new edition of 2002, alas, has virtually eschewed illustration: almost all of the illustrations of the 1983 edition have been scrapped. We get a comparative handful of musical examples and figures, but just about everything else has been eliminated; even the greatest composers aren't represented by a single likeness, whereas in the 1983 edition even lesser composers get a photo or portrait. If for example you want to understand what an accordion is, there is no substitute for a picture of one. The 1983 edition has a 4-page entry on "accordion," with photos of four different types (including a musician playing one), plus 2 explanatory diagrams. The 2002 edition has a page-length entry with no illustrative material at all. I find this a significant loss, a significant cheapening of the book, and a significant diminution in the pleasure of using it. It's revealing that Alison Latham, the 2002 editor, refers to the "wealth of illustrative material" as one of the assets of Denis Arnold's 1983 edition, but makes no mention of the fact that she has thrown out almost all of it.
But that's not all. If for example we look up "organ" in the 1983 edition, we find a truly comprehensive 20-page entry, with 20 illustrations (plates, figures, tables, drawings, photos). In the 2002 edition we find a 6-page entry with 8 figures; this represents a radical abridgment of the earlier article.
Could "organ" be an unhappy fluke? No, unfortunately it's not. I looked up "trumpet," "violin," and "piano," and found the same result in each case: a truly drastic loss of material, both text and illustration, in the new edition.
If you look up any of the hundred standard repertory operas in the 1983 edition, you find the basic facts about composer, librettist, and premiere, plus a synopsis of the action, and often an apt illustration and "Further Reading" suggestions. If you look up any of the same operas in the 2002 edition, you find a very short entry (Carmen, for example, gets three lines; Tristan und Isolde gets two lines) giving the basic facts about composer, librettist, premiere--no synopsis, no illustration, no reading list.
So you can see why the 2002 edition of this book was received with reservation, indeed with downright disappointment, by those who were familiar with the 1983 edition. Why would Oxford UP have made such Draconian changes? Well, the governing perception seems to have been that the 1983 edition, lavishly illustrated and in two volumes, had outgrown its purpose and over-reached its market. Evidently many found the two-volume format cumbersome and too expensive. The 2002 edition, by eliminating almost all of the illustrations and reducing the size to a single volume, has cheapened and abridged the book, rendered it much less attractive, and in many areas reduced its usefulness, but has made it handier and more affordable.
Does the 2002 edition have no redeeming qualities, then, but cheapness and one-volume convenience? Indeed it does have its virtues. For one, it's up-to-date. A blurb on its dustcover breathlessly claims, "Now, thirty years after the last edition, this invaluable companion is back in a completely new edition"--a barefaced falsehood: the period between the two editions was 19 years, not 30. But the new edition benefits from the scholarship of the last two decades; many new and updated articles ("over 1,000 new entries") reflect the perspective of 2002. Many articles conclude with mini-bibliographies (in both editions), and these are inevitably more current and useful in the 2002 edition.
Perhaps the most valuable feature of the new edition is the inclusion for the first time of entries not just for composers but for distinguished performing musicians. In the 1983 (and earlier) edition, there were no entries for conductors, singers, instrumentalists. In the 2002 edition you'll find entries for Toscanini, Walter, Furtwangler, Caruso, Melba, Ponselle, Melchior, Flagstad, Callas, Heifetz, Casals, Artur Rubinstein, Horowitz, Segovia, Dennis Brain, and many others. This change was overdue and certainly enhances the usefulness of the book. Many of the "over 1,000 new entries" in the 2002 edition are in this category. "Space limitations have restricted these [entries] to artists who are no longer alive and who had significant influence on composition or performance." These entries are also limited to classical musicians.
In some cases the perspective of 2002 has warranted an expanded version of a composer entry in the 1983 edition. For example, Orff, Moussorgsky, and Scriabin all get expanded treatments (but lose their portraits) in the new edition.
So, what to do; which Companion to choose? My solution is obvious but perhaps not very helpful: if you love music and like good reference books, get both. I believe the Alison Latham 2002 edition should be viewed as an updated supplement to the more substantial and lavish 1983 edition, not as a replacement. Denis Arnold's 1983 two-volume edition was the first complete revision since the original 1938 Oxford Companion to Music, edited (and largely written) by Percy Scholes; it is not perfect, but I think it represents the high-water mark of the three editions. If you have only the spartan 2002 edition, be aware that you are missing much of value and beauty in the 1983 edition. (Unfortunately I'm not the only one who has noticed that the 2002 edition is no replacement for the 1983 edition: if you check prices for used copies of the 1983 edition in the USA, you'll find that they are high.) If you own both editions, you can enjoy the best of both worlds. If I could own only one, I'd keep the 1983.
A must for musicians and lovers of music out there!.......2001-02-28
This set of two books has everything. From Beethoven's Sonatas, to who was Beethoven, to what's a Sonata and many many others. Pumped up with 2000 pages of music knowlledge, this Encyclopedia of Music, is a must for every musician as well as anyone who is a lover of music. It's great and it certainly helped me for the preparations of my studies in the area of Music. I give it 5 stars, how could I do otherwise ?
Book Description
Musical instruments, from the simplest pipes and drums to those of the utmost complexity, have formed an integral part of the cultures of all peoples of the world from the beginning of time. Their range and diversity have inspired the skill and genius of maker, composer, and player. This book celebrates that achievement and examines in a single A-Z sequence the astonishing variety of acoustic instruments throughout the ages. Each entry provides a concise description of the instrument itself, its construction, development, and playing techniques, together with details of its sound and use within the orchestra or, for ethnomusicological instruments, within rites of passage. Musical examples highlight these points, and the whole text is beautifully illustrated with over two hundred photographs and figures. General articles cover instruments by period, continent, family, and other common groupings, such as orchestra and brass band, while there is wide coverage of related topics, including pitch, chord symbols, forgeries, and oddities.
Book Description
The Oxford Companion to Music is one of the most famous music reference works of all time. This invaluable Companion now reappears in a completely new edition. Over a million words in length, it is the biggest, most authoritative, and most up to date single-volume music reference book available. The new edition draws on both the classic Oxford Companion to Music by Percy Scholes, first published in 1938, and the two-volume New Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Denis Arnold (1983), but is thoroughly revised and reimagined for the 21st century. Alison Latham has assembled a distinguished team of over 120 international contributors, bringing their distinctive voices to an exceptionally broad sweep of musical subjects ranging from composers, performers, conductors, individual works, instruments and notation, and forms and genres, to music scholarship and aesthetics, music education, broadcasting and publishing, all aspects of music theory, and performance practice, as well as jazz, popular music, and dance. Entries range from brief definitions to in-depth essays on subjects such as politics, religion, psychology, and computers. This is a comprehensive, authoritative, and accessible source of information on all aspects of Western music.
Customer Reviews:
Musicology Encyclopedia + Composer Biographies.......2005-10-28
This updated (2002) Oxford Companion is probably the best choice if you are looking for a serious reference for the many aspects of musicology AND in-depth biographies of the major and minor composers. This guide gives about 2-4 full pages of text to "the big guys" like Bach, Beethoven and Liszt and only 1-3 paragraphs to the less influential composers like Biber or Locatelli. But this will probably not be enough to fully satisfy the more serious student's interest (the multi-volume New Grove Dictionary is the place to go then). The OCM also gives a few pages each to describing the major eras of music (Renaissance, Baroque etc). Its descriptions of musical terms (like what is allegro, a sarabande dance, a hurdy gurdy etc) are written in straightforward language but are usually not excessively descriptive. However, some topics get quite a thorough treatment - such as the many aspects of harmony and sound - so the OCM is certainly not any "lightweight" reference. Of course, it all reads in the tone of an encyclopedia and thus does not really make captivating reading for the non-music major. Other guides to classical music are better at introducing musicology to the newby, such as the NPR Encyclopedia or David Dubal's compelling "Essential Cannon of Classical Music."
But, if you are a more serious music student or listener with a greater interest for in-depth musicology (and already have enough references on the lives of the composers), then the Harvard Music Dictionary is probably the top choice. It is pure musicology (with the composer biographies in a separate, companion volume). As a result of such focus, the Harvard Dictionary has more space for more detailed treatment of each music topic. It is slightly more technical in nature (superb graphs, charts) and academic in its writing compared to the Oxford Companion. But, either one is excellent and can be had on Amazon marketplace used for about 1/3 the list price.
Better or Worse than its Predecessor? .......2005-01-17
I've been comparing The Oxford Companion to Music, ed. Alison Latham (2002; 1,434 pages) with its immediate predecessor: The New Oxford Companion to Music, ed. Denis Arnold (1983; 2 volumes, 2,017 pages). In the estimable series of Oxford Companions you can usually expect the new edition to supersede and replace the old one. In this case, however, it's not that simple. A glance at the above reveals that the new edition, in one volume, is some 583 pages shorter than the preceding edition, in two volumes. Losing almost 600 pages of 2,000 represents a very substantial loss of material.
Moreover, when we examine the two editions, we discover that the 1983 edition is lavishly, indeed beautifully, illustrated ("1,100 halftone illustrations and line drawings, 405 music examples"). None of the illustrations are in color, but there is an abundance of well-chosen, functional, illuminating photos, portraits, paintings, manuscripts, figures, line drawings, plates, tables, musical examples. The new edition of 2002, alas, has virtually eschewed illustration: almost all of the illustrations of the 1983 edition have been scrapped. We get a comparative handful of musical examples and figures, but just about everything else has been eliminated; even the greatest composers aren't represented by a single likeness, whereas in the 1983 edition even lesser composers get a photo or portrait. If for example you want to understand what an accordion is, there is no substitute for a picture of one. The 1983 edition has a 4-page entry on "accordion," with photos of four different types (including a musician playing one), plus 2 explanatory diagrams. The 2002 edition has a page-length entry with no illustrative material at all. I find this a significant loss, a significant cheapening of the book, and a significant diminution in the pleasure of using it. It's revealing that Alison Latham, the 2002 editor, refers to the "wealth of illustrative material" as one of the assets of Denis Arnold's 1983 edition, but makes no mention of the fact that she has thrown out almost all of it.
But that's not all. If for example we look up "organ" in the 1983 edition, we find a truly comprehensive 20-page entry, with 20 illustrations (plates, figures, tables, drawings, photos). In the 2002 edition we find a 6-page entry with 8 figures; this represents a radical abridgment of the earlier article.
Could "organ" be an unhappy fluke? No, unfortunately it's not. I looked up "trumpet," "violin," and "piano," and found the same result in each case: a truly drastic loss of material, both text and illustration, in the new edition.
If you look up any of the hundred standard repertory operas in the 1983 edition, you find the basic facts about composer, librettist, and premiere, plus a synopsis of the action, and often an apt illustration and "Further Reading" suggestions. If you look up any of the same operas in the 2002 edition, you find a very short entry (Carmen, for example, gets three lines; Tristan und Isolde gets two lines) giving the basic facts about composer, librettist, premiere--no synopsis, no illustration, no reading list.
So you can see why the 2002 edition of this book was received with reservation, indeed with downright disappointment, by those who were familiar with the 1983 edition. Why would Oxford UP have made such Draconian changes? Well, the governing perception seems to have been that the 1983 edition, lavishly illustrated and in two volumes, had outgrown its purpose and over-reached its market. Evidently many found the two-volume format cumbersome and too expensive. The 2002 edition, by eliminating almost all of the illustrations and reducing the size to a single volume, has cheapened and abridged the book, rendered it much less attractive, and in many areas reduced its usefulness, but has made it handier and more affordable.
Does the 2002 edition have no redeeming qualities, then, but cheapness and one-volume convenience? Indeed it does have its virtues. For one, it's up-to-date. A blurb on its dustcover breathlessly claims, "Now, thirty years after the last edition, this invaluable companion is back in a completely new edition"--a barefaced falsehood: the period between the two editions was 19 years, not 30. But the new edition benefits from the scholarship of the last two decades; many new and updated articles ("over 1,000 new entries") reflect the perspective of 2002. Many articles conclude with mini-bibliographies (in both editions), and these are inevitably more current and useful in the 2002 edition.
Perhaps the most valuable feature of the new edition is the inclusion for the first time of entries not just for composers but for distinguished performing musicians. In the 1983 (and earlier) edition, there were no entries for conductors, singers, instrumentalists. In the 2002 edition you'll find entries for Toscanini, Walter, Furtwangler, Caruso, Melba, Ponselle, Melchior, Flagstad, Callas, Heifetz, Casals, Artur Rubinstein, Horowitz, Segovia, Dennis Brain, and many others. This change was overdue and certainly enhances the usefulness of the book. Many of the "over 1,000 new entries" in the 2002 edition are in this category. "Space limitations have restricted these [entries] to artists who are no longer alive and who had significant influence on composition or performance." These entries are also limited to classical musicians.
In some cases the perspective of 2002 has warranted an expanded version of a composer entry in the 1983 edition. For example, Orff, Moussorgsky, and Scriabin all get expanded treatments (but lose their portraits) in the new edition.
So, what to do; which Companion to choose? My solution is obvious but perhaps not very helpful: if you love music and like good reference books, get both. I believe the Alison Latham 2002 edition should be viewed as an updated supplement to the more substantial and lavish 1983 edition, not as a replacement. Denis Arnold's 1983 two-volume edition was the first complete revision since the original 1938 Oxford Companion to Music, edited (and largely written) by Percy Scholes; it is not perfect, but I think it represents the high-water mark of the three editions. If you have only the spartan 2002 edition, be aware that you are missing much of value and beauty in the 1983 edition. (Unfortunately I'm not the only one who has noticed that the 2002 edition is no replacement for the 1983 edition: if you check prices for used copies of the 1983 edition in the USA, you'll find that they are high.) If you own both editions, you can enjoy the best of both worlds. If I could own only one, I'd keep the 1983.
Excellent reference for those who love classical music.......2002-05-15
The Oxford Companion to Music is an excellent reference work for those who love classical music. It's probably not detailed or technical enough for most professional musicians; but those enjoy listening to the endless variety and vast range of emotions of classical music (that's a plug!) will find the OCM can considerably enhance their enjoyment.
This is a big work of 1,434 pages; but the typeface, while small, is well-chosen. It's clean and clear; even these old eyes read it with no difficulty. There are extended articles on famous conductors and all the major composers plus numerous others that you never heard of. The biographies are helpful in placing a composer's works in the context of his life. Especially helpful is a well-chosen but unannotated bibliography after most of the biographies.
There are also major articles on different forms of music, types of instruments, etc. I thought I knew a lot about the sonata form, but I know more now after reading that article. There is almost no analysis of individual works; to include them would probably have doubled the size of this work. I've used a number of classical reference works over the years, but the OCM is easily the best. It's complete enough so as not to oversimplify too drastically but not so long that "you learn more about penguins that you really want to know."
Book Description
In his lifetime Joseph Haydn enjoyed huge popularity throughout Europe. As a composer of symphonies, quartets, masses, and oratorios he was readily acknowledged by Mozart, Beethoven, and others as a commanding figure. He is one of the founding fathers of classical music, yet only in the last 50 years have his works become available in reliable editions, and much biographical detail has come to light at the same time. Meanwhile, his music is more popular today than it has been at any time since his death. This detailed, scholarly, and lively Companion draws together a wealth of biographical detail and expert analysis for the the first time in an accessible, engaging format. It covers Haydn's life and times, and his music, including its performance and reception. The Companion focuses on the period of Haydn's life (1732-1809), but extends forward to the end of the 20th century, to cover Haydn's reputation in the 19th century, attempts at complete editions, and modern scholarship. Selected feature entries cover such topics as Haydn's life and personality, major genres in which he worked, performance practice, dissemination, and the Enlightenment. The A-Z text is complemented by a full list of Haydn's works, family trees, and a list of first lines.
Customer Reviews:
A Comprehensive Guide to Haydn.......2006-08-10
David Wyn Jones, the editor of this outstanding 2002 reference work on Haydn, (1732 -- 1809), notes in his Preface that "Joseph Haydn was the last 'great' composer to be adequately served by scholarship." This book, part of the Oxford Composer Companion series, fulfills its promise of offering a comprensive guide to Haydn's life, music, and legacy based upon the most up-to-date modern scholarship. David Wyn Jones is senior lecturer in music at the University of Wales and the author of numerous books about Haydn and the Classical Era. The 900 plus entries in this volume were prepared by 41 contributors, each a Haydn scholar in their own right. This book is a treasure-trove of information about Haydn for the lover of his music.
I was drawn to this book to help me in my project, completed recently, of listening to CDs of each of Haydn's 104 numbered symphonies and preparing a survey of them in reviews on this site. Thus, the Oxford Companion includes a 34-page essay on Haydn's symphonies by Professor Simon McVeigh, Goldsmithe College, University of London. Professor McVeigh's article includes an introduction to symphonic form and traces its development from Haydn's earlist to his final works in nine carefully organized sections. Virtually every symphony is given some individual attention, as McVeigh examines the course of Haydn's symphonic writing throught the 36 years he employed it. I found this guide indespensable to my project of getting to understand Haydn's symphonies myself in some detail and preparing a survey of them to encourage others to hear them.
I supplemented the basic article on the symphony with many others from this volume, including, most basically, a long biography of the composer written by Wyn Jones. I found valuable the many articles about the intellectual climate of Haydn's day, particularly the articles on Enlightenment, Freemasonry, Sturm und Drang, and Josephism. There are articles on sonata form, the minuet, and variation which are critical to better enjoying the symphonies. The article on performance practices discusses issues in the performance of Haydn from his lifetime up to current debates. There is an excellent article treating "recordings" of Haydn's music and an essay titled "reception" by the dean of Haydn scholars, H.C. Robbins Landon on how Haydn's music has been received and assessed over the years. These are only some of the articles that were of interest to me as a heard and wrote about Haydn's symphonies.
This book gives a compelling picture of the breadth and depth of Haydn's output. It includes lengthy essays on every form in which Haydn worked including the string quartet, oratorio, piano sonata, trio, concerto opera, mass, song, baryton music and much more. Many works are discussed in individual entries. Haydn is a composer that one can stay with and love over a long period of time.
The book is over 500 pages in length and the entries are organized alphabetically. The book opens with a "thematic overview" which is an index to the entries arranged by subject matter. I found it easy to use, but those coming to the book will want to examine it to find the entries that interest them. Following the detailed entries, an appendix lists Haydn's works organized by type. This appendix impressed me as little else could with the vastness of Haydn's output. A second appendix covers individual numbers in Haydn's vocal works.
This book is essential for those wanting to do scholarly work on Haydn. But, perhaps more importantly, it will appeal to lovers of music who want to explore and enjoy the work of this great composer in depth.
Robin Friedman
Book Description
Jazz and its colorful, expansive history resonate in this unique collection of 60 essays specially-commissioned from today's top jazz performers, writers, and scholars. Contributors include such jazz insiders as Bill Crow, Samuel A. Floyd Jr., Ted Gioia, Gene Lees, Dan Morgenstern, Gunther Schuller, Richard M. Sudhalter, and Patricia Willard. Both a reference book and an engaging read, the Companion surveys the evolution of jazz from its roots in Africa and Europe until the present. Along the way, each distinctive style and period is profiled by an expert in the field. Whether your preference is ragtime, the blues, bebop, or fusion, you will find the chief characteristics and memorable performances illuminated here with a thoroughness found in no other single-volume jazz reference. The Oxford Companion to Jazz features individual biographies of the most memorable characters of this relatively young art form. Sidney Bechet, King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, and the divas of jazz song--Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Sarah Vaughan--come to life in thoughtful considerations of their influences, often turbulent personal lives, and signature styles. In addition, this book looks at the impact of jazz on American culture-in literature, film, television, and dance-and explores the essential instruments of jazz and their most memorable players. The Oxford Companion to Jazz will provide a quick reference source as well as a dynamic and broad overview for all lovers of jazz, from novices to aficionados.
Customer Reviews:
Where's Gary Giddins?.......2005-09-22
This a valuable book. How could it not be with more than 800 pages and contributions from such exemplary jazz writers as Gunther Schuler and Dan Morgenstern? But how much better a guide it would be if it also included articles by our best jazz critic, Gary Giddins. I strongly recommend Giddins's Weather Bird and Duke Ellington as supplements to this volume.
Ben Sonnenberg, New York
All About Jazz.......2005-09-20
In this 60 essay-800 page-book, you can find almost everything about jazz, from its roots to the latests developements of the music, major artists and styles, jazz and literature, jazz and film, jazz clubs, jazz in Japan... Whether you are a novice or a jazzoholic, there is a lot to learn about this wonderful music. Hundred stars!
Mohamed SOULE
A great compendium of early to mid fifties jazz!.......2005-09-08
This gets three stars due to its lack of material dealing with the current scene. The stuff on the fifties and and earlier is the main focus of this book, with some excellent discussion of particular players. It is Amerocentric, I guess thats understandable as jazz is an American idiom, but there is a lot of great jazz in Europe and Japan too.
Perhaps a better title woudl have been "The Oxford Companion to classic American Jazz."
Great for the Novice and Specialist.......2003-03-02
OK, I will be up front about this: Bill Kirchner is married to my sister. So, I am biased. He is a very nice guy and my sister is nice too. I wouldn't harm them.
Having said that, my sister (who is also a musician) may be married to the author but I know very little about jazz. I fall into the category of people who have heard about the major musicians but really do not understand improvisation; I can't read music. So, I bought this book as a family obligation and with some trepidation.
Wow! This, I can read! The articles are well written and even a jazz ignoramus like me can understand most of them. If you are a novice as I am, you will learn a lot and also be able to understand more of what you are hearing when you listen to the music. I know I want to buy more DVD's--including Bill Kirchner's, of course.
For those of you who know jazz, I am certain that some of the articles in this comprehensive book will tell you things that you never knew. Others will enhance what you already knew. This book should be in everyone's history library--and not just in the libraries of jazz fanatics--because jazz is the gift America has given to the music world and is synthesized from contributions by many of our immigrant groups.
Enjoy and listen up!
Fantastically Detailed.......2002-04-17
This a fantastic resource. It lists in nice tight graphs everything you'd want to know about jazz, except it left out some major festivals like the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Not of detail for that see Our Heritage In The making, By Brian Federico. But this has it all and its a great book to have on your end table to read the little bits that may lead you to other bits from its cross referencing notes. Good Buy for the jazz expert.
Average customer rating:
- A++ FOR EFFORT
- A unique classic
|
The Oxford Companion to Music (Oxford Reference)
Percy A. Scholes
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Reference
| Music
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Music
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Music
| Encyclopedias
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Music
| Bibliographies & Indexes
| Publishing & Books
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0193113066 |
Book Description
This is the most famous of all one-volume musical encyclopedias. It contains over a million words on all aspects of music, lucidly and entertainingly presented, and nearly a thousand illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
A++ FOR EFFORT.......2004-05-06
The extraordinary thing about this book is that its first edition was the work almost entirely of one man, Dr Percy A Scholes. He had a certain amount of clerical and secretarial help from his wife and others, but this is no kind of boiled-down version of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians. To produce a one-volume compendium of music called for a single individual with a compendious enough knowledge of the matter, and Scholes was such an individual. I cannot suppose that the legendary lexicon of classical Greek was to any comparable extent the work solely of Mr Liddell and Mr Scott, who presumably had an army of hoplites, helots and slaves to do their donkey-work. Yet music is a far bigger topic than classical Greek, or indeed than any language that I know or even can imagine.
It's in the nature of the case that any work of this type is partly out of date before it has got past the printers. A modest list of new entries is given at the start, and obviously some articles have been updated. Equally obviously, some others have not. At the time of the first edition in 1938 it was certainly true to say, as is said here, that knowledge of Handel was not advancing and possibly even declining. The revival of interest in his work was under way, but only just, at the time of Scholes's death 20 years later, but by the time of the tenth edition the transformation in that situation was well advanced, and one might have expected a drastic rewrite of that particular article. In other cases unexpected developments in our musical culture have caught the editors unawares. There has been, for instance, a remarkable increase in the recording of out of the way composers. The tenth edition has no entry at all for the 11th century abbess Hildegard of Bingen, no more than a one-line entry with cross-reference for Krumpholtz (contemporary with Mozart and specialising in music for the harp), but is rather better on William Kinloch, a composer of genuine stature I should say, who benefits from being included in an informative item on Scottish music. I own records of the work of all three, and got no help on two them from the Oxford Companion. One main purpose of a compendium like this is to provide easy access to basic data on such subjects, and if the revisers don't keep au fait with what is going on the volume will gradually become obsolete. That would be a matter of regret if so, because some of the more technical articles, notably as far as I am concerned the piece on temperament (aka tuning) and I am sure also the corresponding piece on tonic-sol-fa if I could have overcome my reluctance to wade through that tedious topic, are absolutely excellent. I got a sharp reminder of how quickly the situation can change when my eye lighted on an entry for `Glastonbury'. As I had expected, the cross-reference was to something totally unconnected with the great annual pop festival there. Whether the very latest update to the Companion has struggled to draw abreast of that I don't know, but if it has it will only be in time to be out of date again, as there's going to be Wagner as well as Will Young and the rest of them at Glastonbury this year.
Where the book also risks obsolescence is in some of the attitudes involved. Four major composers that I know of - Schubert, Schumann, Wolf and Delius - died through syphilis either directly or in a major contributory way. The subject is delicately avoided, and indeed in the case of Schumann the article reads as if the author didn't even know. Again, I'm not sure how well up he was in the final chapter of Tchaikovsky's life. For everyone's benefit, what really happened was that Tchaikovsky had been given an ultimatum by his former academy associates either to top himself or they were going to out him to the Tsar for his homosexuality. To treat this kind of thing as unmentionable in this day and age is just going to bring ridicule on a work that deserves better.
As I see it, the natural public for this book consists of comparatively well-informed amateurs, such as myself. What I find in it is some really excellent background material on a very good range of topics, and I'm all the way with Scholes in seeing the single-volume format as a basic requirement. It's not the job of a work like this to say the last word on anything in particular, although for all I know it may in many cases do just that. Keeping it up to date is important too, but I still recommend prospective purchasers to buy at bargain prices whether or not they are buying the very latest edition - it's not likely to make a great deal of difference. In many respects books are still a lot more convenient than the web is, not to say a lot more personal, and long may it be so.
A unique classic.......2000-06-20
Scholes has produced a 1-volume encyclopedia of music that is not only comprehensive and informative but (unlike many music dictionaries and encyclopedias) fun to read. He does not shy away from opinion and his personal quirks are part of the charm. Tidbits such as the (speculative?) etymology of "basset horn" are found here and practically nowehere else. Oriented mostly to classical or "serious" music, although pop music and jazz are not ignored. While a bit dated given its 1938 copyright, updates in 1955 and 1970 have allowed good coverage of such important 20th-century figures as Bartok and Hindemith.
Average customer rating:
|
The Concise Oxford Companion to American Theatre (Oxford Paperback Reference)
Gerald Bordman
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Theater
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Musicals
| Musical Genres
| Music
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
Nephrology
| Internal Medicine
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
Nephrology
| Internal Medicine
| Medicine
| Medical
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Drama
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0195063279 |
Book Description
When Gerald Bordman's Oxford Companion to American Theatre appeared in 1984, critics and the general public highly praised it, including the distinguished actor Jose Ferrer who proclaimed, "I'm in awe of the scholarship and research that have gone into the making of this book." The book
quickly established itself as the standard one-volume resource on the American stage.
Now Bordman gives us an abridgement of his massive original volume, eliminating many entries on minor plays and figures but preserving the articles of the widest general interest. Containing over two thousand entries, it presents hundreds of biographical sketches and summaries of individual
plays which cover the major achievements of playwrights Eugene O'Neill, Clifford Odets, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, and many more. The volume also includes entries on performers ranging from Edwin Booth to John Barrymore, and from Jessica Tandy to James Earl Jones. It offers extensive treatment
of that most American of theatrical forms, the musical, and of the often neglected achievements of the nineteenth century. In addition, this volume updates information on contemporary topics and includes a number of new articles.
Affordable, compact, and eminently "companionable," this work retains those qualities of erudition and entertainment that so distinguished the parent volume and makes them available to a much wider readership.
Books:
- The Norton Anthology of Western Literature, Volume 2
- The Norton Recordings: Gregorian Chant to Beethoven (Norton Recordings for the Norton Scores & Enjoyment of Music)
- The Oxford Dictionary of Music
- The Pride and the Pressure: A Season Inside the New York Yankee Fishbowl
- The Real Deal: A Spiritual Guide for Black Teen Girls
- The Secret
- The Secret (Unabridged, 4-CD Set)
- The Technique of my Musical Language (Bibliotheque-Leduc)
- The Voices That are Gone: Themes in Nineteenth-Century American Popular Song
- The Voices That are Gone: Themes in Nineteenth-Century American Popular Song
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- An Introduction to Foreign Exchange & Money Markets
- The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
- Pocket Strategy: The Essentials of Business Strategy from A to Z
- Population: An Introduction to Concepts and Issues
- Tarzan: The Broadway Adventure
- The Road to Disunion: Volume I: Secessionists at Bay, 1776-1854
- Salmon Without Rivers: A History Of The Pacific Salmon Crisis
- Winning the Insurance Game, The Complete Consumer's Guide to Saving Money
- Personal Portfolio Management: Fundamentals and Strategies
- Cost Management in the New Manufacturing Age: Innovations in the Japanese Automobile Industry
