From Frederic Chopin's birth in Poland and eventful flight in the wake of the Polish rebellion against the Russians, through his life in Paris and his ill-fated love affair with George Sand, until his eventual death of tuberculosis, this latest entry in the popular Master Musician Series examines the life and work of the great pianist and composer. 16 photos. 47 music examples.

Chopin (Master Musicians Series)

Biographies & Memoirs

Samson, Jim

Arts & Literature

Schirmer Reference

The lasting popularity of Chopin's music has reached "from salon to slum" He captured and expressed the spirit of the age of Romanticism, its ardour and idealism, its longing and restlessness, its love of spontaneity, with an authority his contemporaries immediately recognized and which successive generations have admired and loved. Much of the Chopin literature in English is biographical, but this book is a critical study of the music itself and of the creative process which is central to the life of any composer. Samson provides a detailed analysis of the style and structure of the music in the light of recent Chopin scholarship on the one hand and recent analytical methods on the other. The early chapters deal mainly with the sources and the characteristic profile of Chopin's musical style, relating his music to a wider context in social and stylistic history. Later chapters look rather at the structure of his music and how it functions, with many examples highlighting the discussion.

The Music of Chopin (Clarendon Paperbacks)

Arts & Photography

Music

Clarendon Press

Chopin (Composers Across Cultures)

This new book in the Master Musicians series interweaves biographical and musical commentary to produce a well-rounded portrait of Chopin the man and the musician. Avoiding complex technical language, Jim Samson addresses such questions as pedagogy, musical influences, and pianistic idiom. He examines the composer's mature musical style, considers his unique approach to the genres of nineteenth-century piano music, and investigates the nature of his compositional process as revealed through manuscripts and early printed scores. In reading the book we begin to understand why this frail and fastidious musician from Warsaw, whose music is so immensely refined and innovatory, has captured the imagination of generations of music lovers the world over.

Oxford Univ. Pr.

Celebrating its 100th anniversary, this extraordinary series continues to amaze and captivate its readers with detailed insight into the lives and work of music's geniuses. Unlike other composer biographies that focus narrowly on the music, this series explores the personal history of each composer and the social context surrounding the music. In a precise, engaging, and authoritative manner, each volume combines a vivid portrait of the master musicians' inspirations, influences, life experiences, even their weaknesses, with an accessible discussion of their work-all in roughly 300 pages. Further, each volume offers superb reference material, including a detailed life and times chronology, a complete list of works, a personalia glossary highlighting the important people in the composer's life, and a select bibliography. Under the supervision of music expert and series general editor Stanley Sadie, Master Musicians will certainly proceed to delight music scholars, serious musicians, and all music lovers for another hundred years. In this profound look at Chopin, Jim Samson interweaves biographical and musical commentary to produce a well-rounded portrait the man and the musician. Incorporating the most recent research, it succeeds in presenting it without recourse to unduly complex technical language. Samson addresses such questions as pedagogy, musical influences, and pianistic idiom. He examines the composer's mature musical style, considers his unique approach to the genres of nineteenth-century piano music, and investigates the nature of his compositional process as revealed through manuscripts and early printed scores. Readers to understand why this frail and fastidious musician from Warsaw, whose music is so immensely refined and innovatory, has captured the imagination of generations of music lovers the world over.

Oxford University Press

Black Sea Sketches is a portrait of some of the diverse musical cultures surrounding the Black Sea and in its hinterlands. Its six separate chapters follow a very broad trajectory from close-ups of traditional music (chapters 1-4) towards wide-angle studies of art music (chapters 5-6), and each of them opens windows to big, border-crossing themes about music and place. A wide variety of repertoires is discussed: ancient layers of polyphonic music, bardic songs, traditional music from the coasts and mountains, the sacred music of Islam and Orthodox Christianity, the art music of Europe and West Asia, and present-day popular music ‘scenes’. The usual practice is for each chapter to begin with a Black Sea coastal location before reaching out into the hinterlands. The result is a collection of six relatively discrete essays on different locations and topics, but with underlying thematic continuities, and offering a wide-ranging commentary on cultural difference. Firmly grounded in ethnographic and documentary research, this is an important study for scholars and researchers of Ethnomusicology, as also of Caucasian and Russian/East European Studies.

Black Sea Sketches (Slavonic and East European Music Studies)

Reference

Routledge

Music in Cyprus

Demetriou, Nicoletta

History & Criticism

Black Sea Sketches is a portrait of some of the diverse musical cultures surrounding the Black Sea and in its hinterlands. Its six separate chapters follow a very broad trajectory from close-ups of traditional music (chapters 1-4) towards wide-angle studies of art music (chapters 5-6), and each of them opens windows to big, border-crossing themes about music and place. A wide variety of repertoires is discussed: ancient layers of polyphonic music, bardic songs, traditional music from the coasts and mountains, the sacred music of Islam and Orthodox Christianity, the art music of Europe and West Asia, and present-day popular music 'scenes'. The usual practice is for each chapter to begin with a Black Sea coastal location before reaching out into the hinterlands. The result is a collection of six relatively discrete essays on different locations and topics, but with underlying thematic continuities, and offering a wide-ranging commentary on cultural difference. Firmly grounded in ethnographic and documentary research, this is an important study for scholars and researchers of Ethnomusicology, as also of Caucasian and Russian/East European Studies.

The decades from 1900 to 1920 saw important changes in the very language of music.  Traditional tonal organization gave way to new forms of musical expression and many of the foundations of modern music were laid. Samson first explores tonal expansion in the music of such nineteenth-century composers as Liszt and Wagner and its reinterpretation in the music of Debussy, Busoni, Bartók, and Stravinsky. He then traces the atonal revolution, revealing the various paths taken by Schoenberg and his followers and describing their very different stylistic development.

Music in transition: A study of tonal expansion and atonality, 1900-1920

Norton

Music in Transition: A Study of Tonal Expansion and Atonality, 1900-1920

Dent

The decades from 1900 to 1920 saw important changes in the very language of music. Traditional tonal organization gave way to new forms of musical expression and many of the foundations of modern music were laid. Samson first explores tonal expansion in the music of such nineteenth-century composers as Liszt and Wagner and its reinterpretation in the music of Debussy, Busoni, Bartók, and Stravinsky. He then traces the atonal revolution, revealing the various paths taken by Schoenberg and his followers and describing their very different stylistic development.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Samson, Jim. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Samson, Jim

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Samson, Jim. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Chopin (Master Musicians Series)

The Music of Chopin (Clarendon Paperbacks)

Chopin (Master Musicians Series)

Chopin (Composers Across Cultures)

Black Sea Sketches (Slavonic and East European Music Studies)

Music in Cyprus

Black Sea Sketches (Slavonic and East European Music Studies)

Music in transition: A study of tonal expansion and atonality, 1900-1920

Music in Transition: A Study of Tonal Expansion and Atonality, 1900-1920

Music in Transition: A Study of Tonal Expansion and Atonality, 1900-1920