Gathers lyrics and music for hundreds of folksongs from the American frontier

Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads

Literature & Fiction

Lomax, John A.

Lomax, Alan

Dramas & Plays

Schirmer Reference

The United States Energy Atlas

Cuff, David J.

Young, William J.

Business & Money

The Story of Rock `N' Roll: The Year-By-Year Illustrated Chronicle

Arts & Photography

Music

The SAT II Math tests are college entrance exams taken by nearly 200,000 students each year. Newly updated, this popular guide is brimming with all the instruction, examples, and practice, test-takers need to score high--and win admission to a first-choice school. Features include sample tests with solutions, topic review of all subjects tested, and more.

Preparation for the Sat II: Math Level Ic-IIC

Test Preparation

Bramson, Morris

College & High School

A guide to preparing for the firefighter's exam includes with detailed explanatory answers and two sample physical tests

Everything You Need to Score High on Firefighter

Andriuolo, Robert

Professional

The Gramophone Classical Catalogue 1996

"I cannot bear the tragedy of the present time," wrote Richard Strauss in 1924. "I want to create joy. I need it." In a career that extended from the age of Wagner and Brahms to the middle of the twentieth century, Strauss wrote music that kept alive the German Romantic ideals of melody and emotional expressiveness. Among his fifteen operas are the beloved Der Rosenkavalier with its bittersweet evocation of bygone days in imperial Vienna, the ingenious Ariadne auf Naxos, and other works that hold the stage to this day. His brilliant tone poems for orchestra include such staples of the repertory as Death and Transfiguration, Don Juan, Ein Heldenleben, Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, and Also sprach Zarathustra - source of the famous "sunrise" music used in the film 2001. A distinguished composer of songs, chamber music, and ballets as well, Strauss was also one of the outstanding conductors of his time, directing opera companies in Weimar, Munich, Berlin, and Vienna. In his young manhood, Strauss was regarded by many as a leader of the dissonant avant-garde; his early operas Salome and Elektra feature a harmonic vocabulary that ventures to the brink of the atonal, as well as subject matter considered scandalous at the time. But by the 1930s, Strauss's refusal to follow in the footsteps of Schoenberg and the modernists had led to his being written off as a reactionary. Michael Kennedy challenges this verdict with a comprehensive appreciation of Strauss's music and an evenhanded assessment of his life, including his tempestuous marriage to Pauline de Ahna and his controversial relationship with the Nazi regime. Contradicting the received opinion that Strauss's genius declined after Der Rosenkavalier, this authoritative study makes the case for Strauss as a key figure in the history of the last hundred years of music, widely misrepresented and misunderstood.

Richard Strauss (Master Musicians Series)

Biographies & Memoirs

KENNEDY, Michael

Arts & Literature

The twenty-six operas of Giuseppe Verdi are among the world's best-loved music. In works such as Rigoletto, Il trovatore, La traviata, and Aida, Verdi developed the musical language of Romanticism in a way that still speaks to listeners around the world. Born in 1813 in a village near Parma, Verdi was the son of an obscure innkeeper. His musical talent was soon obvious, and at the age of nine he became the organist at the village church. Denied entrance to the conservatory in Milan, he studied privately instead and soon had an opera accepted for production at La Scala. His third opera, Nabucco, made him famous throughout Italy; with his fifth, Ernani, he became a celebrity throughout Europe and his career was on its way. At the height of his success came works like Il trovatore, the most popular opera all over the world for the better part of the 1850's. Tragedy struck early in Verdi's life when he lost his young wife and both children to illness within a three-year period. Later, he became involved with the singer Giuseppina Strepponi and scandalized provincial society by living with her for ten years before they married. But above all else, the story of Verdi's life is the story of his work; he was still challenging himself to expand his artistic horizons at the age of 79, when he completed his last opera, Falstaff. Julian Budden's Verdi first traces the composer's life story, then provides illuminating commentary on each of the works. Appendices include a chronology, a list of works, a "who's who", and a select bibliography. A special feature of Verdi is a glossary of nineteenth-century opera terms, explaining words such as "cabaletta" and "cavatina" that are often used in writing about opera but seldom clearly defined.

Verdi (Master Musicians Series)

BUDDEN, Julian

In addition to material on the history, development, & characteristics of each musical instrument, this oversize, well-illustrated book gives a history of music-making, plus coverage of composers & performers.

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Musical Instruments

Reference

Encyclopedias & Subject Guides

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)

Samson, Jim

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