William Billings: Data and Documents (Bibliographies in American Music, Number Two)

Arts & Photography

Nathan, Hans

Music

The College Music Society

The College Music Society is pleased to present the second volume of the Cultural Expressions in Music monograph series. In this second volume, Dr. John O. Robison provides the most comprehensive information available on the lives and music of forty-two of the world's most significant Korean women composers born between 1931 and 1971. Through biographies and musical analyses, Korean Women Composers and Their Music makes an important contribution to our understanding of thee important composers, one that will be equally beneficial to scholars, composers, and performers.

Korean Women Composers and Their Music (Cultural Expressions in Music) [Apr 12, 2013] Robison, John O.

John Robison

It is probably safe to contend that the reception history of Adagio for Strings (1934) by American composer Samuel Barber (1910-1981) is unmatched. It has, of course, achieved canonical status in the three versions prepared by its composer-for string quartet, string orchestra, and mixed chorus. In addition, its broad appeal to classical music lovers as well as to members of the general public has resulted in an array of transcriptions and arrangements. But what becomes ultimately compelling is the spectrum of social contexts where this particular music can be heard and has been enthusiastically embraced: in the discotheque and on the modern dance stage, at the movie theater and on television, during memorial services and demonstrations of patriotism, at rock concerts and the circus, in therapy sessions and scientific research, at figure-skating competitions and other sporting events, at weddings and funerals, and on the Internet. In 2011 over 29,000 hits for Adagio for Strings could be found on YouTube alone. There are fascinating connections to poetry and fiction, paintings and sculpture, ring tones and crossword puzzles. Wayne Wentzel's study of this beloved work represents the most exhaustive consideration to date. He not only provides a well documented account of its birth and infancy but its adolescence-when it moved beyond the expected concert setting-and its maturity- when it became a pervasive feature of Western culture in both its cultivated and popular realms. Musical analysis and references to a host of testimonials and assessments are bolstered by discographical and bibliographical reports. Professor Wentzel concludes the volume with thoughtful speculation on the meaning of Barber's masterpiece and wrestles with inevitable and yet controversial questions: Is it American? Is it sad? Is it gay? And, after more that seventy-five years, is it trite? A compact disc presenting an assortment of performances accompanies the text.

The Adagio of Samuel Barber (CMS Sourcebooks in American Music)

Wayne C. Wentzel

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