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Musicology and Musical Analysis

Works Count: 204013

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This cluster of papers covers a wide range of topics related to the historical and theoretical study of music, including musicology, musical theory, performance practice, historical analysis, cultural context, ethnomusicology, music criticism, musical narrative, mathematics of music, and opera studies. The papers explore various aspects of music from different time periods and cultural contexts, delving into the complexities of musical composition, performance, and reception.

Keywords

Musicology; Musical Theory; Performance Practice; Historical Analysis; Cultural Context; Ethnomusicology; Music Criticism; Musical Narrative; Mathematics of Music; Opera Studies

Forms: whole, rhythm, hierarchy, network

2015-05-20

Caroline Levine

Preface ix Acknowldgements xv I Introduction The Affordances of Form 1 II Whole 42 III Rhythm 49 IV Hierarchy 82 V Network 112 VI The Wire 132 Notes 151 Index … Preface ix Acknowldgements xv I Introduction The Affordances of Form 1 II Whole 42 III Rhythm 49 IV Hierarchy 82 V Network 112 VI The Wire 132 Notes 151 Index 169

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians

1981-09-01

Susan T. Sommer , William Morris , Virgil Thomson +2 more

Style and music: theory, history, and ideology

1990-06-01

Leonard B. Meyer

Preface Pt. I: Theory 1: Toward a Theory of Style 2: Style Analysis Pt. II: History, Innovation, and Choice 3: Thoughts Ahout History 4: Innovation - Reasons and Sources 5: … Preface Pt. I: Theory 1: Toward a Theory of Style 2: Style Analysis Pt. II: History, Innovation, and Choice 3: Thoughts Ahout History 4: Innovation - Reasons and Sources 5: Choice and Replication Pt. III: Music and Ideology: A Sketch-History of Nineteenth-Century Music 6: Romanticism - The Ideology of Elite Egalitarians 7: Convention Disguised - Nature Affirmed 8: Syntax, Form, and Unity Epilogue: The Persistence of Romanticism Bibliography of Works Cited Index Index of Musical Examples

Musical exoticism: images and reflections

2009-11-01

Ralph P. Locke

Part I: 1. Music, the world, and the critic 2. Questions of value 3. Exoticism with and without exotic style 4. Who is 'Us'?: the national and/as the exotic, and … Part I: 1. Music, the world, and the critic 2. Questions of value 3. Exoticism with and without exotic style 4. Who is 'Us'?: the national and/as the exotic, and the treatment of stereotypes Part II: 5. Baroque portrayals of despots: ancient Babylon, Incan Peru 6. A world of exotic styles, 1750-1880 7. Exotic operas and two Spanish 'Gypsies' 8. Imperialism and 'the exotic Orient' 9. Exoticism in a modernist age (ca. 1890-1960) 10. Exoticism in a global age (ca. 1960 to today) 11. Epilogue: exotic works of the past, today.

On late style: music and literature against the grain

2007-02-01

Edward W. Said

On Late Style examines the work produced by great artists - Beethoven, Thomas Mann, Jean Genet among them - at the end of their lives. Said makes it clear that, … On Late Style examines the work produced by great artists - Beethoven, Thomas Mann, Jean Genet among them - at the end of their lives. Said makes it clear that, rather than the resolution of a lifetime's artistic endeavour, most of the late works discussed are rife with contradiction and almost impenetrable complexity. He helps us see how, though these works often stood in direct contrast to the tastes of society, they were, just as often, announcements of what was to come in the artist's discipline - works of true artistic genius.

On the Well-Posedness of the Kirchhoff String

1996-01-01

Alberto Arosio , Stefano Panizzi

Let us consider the Cauchy problem for the quasilinear hyperbolic integro-differential equation <disp-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="StartLayout 1st Row 1st Column u Subscript t t Baseline minus m left-parenthesis integral … Let us consider the Cauchy problem for the quasilinear hyperbolic integro-differential equation <disp-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="StartLayout 1st Row 1st Column u Subscript t t Baseline minus m left-parenthesis integral Underscript Subscript partial-differential normal upper Omega Baseline Endscripts StartAbsoluteValue nabla Subscript x Baseline u EndAbsoluteValue squared d x right-parenthesis delta Subscript x Baseline u equals f left-parenthesis x comma t right-parenthesis 2nd Column a m p semicolon 3rd Column a m p semicolon 4th Column a m p semicolon left-parenthesis x element-of normal upper Omega comma t greater-than 0 right-parenthesis comma 2nd Row 1st Column u left-parenthesis dot comma t right-parenthesis Subscript vertical-bar partial-differential normal upper Omega Baseline equals 0 2nd Column a m p semicolon 3rd Column a m p semicolon 4th Column a m p semicolon left-parenthesis t greater-than-or-equal-to 0 right-parenthesis comma EndLayout"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mtable columnalign="right left right left right left right left right left right left" rowspacing="3pt" columnspacing="0em 2em 0em 2em 0em 2em 0em 2em 0em 2em 0em" side="left" displaystyle="true"> <mml:mtr> <mml:mtd> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>u</mml:mi> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi>t</mml:mi> <mml:mi>t</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:msub> <mml:mo>∫</mml:mo> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi/> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">∂</mml:mi> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">Ω</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mo stretchy="false">|</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">∇</mml:mi> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi>x</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mi>u</mml:mi> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mo stretchy="false">|</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mspace width="thinmathspace"/> <mml:mi>d</mml:mi> <mml:mi>x</mml:mi> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>δ</mml:mi> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi>x</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mi>u</mml:mi> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mi>f</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:mi>x</mml:mi> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:mi>t</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> </mml:mtd> <mml:mtd> <mml:mi>a</mml:mi> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> <mml:mi>p</mml:mi> <mml:mo>;</mml:mo> </mml:mtd> <mml:mtd> <mml:mi>a</mml:mi> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> <mml:mi>p</mml:mi> <mml:mo>;</mml:mo> </mml:mtd> <mml:mtd> <mml:mi>a</mml:mi> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> <mml:mi>p</mml:mi> <mml:mo>;</mml:mo> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:mi>x</mml:mi> <mml:mo>∈</mml:mo> <mml:mspace width="thinmathspace"/> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">Ω</mml:mi> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:mi>t</mml:mi> <mml:mo>></mml:mo> <mml:mn>0</mml:mn> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> </mml:mtd> </mml:mtr> <mml:mtr> <mml:mtd> <mml:mi>u</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:mo>⋅</mml:mo> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:mi>t</mml:mi> <mml:msub> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mo stretchy="false">|</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">∂</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">Ω</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0</mml:mn> </mml:mtd> <mml:mtd> <mml:mi>a</mml:mi> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> <mml:mi>p</mml:mi> <mml:mo>;</mml:mo> </mml:mtd> <mml:mtd> <mml:mi>a</mml:mi> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> <mml:mi>p</mml:mi> <mml:mo>;</mml:mo> </mml:mtd> <mml:mtd> <mml:mi>a</mml:mi> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> <mml:mi>p</mml:mi> <mml:mo>;</mml:mo> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:mi>t</mml:mi> <mml:mo>≥</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0</mml:mn> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> </mml:mtd> </mml:mtr> </mml:mtable> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">\begin{align*} u_{tt} - 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We prove the well-posedness in the Hadamard sense (existence, uniqueness and continuous dependence of the local solution upon the initial data) in Sobolev spaces of low order.

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Perspectives of New Music

1963-01-01

Richmond Browne , Arthur Berger , Benjamin Boretz

Philosophy of Modern Music

1976-01-01

William E. Webster , Theodor W. Adorno

Translator's Introduction Preface Introduction Schoenberg and Progress Stravinsky and Restoration Notes. Translator's Introduction Preface Introduction Schoenberg and Progress Stravinsky and Restoration Notes.

THE FIRST AND SECOND BRANCHIAL ARCH SYNDROME

1965-11-01

William C. Grabb

Unsung Voices: Opera and Musical Narrative in the Nineteenth Century

1991-12-31

Carolyn Abbate

Who "speaks" to us in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, in Wagner's operas, in a Mahler symphony? In asking this question, Carolyn Abbate opens nineteenth-century operas and instrumental works to new interpretations … Who "speaks" to us in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, in Wagner's operas, in a Mahler symphony? In asking this question, Carolyn Abbate opens nineteenth-century operas and instrumental works to new interpretations as she explores the voices projected by music. The nineteenth-century metaphor of music that "sings" is thus reanimated in a new context, and Abbate proposes interpretive strategies that "de-center" music criticism, that seek the polyphony and dialogism of music, and that celebrate musical gestures often marginalized by conventional music analysis.

Music—Drastic or Gnostic?

2004-03-01

Carolyn Abbate

The Oxford History of Western Music

2006-04-01

Daniel Harrison

Review Article| April 01 2006 The Oxford History of Western Music Richard Taruskin The Oxford History of Western Music; Oxford University Press, 2004: 6 vols., xxxiii+854+758+830+826+557+329 ($699.00 cloth) Daniel Harrison … Review Article| April 01 2006 The Oxford History of Western Music Richard Taruskin The Oxford History of Western Music; Oxford University Press, 2004: 6 vols., xxxiii+854+758+830+826+557+329 ($699.00 cloth) Daniel Harrison Daniel Harrison Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal of Music Theory (2006) 50 (1): 128–139. https://doi.org/10.1215/00222909-2008-011 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Daniel Harrison; The Oxford History of Western Music. Journal of Music Theory 1 April 2006; 50 (1): 128–139. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/00222909-2008-011 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search Books & JournalsAll JournalsJournal of Music Theory Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © 2008 by Yale University2008 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal Issue Section: Reviews You do not currently have access to this content.

The classical style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven

1997-07-01

Charles Rosen

This outstanding book treating the three most beloved composers of the Vienna School is basic to any study of Classical-era music. Drawing on his rich experience and intimate familiarity with … This outstanding book treating the three most beloved composers of the Vienna School is basic to any study of Classical-era music. Drawing on his rich experience and intimate familiarity with the works of these giants, Charles Rosen presents his keen insights in clear and persuasive language.

Text and act: essays on music and performance

1996-02-01

Richard Taruskin

Gathers together for the first time Taruskin's influential and insightful essays and articles on musical performance practice written over the past decade. Links issues in musical performance with wider cultural … Gathers together for the first time Taruskin's influential and insightful essays and articles on musical performance practice written over the past decade. Links issues in musical performance with wider cultural scene. Author's highly respected and controversial viewpoints and reputation will spark intellectual debate in the musical field. Text and Act, a collection of essays and reviews, published over the last dozen years, offers a brilliant evaluation of the movement, transforming the debate about early music and authenticity. Demolishing the argument that the movement to revive instruments and performance practices represents the recovery of an ancient truth or a reinstatement of a lost tradition, these writings show that the movement actually represents the triumph of a modernist esthetic - and consequently that period performances are in fact the only truly modern performances of classical on offer. Yet far from impugning the movement's claim to authenticity, Taruskin argues that as the only truly contemporary performance practice, early music is authentic in a much more profound and relevant sense than a mere historical verisimilitude could ever be. These essays cast fresh light on many aspects of contemporary music-making and music-thinking, with lighthearted debunking taking its place alongside impassioned argumentation. A wide-ranging, newly written introduction explores the relationship between issues surrounding musical performance and other areas of contemporary intellectual ferment in the humanities and the social sciences, including philosophy, law, history, and anthropology. Bringing his considerable skills as a scholar and a performer to bear on the situation, Taruskin's essays, ranging from theoretical speculation to practical criticism, cover a repertory that includes Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Stravinsky.

Contemplating Music: Challenges to Musicology

1989-01-01

James Porter , Joseph Kerman

1. Introduction 2. and Positivism: the Postwar Years 3. Analysis, Theory, and New Music 4. and Criticism 5. Ethnomusicology and Cultural Musicology 6. The Historical Performance Movement 7. Coda Notes … 1. Introduction 2. and Positivism: the Postwar Years 3. Analysis, Theory, and New Music 4. and Criticism 5. Ethnomusicology and Cultural Musicology 6. The Historical Performance Movement 7. Coda Notes Main Works Cited Index

The Sight of Sound: Music Representation and the History of the Body

1994-03-01

Steve Sweeney‐Turner , Richard Leppert

Preface and Acknowledgments Translator's Note Abbreviations Introduction (by Richard Leppert) 1. Locating Music: Society, Modernity, and the New Commentary (by Richard Leppert) Music, Language, and Composition (1956) Why Is the … Preface and Acknowledgments Translator's Note Abbreviations Introduction (by Richard Leppert) 1. Locating Music: Society, Modernity, and the New Commentary (by Richard Leppert) Music, Language, and Composition (1956) Why Is the New Art So Hard to Understand?* (1931) On the Contemporary Relationship of Philosophy and Music* (1953) On the Problem of Musical Analysis (1969) The Aging of the New Music (1955) The Dialectical Composer* (1934) 2. Culture, Technology, and Listening Commentary (by Richard Leppert) The Radio Symphony (1941) The Curves of the Needle (1927/1965) The Form of the Phonograph Record (1934) Opera and the Long-Playing Record (1969) On the Fetish-Character in Music and the Regression of Listening (1938) Little Heresy* (1965) 3. Music and Mass Culture Commentary (by Richard Leppert) What National Socialism Has Done to the Arts (1945) On the Social Situation in Music (1932) On Popular Music [With the assistance of George Simpson] (1941) On Jazz (1936) Farewell to Jazz* (1933) Kitsch* (c. 1932) Music in the Background* (c. 1934) 4. Composition, Composers, and Works Commentary (by Richard Leppert) Late Style in Beethoven (1937) Alienated Masterpiece: The Missa Solemnis (1959) Wagner's Relevance for Today (1963) Mahler Today* (1930) Marginala on Mahler* (1936) The Opera Wozzeck* (1929) Toward an Understanding of Schoenberg* (1955/1967) Difficulties* (1964, 1966) Bibliography Index An asterisk (*) following a title indicates that the essay is here translated into English for the first time.

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Music and Society: The Politics of Composition, Performance and Reception.

1988-09-01

K. Peter Etzkorn , Richard Leppert , Susan McClary

List of illustrations Introduction Acknowledgments Foreword: the ideology of autonomous art Janet Wolff 1. The blasphemy of talking politics Bach Year Susan McClary 2. Music, domestic life and cultural chauvinism: … List of illustrations Introduction Acknowledgments Foreword: the ideology of autonomous art Janet Wolff 1. The blasphemy of talking politics Bach Year Susan McClary 2. Music, domestic life and cultural chauvinism: images of British subjects at home in India Richard Leppert 3. On grounding Chopin Rose Rosengard Subotnik 4. Towards an aesthetic of popular music Simon Frith 5. Music and male hegemony John Shepherd 6. The sound of music in the era of its electronic reproducibility John Mowitt Index.

The Cambridge History of Western Music Theory

2002-04-25

Thomas Christensen

The Cambridge History of Western Music Theory is the first comprehensive history of Western music theory to be published in the English language. A collaborative project by leading music theorists … The Cambridge History of Western Music Theory is the first comprehensive history of Western music theory to be published in the English language. A collaborative project by leading music theorists and historians, the volume traces the rich panorama of music-theoretical thought from the Ancient Greeks to the present day. Recognizing the variety and complexity of music theory as an historical subject, the volume has been organized within a flexible framework. Some chapters are defined chronologically within a restricted historical domain, whilst others are defined conceptually and span longer historical periods. Together the thirty-one chapters present a synthetic overview of the fascinating and complex subject that is historical music theory. Richly enhanced with illustrations, graphics, examples and cross-citations as well as being thoroughly indexed and supplemented by comprehensive bibliographies of the most important primary and secondary literature, this book will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars alike.

Tonal Consonance and Critical Bandwidth

1965-10-01

R. Plomp , Willem J. M. Levelt

Firstly, theories are reviewed on the explanation of tonal consonance as the singular nature of tone intervals with frequency ratios corresponding with small integer numbers. An evaluation of these explanations … Firstly, theories are reviewed on the explanation of tonal consonance as the singular nature of tone intervals with frequency ratios corresponding with small integer numbers. An evaluation of these explanations in the light of some experimental studies supports the hypothesis, as promoted by von Helmholtz, that the difference between consonant and dissonant intervals is related to beats of adjacent partials. This relation was studied more fully by experiments in which subjects had to judge simple-tone intervals as a function of test frequency and interval width. The results may be considered as a modification of von Helmholtz's conception and indicate that, as a function of frequency, the transition range between consonant and dissonant intervals is related to critical bandwidth. Simple-tone intervals are evaluated as consonant for frequency differences exceeding this bandwidth. whereas the most dissonant intervals correspond with frequency differences of about a quarter of this bandwidth. On the base of these results, some properties of consonant intervals consisting of complex tones are explained. To answer the question whether critical bandwidth also plays a rôle in music, the chords of two compositions (parts of a trio sonata of J. S. Bach and of a string quartet of A. Dvořák) were analyzed by computing interval distributions as a function of frequency and number of harmonics taken into account. The results strongly suggest that, indeed, critical bandwidth plays an important rôle in music: for a number of harmonics representative for musical instruments, the “density” of simultaneous partials alters as a function of frequency in the same way as critical bandwidth does.

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The Imaginary Museum of Musical Works: An Essay in the Philosophy of Music

1993-01-01

Edward A. Lippman , Lydia Goehr

What is involved in the composition, performance, and reception of classical music? What are we doing when we listen to this music seriously? Why when playing a Beethoven sonata do … What is involved in the composition, performance, and reception of classical music? What are we doing when we listen to this music seriously? Why when playing a Beethoven sonata do performers begin with the first note indicated in the score; why don't they feel free to improvise around the sonata's central theme? Why, finally, does it go against tradition for an audience at a concert of classical music to tap its feet? Bound up in these questions is the overriding question of what it means philosophically, musically and historically for musicians to speak about music in terms of 'works'. Lydia Goehr describes how the concept of a musical work emerged, as late as 1800, and subsequently defined the norms, expectations, and behavioural patterns that have come to characterize classical musical practice. The description is set in the context of a more general philosophical account of the rise and fall of concepts and ideals, and of their normative functions; at the same time, current debates amongst conductors, early-music performers, and avant-guardists are addressed. 'This is a brilliant and fascinating book...a book to be read by anyone interested in music and concerned for the health of our culture. ' - Gabriel Josipovici, Music and Letters. 'One of the most exciting books on music to appear for a long time...exceptional, clearly the product of a fresh, imaginative, lucid mind...the style is elegant and the argument neatly and persuasively constructed. The book is eminently readable and at the same time exhilarating for the way in which it stimulates the mind...This book cannot fail to be essential reading for a long time to come...with this volume we have a feast par excellence!' - Rosamund McGuinness, Times Higher Educational Supplement. 'Goehr's position and discussion are sober, carefully reasoned, clearly set out, and remarkably persuasive.' - Choice. 'Proceeds with exemplary clarity' - Ruth Solie, Notes.

Thinking in jazz: the infinite art of improvisation

1995-02-01

List of Figures List of Music Texts Acknowledgments Introduction: Picking Notes out of Thin Air? Improvisation and Its Study Ch. 1: Love at First Sound: Early Musical Environment Ch. 2: … List of Figures List of Music Texts Acknowledgments Introduction: Picking Notes out of Thin Air? Improvisation and Its Study Ch. 1: Love at First Sound: Early Musical Environment Ch. 2: Hangin' Out and Jammin': The Jazz Community as an Educational System Ch. 3: A Very Structured Thing: Jazz Compositions as Vehicles for Improvisation Ch. 4: Getting Your Vocabulary Straight: Learning Models for Solo Formulation Ch. 5: Seeing Out a Bit: Expanding upon Early Influences Ch. 6: The More Ways You Have of Thinking: Conventional Rhythmic and Theoretical Improvisation Approaches Ch. 7: Conversing with the Piece: Initial Routines Applying Improvisation Approaches to Form Ch. 8: Composing in the Moment: The Inner Dialogue and the Tale Ch. 9: Improvisation and Precomposition: The Eternal Cycle Ch. 10: The Never-ending State of Getting There: Soloing Ability, Ideals, and Evaluations Ch. 11: Arranging Pieces: Decisions in Rehearsal Ch. 12: Adding to Arrangements: Conventions Guiding the Rhythm Section Ch. 13: Give and Take: The Collective Conversation and Musical Journey Ch. 14: When the Music's Happening and When It's Not: Evaluating Group Performances Ch. 15: The Lives of Bands: Conflict Resolution and Artistic Development Ch. 16: Vibes and Venues: Interacting with Different Audiences in Different Settings Epilogue: Jazz as a Way of Life Music Texts Appendix A: House Congressional Resolution 57 Appendix B: List of Artists Interviewed Sources Notes Discography Videography Bibliography

Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart

1989-09-01

Marion S. Gushee

Classic Music: Expression, Form, and Style

1981-09-01

George R. Hill , Leonard G. Ratner

The Challenge of "Bi-Musicality"

1960-05-01

Mantle Hood

n the world of music one occasionally hears of the highly-skilled mechanic who fancies himself a performer, the clever inventor who passes himself off as a composer, the diligent historian … n the world of music one occasionally hears of the highly-skilled mechanic who fancies himself a performer, the clever inventor who passes himself off as a composer, the diligent historian who believes he is a musicologist and the professional educator who confuses method with At the risk of oversimplification let us say at least that all of these diverse representatives of the field of music would seem to have one trait in common-a lack of musicality. And what do we mean by musicality? First let us note that the Harvard Dictionary of Music wisely skips from Musical glasses to Musical offering, and then-again at the risk of oversimplification-let us pass on to Webster's Unabridged Dictionary where musicality is defined as musicalness, a noun form of the adjective under which, at long last, definition number three may be quoted: Fond of, or intelligently appreciative of, music; as, a musical coterie; having a natural aptitude for music. Although at this point we may see some wisdom in the policy followed by the Harvard Dictionary, let us assume that a natural aptitude for music is essential to the musician.

Maximally Smooth Cycles, Hexatonic Systems, and the Analysis of Late-Romantic Triadic Progressions

1996-03-01

Richard Cohn

Interpreting musical gestures, topics, and tropes: Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert

2005-09-01

Robert S. Hatten

Acknowledgments Introduction Part I. Markedness, Topics, and Tropes 1. Semiotic Grounding in Markedness and Style: Interpreting a Style Type in the Opening of Beethoven's Ghost Trio, Op. 70, no. 1 … Acknowledgments Introduction Part I. Markedness, Topics, and Tropes 1. Semiotic Grounding in Markedness and Style: Interpreting a Style Type in the Opening of Beethoven's Ghost Trio, Op. 70, no. 1 2. Expressive Doubling, Topics, Tropes, and Shifts in Level of Discourse: Interpreting the Third Movement of Beethoven's String Quartet in B Major, Op. 130 3. From Topic to Premise and Mode: The Pastoral in Schubert's Piano Sonata in G Major, D. 894 4. The Troping of Topics, Genres, and Forms: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler Part II. Musical Gesture Introduction to Part II 5. Foundational Principles of Human Gesture 6. Toward a Theory of Musical Gesture 7. Stylistic Types and Strategic Functions of Gestures 8. Thematic Gesture in Schubert: The Piano Sonatas in A Major, D. 959, and A Minor, D. 784 9. Thematic Gesture in Beethoven: Sonata for Piano and Cello in C Major, Op. 102, no. 1 10. Gestural Troping and Agency Conclusion to Part II Part III. Continuity and Discontinuity Introduction to Part III 11. From Gestural Continuity to Continuity as Premise 12. Discontinuity and Beyond Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index of Names and Works Index of Concepts

Nineteenth-century music

1989-12-01

The acoustic mirror: the female voice in psychoanalysis and cinema

1989-01-01

The Oxford Handbook of Topic Theory

2013-08-01

The concept of topics was introduced into the vocabulary of music scholars by Leonard Ratner to account for cross-references between eighteenth-century styles and genres. The emergence of this phenomenon followed … The concept of topics was introduced into the vocabulary of music scholars by Leonard Ratner to account for cross-references between eighteenth-century styles and genres. The emergence of this phenomenon followed the rapid proliferation and consolidation of stylistic and generic categories. While music theorists and critics classified styles and genres, defining their affects and proper contexts for their usage, composers crossed the boundaries between them, using stylistic conventions as means of communication with the audience. Such topical use of styles and genres out of their proper contexts and their mixtures with other styles and genres became the hallmark of South-German instrumental music, which engulfed the so-called Viennese Classicism. Since this music did not develop its own aesthetics and, in its days, received no adequate critical appraisal, topic theory developed from Ratner’s seminal insight by Wye J. Allanbrook, Kofi Agawu, Robert Hatten, Raymond Monelle, and others can be considered a theory of this music, and<italic>The Oxford Handbook of Topic Theory</italic>goes some way toward reconstructing its aesthetic underpinnings. The volume grounds the concept of topics in eighteenth-century music theory, aesthetics, and criticism; documents historical reality of individual topics on the basis of eighteenth-century sources, traces the origins of topical mixtures to transformations of eighteenth-century musical life, and relates topical analysis to other kinds of music analysis conducted from the perspectives of composers, performers, and listeners. It lays the foundation under further investigation of musical topics in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries.

The Auditory culture reader

2004-11-01

Music Theory and the White Racial Frame

2020-06-01

Philip Ewell

For over twenty years, music theory has tried to diversify with respect to race, yet the field today remains remarkably white, not only in terms of the people who practice … For over twenty years, music theory has tried to diversify with respect to race, yet the field today remains remarkably white, not only in terms of the people who practice music theory but also in the race of the composers and theorists whose work music theory privileges. In this paper, a critical-race examination of the field of music theory, I try to come to terms with why this is so. I posit that there exists a “white racial frame” in music theory that is structural and institutionalized, and that only through a deframing and reframing of this white racial frame will we begin to see positive racial changes in music theory.

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The Collected Works

1978-12-29

Johann de Fossa

Johann de Fossa served as second kapellmeister at the Munich court from 1568 to 1594, when he succeeded Orlando di Lasso as kapellmeister and held this position until his death. … Johann de Fossa served as second kapellmeister at the Munich court from 1568 to 1594, when he succeeded Orlando di Lasso as kapellmeister and held this position until his death. In his sacred concertos, Fossa made a significant contribution to the early development of an independent continuo part.

The Anti-Christ, Ecce homo, Twilight of the idols, and other writings

2005-01-01

Friedrich Nietzsche , Aaron Ridley , Judith Norman

Introduction Chronology Further reading Note on the texts and translation The Anti-Christ: A Curse on Christianity Ecce Homo: How to Become What you Are Twilight of the Idols, or How … Introduction Chronology Further reading Note on the texts and translation The Anti-Christ: A Curse on Christianity Ecce Homo: How to Become What you Are Twilight of the Idols, or How to Philosophize with a Hammer The Case of Wagner: A Musician's Problem Nietzsche contra Wagner: From the Files of a Psychologist Glossary of names.

For More than One Voice

2005-01-18

Adriana Cavarero

The human voice does not deceive. The one who is speaking is inevitably revealed by the singular sound of her voice, no matter "what" she says. We take this fact … The human voice does not deceive. The one who is speaking is inevitably revealed by the singular sound of her voice, no matter "what" she says. We take this fact for granted—for example, every time someone asks, over the telephone, "Who is speaking?" and receives as a reply the familiar utterance, "It's me." Starting from the given uniqueness of every voice, Cavarero rereads the history of philosophy through its peculiar evasion of this embodied uniqueness. She shows how this history—along with the fields it comprehends, such as linguistics, musicology, political theory, and studies in orality—might be grasped as the "devocalization of Logos," as the invariable privileging of semantike over phone, mind over body. Female figures—from the Sirens to the Muses, from Echo to opera singers—provide a crucial counterhistory, one in which the embodied voice triumphs over the immaterial semantic. Reconstructing this counterhistory, Cavarero proposes a "politics of the voice" wherein the ancient bond between Logos and politics is reconfigured, and wherein what matters is not the communicative content of a given discourse, but rather who is speaking.

Improvised Music after 1950: Afrological and Eurological Perspectives

1996-01-01

George E. Lewis

Since the early 1950s controversy over the nature and function of improvisation in musical expression has occupied considerable attention among improvisers, composers, performers, and theorists active in that sociomusical art … Since the early 1950s controversy over the nature and function of improvisation in musical expression has occupied considerable attention among improvisers, composers, performers, and theorists active in that sociomusical art world that has constructed itself in terms of an assumed high-culture bond between selected sectors of the European and American musical landscapes.Prior to 1950 the work of many composers operating in this art world tended to be completely notated, using a wellknown, European-derived system.After 1950 composers began to experiment with open forms and with more personally expressive systems of notation.Moreover, these composers began to designate salient aspects of a composition as performer-supplied rather than composerspecified, thereby renewing an interest in the generation of musical structure in real time as a formal aspect of a composed work.After a gap of nearly one hundred and fifty years, during which realtime generation of musical structure had been nearly eliminated from the musical activity of this Western or "pan-European" tradition, the postwar putative heirs to this tradition have promulgated renewed investigation of real-time forms of musicality, including a direct confrontation with the role of improvisation.This ongoing reappraisal of improvisation may be due in no small measure to musical and social events taking place in quite a different sector of the overall musical landscape.In particular, the anointing, since the early 1950s, of various forms of "jazz," the African-American musical constellation most commonly associated with the ex-

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The imaginary museum of musical works: an essay in the philosophy of music

1993-05-01

Satchmo blows up the world: jazz ambassadors play the Cold War

2005-06-01

Musical meaning in Beethoven: markedness, correlation, and interpretation

1994-12-01

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Beyond the score: music as performance

2014-09-22

Nicholas Cook

Contents About the companion web site List of figures List of media examples Introduction 1 Plato's curse Sounded writing Performative turns? 2 Page and stage Theorist's analysis Performer's analysis Performance … Contents About the companion web site List of figures List of media examples Introduction 1 Plato's curse Sounded writing Performative turns? 2 Page and stage Theorist's analysis Performer's analysis Performance analysis 3 What the theorist heard Affecting the sentiment Spoken melody, or sung speech Schenker vs. Schenker 4 Beyond structure Structure in context Mozart's miniature theatre Rhetoric old and new In time and of time 5 Close and distant listening Reinventing style analysis Forensics vs. musicology Performing Poland The savour of the Slav 6 Objective expression Nature's nuance Phrase arching in history Phrase arching in culture 7 Playing somethin' Referents and reference The work as performance 8 Social scripts An ethnographic turn Sociality in sound Performing complexity 9 The signifying body 31 August 1970, 3.30 am The white man's black man 10 Everything counts Pleasures of the body Bodies in sound Building bridges 11 The ghost in the machine Music everywhere Original and copy Signifying sound 12 Beyond reproduction The best seat in the hall Acoustic choreography Rethinking the concert Making music together List of references

Listening and voice: phenomenologies of sound

2008-05-01

Don Ihde

Sound theory/sound practice

1993-01-01

Rick Altman

General Introduction: Cinema as Event 1. The Material Heterogeneity of Recorded Sound Part One: Theoretical Perspectives Introduction: Four-and-a-half Film Fallacies 2. Sound Space Rick Altman 3. Reading, Writing, and Representing … General Introduction: Cinema as Event 1. The Material Heterogeneity of Recorded Sound Part One: Theoretical Perspectives Introduction: Four-and-a-half Film Fallacies 2. Sound Space Rick Altman 3. Reading, Writing, and Representing Sound Jim Lastra 4. She Sang Live, but the Microphone was Turned Off: The Live, the Recorded, and the Subject of Representation Steve Wurtzler 5. Wasted Words Michel Chion Part Two: Historical Speculations Introduction: Sound/History 6. [Conversion to Sound] Alan Williams 7. Translating America: The Hollywood Multilinguals 1929-1933 Natasa Durovicova 8. 1950s Magnetic Sound: The Frozen Revolution John Belton Part Three: Neglected Domains Introduction: Sound's Dark Corners 9. Women's Voices in Third World Cinema Amy Lawrence 10. The Sound of Early Warner Bros. Cartoons Scott Curtis 11. Imagining the Sound(s) of Shakespeare: Film Sound and Adaptation Mary Pat Klimek 12. Conventions of Sound in Documentary Jeff Ruoff 13. Let There Be Sound: The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky Andrea Truppin Afterword: A Baker's Dozen of New Terms for Sound Analysis Notes Works Cited

Ambiguity and Liminality as Sonic Strategies in <i>The Bridge</i>

2025-06-25

Kaapo Huttunen | Music Sound and the Moving Image

The internationally successful Nordic crime fiction series The Bridge/Bron/Broen (Sweden/Denmark, 2011–2018) takes place in the Öresund region, an area situated ‘in-between’ two neighbouring countries, Denmark and Sweden, and deals in … The internationally successful Nordic crime fiction series The Bridge/Bron/Broen (Sweden/Denmark, 2011–2018) takes place in the Öresund region, an area situated ‘in-between’ two neighbouring countries, Denmark and Sweden, and deals in various ways with issues related to ‘gaps’ between people and in the society. As a key representative of audiovisual Nordic noir, it is marked by dark and bleak imagery, a ‘whodunnit’ crime plot, and social commentary. But it also employs a notably ambiguous and idiosyncratic audiovisual style, central to which, as this article seeks to demonstrate, is the soundtrack, which consciously breaks conventional boundaries of music and sound design. In tandem with the other expressive and narrative modes, it creates a layer of ambiguity to the series that requires deciphering from the audience, opens outward to the world outside the story, and creates a liminal atmosphere that is symbolically concordant with the story and themes of the series.

Jack Sheen - Jack Sheen: <i>Solo For Cello</i>. Anton Lukoszevieze. The Trilogy Tapes TTTCD001

2025-06-25

Alex Huddleston | Tempo

But Whose Life, Really?: Singers' Experiences of Performing Robert Schumann's Frauenliebe und -leben op. 42

2025-06-25

Natasha Loges | Routledge eBooks

Kalejdoskopisk jazzhistorik

2025-06-24

Sven Bjerstedt | Svensk tidskrift för musikforskning / Swedish Journal of Music Research

Recension av Jan Bruér, 2024. Jazz i Sverige – de första hundra åren. (Publikationer från jazzavdelningen, Svenskt visarkiv nr. 33) Göteborg: Ejeby, 592 s. ISBN 978-91-88693-30-3. ISSN 0281-5567. Recension av Jan Bruér, 2024. Jazz i Sverige – de första hundra åren. (Publikationer från jazzavdelningen, Svenskt visarkiv nr. 33) Göteborg: Ejeby, 592 s. ISBN 978-91-88693-30-3. ISSN 0281-5567.

String Quartets, Opp. 19 and 29

2025-06-24

Friedrich Dotzauer | A-R Editions eBooks

Rethinking Replication in Leonard Meyer’s Theory of Musical Style

2025-06-24

Brian A. Miller | Oxford University Press eBooks

Abstract As with many terms that appear ubiquitously across both technical and popular discourses, “style” is an unstable concept. This chapter argues that re-examining Meyer’s Style and Music (1989) alongside … Abstract As with many terms that appear ubiquitously across both technical and popular discourses, “style” is an unstable concept. This chapter argues that re-examining Meyer’s Style and Music (1989) alongside other historical texts on style can lead to a productive understanding of the conceptual foundations of corpus studies and music theory more broadly. The author examines Meyer’s claims about style alongside a set of additional thought experiments, which might be called style puzzles, designed to probe questions about replication and imitation across a variety of art forms. The resulting framework is applied to demonstrate how different assumptions about the nature of stylistic replication can lead to seemingly contradictory analyses of the same passage of music.

The Music Critic as Composer: The Songs of Eduard Hanslick

2025-06-23

Anja Bunzel , Anthony J. Pryer , Alexander Wilfing | Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften eBooks

Death on the Carousel, 1978–1979

2025-06-19

Tim Greiving | Oxford University Press eBooks

Abstract Chapter 8, “Death on the Carousel, 1978–1979,” highlights the severe dip in quality of projects that immediately followed the sensational 1977, even as Williams’s fame and cachet were rapidly … Abstract Chapter 8, “Death on the Carousel, 1978–1979,” highlights the severe dip in quality of projects that immediately followed the sensational 1977, even as Williams’s fame and cachet were rapidly ascending. He scores his first lousy sequel (Jaws 2) and Spielberg’s first bomb (1941), and writes more grand, operatic scores with rich themes but for lesser fantasy epics (Dracula, Superman). He also reluctantly dips his toes into the waters of public conducting—which will have great consequences in the years to come. But even when he’s working on subpar movies, by the late 1970s he has developed a philosophy and an artistic integrity that compels him to aim for the highest ideal of film composition—and also to remain true to himself.

Reunion and Finale, 2020–2024

2025-06-19

Tim Greiving | Oxford University Press eBooks

Abstract Chapter 18, “Reunion and Finale, 2020–2024,” is the final movement, accompanying Williams’s fruitful latter years—which are impacted somewhat by the COVID-19 global pandemic. He uses the involuntary lockdown to … Abstract Chapter 18, “Reunion and Finale, 2020–2024,” is the final movement, accompanying Williams’s fruitful latter years—which are impacted somewhat by the COVID-19 global pandemic. He uses the involuntary lockdown to compose a second violin concerto, for his new muse Anne-Sophie Mutter, and as the world gradually reopens he joyously tackles his bucket list by traveling to Vienna, Berlin, and Italy to conduct some of the greatest and most historically significant orchestras in the world. He completes his final film for Spielberg, which strangely has almost no score, and takes one last ride with Indiana Jones. Having won over the classical establishment, Williams takes a victory lap with concerts in New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Los Angeles—earning rapturous applause everywhere he goes—and finally writes a concerto for his own instrument: the piano.

Journey to the Island, 1991–1996

2025-06-19

Tim Greiving | Oxford University Press eBooks

Abstract Chapter 12, “Journey to the Island, 1991–1996,” centers on the year (1993) that produced the scores for both Schindler’s List, an aching Jewish lullaby and elegy about the Holocaust, … Abstract Chapter 12, “Journey to the Island, 1991–1996,” centers on the year (1993) that produced the scores for both Schindler’s List, an aching Jewish lullaby and elegy about the Holocaust, and Jurassic Park, a religioso anthem for resurrected dinosaurs—both colossal successes that reinvigorated his unstoppable venture with Spielberg. Now in his 60s, Williams also scores an old-fashioned period epic and a throwback romantic comedy, completes his trilogy of American underbelly films with Oliver Stone, and composes a thorny cello concerto for Yo-Yo Ma. After more than a decade of increasingly successful summers in Boston, as well as national tours and several trips to Japan, he officially retires as music director of the Boston Pops.

Leaving Home, 1951–1956

2025-06-19

Tim Greiving | Oxford University Press eBooks

Abstract Chapter 3, “Leaving Home (1951–1956),” covers the formative years that Williams served in the Air Force during the Korean War, continuing his music studies and developing as an arranger, … Abstract Chapter 3, “Leaving Home (1951–1956),” covers the formative years that Williams served in the Air Force during the Korean War, continuing his music studies and developing as an arranger, conductor, and even nascent film composer while an active member of the band programs in Tucson and particularly Newfoundland. While stationed at Pepperrell Air Force Base there, he scored his first motion picture—a lighthearted travelogue for the Canadian province—by adapting and arranging local folk tunes. Among other legacies, the military band experience instilled in him a lifetime love of marches and ceremonial music as well as “band-strating” for brass and wind instruments. After he is discharged, he moves to New York where he studies privately with Madame Rosina Lhévinne, the eminent piano teacher at Juilliard, and he also forays into performing in nightclubs and on recordings—notably with Harry Belafonte—before ultimately coming back to Los Angeles and starting a family with his high school sweetheart, Barbara Ruick (who pursued a career in acting and musical recording while Williams was in the service).

Women College Musicians Take on the World

2025-06-19

Kristen A. Lindquist | Journal of Jazz Studies

In U.S. Cold War jazz diplomacy, a focus on women as student musicians reveals how they were promoting jazz worldwide. Because they were not as famous as other high-profile professional … In U.S. Cold War jazz diplomacy, a focus on women as student musicians reveals how they were promoting jazz worldwide. Because they were not as famous as other high-profile professional musicians who also toured with the State Department, these women are harder to find in the historical record, but nonetheless important. By examining at a set of U.S. State Department-sponsored collegiate jazz tours during the Cold War, I highlight the variety of women’s participation and influence in three collegiate programs and their tours. Specifically, I address: 1) the University of Michigan’s Symphony Band’s 1961 tour of the Soviet Union, Middle East and Eastern Europe, which featured a jazz band; 2) the University of Illinois Jazz Band’s 1969 tour of the Soviet Union; and 3) North Texas State University One O’Clock Lab Band’s 1967 tour of Mexico and 1976 tour of the Soviet Union. Through these case studies, I argue that collegiate women jazz musicians made a distinct and unacknowledged contribution to U.S. cultural diplomacy during the Cold War. Through their musical abilities and interpersonal interactions, these women expanded the diplomatic reach and success of their tours. Drawing on archival materials from universities, the State Department and Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, I reveal the ways collegiate women jazz musicians contributed to diplomatic efforts.

John Williams

2025-06-19

Tim Greiving | Oxford University Press eBooks

Abstract John Williams: A Composer’s Life is the first major biography of the foremost composer for film in history. Synonymous with an entire art form, one which he helped legitimize, … Abstract John Williams: A Composer’s Life is the first major biography of the foremost composer for film in history. Synonymous with an entire art form, one which he helped legitimize, Williams wrote the memorable scores and hummable themes for a staggering number of popular touchstones across multiple generations—among them Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jaws, E.T., Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, and Harry Potter—and earned more Oscar nominations than any individual artist in the history of the Motion Picture Academy. He also composed dozens of concertos, fanfares, and other concert works and was a national presence as music director of the Boston Pops for thirteen years. He inspired countless children to pursue a career in the orchestra and won the respect of the classical community worldwide. Written with unprecedented access to Williams, this is the definitive portrait of a beloved but famously private doyen of twentieth-century popular culture. Featuring 175 exclusive interviews—including with Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, George Miller, Mia Farrow, Hans Zimmer, Yo-Yo Ma, session musicians, family members, and friends—John Williams: A Composer’s Life is the last word on the great court composer of the cinema age, the musical conductor of our collective memory.

In Search of Unicorns, 1969–1974

2025-06-19

Tim Greiving | Oxford University Press eBooks

Abstract Chapter 5, “In Search of Unicorns, 1969–1974,” concerns the creatively fertile sophomore era of Williams’s film-scoring career, including his experimental collaborations with Robert Altman (Images, The Long Goodbye), his … Abstract Chapter 5, “In Search of Unicorns, 1969–1974,” concerns the creatively fertile sophomore era of Williams’s film-scoring career, including his experimental collaborations with Robert Altman (Images, The Long Goodbye), his growing prowess as an adapter and arranger of large-scaled film musicals (Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Fiddler on the Roof), his extended run of Americana scores featuring guitars and harmonica (The Cowboys, Conrack), and his exploration into more avant-garde concert music—including a flute concerto and his first symphony. An extended period in London, where he temporarily relocated with his whole family, makes a powerful impact on his writing, life philosophy, and many future decisions and relationships. With The Reivers in 1969, Williams cracked the code of compositional integrity in his film scoring, and of identifying the “Central Line” in each cinematic narrative. This seminal chapter of his life concludes with a sudden and heartbreaking tragedy.

Analysis of Performance Techniques in the First Movement of Haydn's Cello Concerto in C Major

2025-06-19

Yu Fu | Scientific journal of humanities and social sciences.

This paper takes the first movement of Franz Joseph Haydn's Cello Concerto in C Major (Hob. VIIb:1) as the research object and analyzes its playing technique and musical performance in … This paper takes the first movement of Franz Joseph Haydn's Cello Concerto in C Major (Hob. VIIb:1) as the research object and analyzes its playing technique and musical performance in depth. As one of the founders of the Viennese Classical School, Haydn's musical style combines the counterpoint and polyphony of Baroque music and is known for its rigorous structure, beautiful melody, and simple and clear harmony. This article summarizes the compositional background of the concerto, pointing out that it was composed during the period when Haydn was employed by the Esterhazy family, and was dedicated to the court cellist Josef Weigl, combining showmanship and singing. Then he analyzes its musical characteristics from three aspects: structure, melody, and harmony, pointing out that it adopts the typical three-movement structure of classicism, with a natural and symmetrical melody that is full of singing, and a harmony that is mainly functional and logical. Finally, the structure of the first movement is analyzed in detail, and the playing techniques of each part, such as bow running, string changing, finger trembling, and handle changing, are discussed. It provides technical references for performers.

Introduction

2025-06-19

Tim Greiving | Oxford University Press eBooks

Abstract The Introduction gives a poetic overview of the profound effect John Williams has had on films, on individual filmgoers, and on the culture at large—which is strange, considering that … Abstract The Introduction gives a poetic overview of the profound effect John Williams has had on films, on individual filmgoers, and on the culture at large—which is strange, considering that he is a professionally invisible composer of “background music.” The introduction offers a kind of map for what the book will cover in terms of the family DNA, early influences, opportunities, and temperament that provide some answers for what made Williams the massively popular composer he became, and it also touches on some of the key themes of the book and of his life, namely his fascination with history and the collective memory.

Confluence, 2004–2008

2025-06-19

Tim Greiving | Oxford University Press eBooks

Abstract Chapter 15, “Confluence, 2004–2007,” covers the conclusion of the Star Wars prequels, the last of the Harry Potter films that Williams scores, and a late, misbegotten new Indiana Jones … Abstract Chapter 15, “Confluence, 2004–2007,” covers the conclusion of the Star Wars prequels, the last of the Harry Potter films that Williams scores, and a late, misbegotten new Indiana Jones adventure. But any sense of finality or fatigue is counteracted with a deep investigation of Japanese musical traditions for Memoirs of a Geisha and a staggering four feature scores, all radically different, in a single year (2005). Williams adds to his catalogue of concert works and remains a constant presence at Tanglewood, watching the critical diminishment of his work erode year by year, piece by piece.

The Miracle of the Ark, 1980–1983

2025-06-19

Tim Greiving | Oxford University Press eBooks

Abstract Chapter 9, “The Miracle of the Ark, 1980–1983,” is the chart of a supernova. Williams is a vital player in the Spielberg-Lucas phenomenon during what one Lucasfilm employee referred … Abstract Chapter 9, “The Miracle of the Ark, 1980–1983,” is the chart of a supernova. Williams is a vital player in the Spielberg-Lucas phenomenon during what one Lucasfilm employee referred to as the “Periclean age” where everything the two filmmakers touched turned to box office gold. Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back, E.T.—all feature indelible new symphonic scores from Williams that enter the cultural bloodstream and dream worlds of children around the world. The classical establishment is shocked when Williams is hired as music director of the Boston Pops, an appointment that will have far-reaching repercussions regarding the legitimization of film music in the concert hall, as well as Williams’s journey toward acceptance in the area of so-called serious music.

Cadillac of the Skies, 1983–1987

2025-06-19

Tim Greiving | Oxford University Press eBooks

Abstract Chapter 10, “Cadillac of the Skies, 1984–1987,” locates growing pains in the adolescence of the Spielberg-Lucas project, as well as in Williams’s career with the Boston Pops. Tensions arise … Abstract Chapter 10, “Cadillac of the Skies, 1984–1987,” locates growing pains in the adolescence of the Spielberg-Lucas project, as well as in Williams’s career with the Boston Pops. Tensions arise within the orchestra and among critics as he attempts to prove himself a “serious” conductor and composer, even as he simultaneously grows in popular stature as America’s unofficial composer laureate—writing event music for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and the Statue of Liberty, performing for presidents, and accompanying a parade of high-profile musical guests on national television. Spielberg ventures into more “grown-up” dramatic cinema, and Williams helps him achieve operatic transcendence there, too.

Love Theme, 1957–1968

2025-06-19

Tim Greiving | Oxford University Press eBooks

Abstract Chapter 4, “Love Theme, 1957–1968,” is about the three loves in Williams’s life at the novice phase of his career: his wife Barbara, his best friend Lionel Newman, and … Abstract Chapter 4, “Love Theme, 1957–1968,” is about the three loves in Williams’s life at the novice phase of his career: his wife Barbara, his best friend Lionel Newman, and music itself. He moves from the piano bench as an in-demand session musician to a seven-year contract with Universal television, learning the ropes of scoring to picture on tight deadlines and in multiple genres, week after week. He also makes a go at becoming a marquee recording artist at Columbia Records. His feature scoring career begins inauspiciously, but his craft matures and his reputation grows as he graduates from puerile comedies and weak dramas to much richer canvases by the end of the 1960s—culminating in the discovery of his compositional voice as well as his first Oscar nomination.

Simple Gifts, 2008–2014

2025-06-19

Tim Greiving | Oxford University Press eBooks

Abstract Chapter 16, “Simple Gifts, 2008–2014,” opens with the election of Barack Obama being “scored” by John Williams—who makes creative use of an old Aaron Copland piece with even older … Abstract Chapter 16, “Simple Gifts, 2008–2014,” opens with the election of Barack Obama being “scored” by John Williams—who makes creative use of an old Aaron Copland piece with even older Shaker roots—arguably the moment where his anointing as America’s composer becomes official. An extended sabbatical from film yields a bounty of new concertos, including ones for viola, harp, and oboe; as well as new chamber works and music for both solo guitar and piano. Refreshed, Williams follows Spielberg’s whims from madcap animation (The Adventures of Tintin) to a melancholic picture book about World War I (War Horse) to a play-like drama about Abraham Lincoln, in turn producing a stunning series of disparate scores.

Somewhere in My Memory, 1988–1991

2025-06-19

Tim Greiving | Oxford University Press eBooks

Abstract Chapter 11, “Somewhere in My Memory, 1988–1991,” sees Williams tackling more adult fare with new directors, including Lawrence Kasdan, Oliver Stone, and Alan J. Pakula. The latter begins a … Abstract Chapter 11, “Somewhere in My Memory, 1988–1991,” sees Williams tackling more adult fare with new directors, including Lawrence Kasdan, Oliver Stone, and Alan J. Pakula. The latter begins a trilogy of films about the United States during the Kennedy-Nixon-Vietnam era, and Williams taps into the dark but still romantic undercurrent of his country’s history. The mature darkness in his work is counterbalanced by the childlike fantasies of Home Alone and Hook, but regardless of the project, he continues to help turn most projects into enormous hits and to push his own creative development. In a strange and ultimately enlightening episode, his music also stands trial in a Los Angeles courtroom.