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Richly textured and lyrically written, Prairie Sonata is the story of Mira Adler and her journey from innocence to experience. Mira grows up in post–World War II Canada, in a close-knit Manitoba community founded by secular Jews from Eastern Europe. At the heart of her journey is the friendship that she develops with her teacher, Chaver B, a recent immigrant from Prague who is mysterious and intriguing and who Mira believes harbours a painful secret. Chaver B becomes deeply intwined in Mira’s life, and their relationship evolves, especially after he offers to teach her to play the violin. Little by little, Mira chips away at Chaver B’s past and soon comes to the shocking realization of what brought him to Manitoba. What she learns about his history both outrages and saddens her, yet she cannot stop herself from uncovering the truth about his life. While Chaver B attempts to reconcile his feelings of guilt, Mira struggles to understand a world that seems to be vastly different from the nurturing and seemingly untroubled one in which she grows up. And despite what she learns about Chaver B, herself, and the world around her, when she is older, Mira yearns for the chance to go back to her childhood. A coming-of-age story about music, love, friendship, community, and religion, Prairie Sonata is a riveting tale that will resonate with and captivate the reader.
This book argues that the need for music, and the ability to produce and enjoy it, is an essential element in human nature. Every society in history has produced some characteristic style of music. Music, like the other arts, tells us truths about the world through its impact on our emotional life. There is a structural correspondence between society and music. The emergence of 'modern art music' and its stylistic changes since the rise of capitalist social relations reflect the development of capitalist society since the decline of European feudalism. The leading composers of the different eras expressed in music the aspirations of the dominant or aspiring social classes. Changes in musical style not only reflect but in turn help to shape changes in society. This book analyses the stylistic changes in music from the emergence of ‘tonality’ in the late seventeenth century until the Second World War.
This comprehensive, annotated resource of solo repertoire for the horn documents in detail the rich catalogue of original solo compositions for the instrument. Intended as a guide for practical use and easy reference, it is organized into three large sections: works for unaccompanied horn, works for horn and keyboard, and works for horn and ensemble. Each entry includes publisher information, a brief description of the form and character of a work, technical details of the horn writing, and information on dedication and premiere. The authors also include commentary on the various techniques required and the performance challenges of each piece. Representing over ten years of careful compilation and notation by an expert in horn performance and pedagogy, and by a seasoned music librarian and natural horn performer, Guide to the Solo Horn Repertoire will be an invaluable resource for performers, educators, and composers.
During the nineteenth century, nearly one hundred symphonies were written by over fifty composers living in the United States. With few exceptions, this repertoire is virtually forgotten today. In Orchestrating the Nation: The Nineteenth-Century American Symphonic Enterprise, author Douglas W. Shadle explores the stunning stylistic diversity of this substantial repertoire and uncovers why it failed to enter the musical mainstream. Throughout the century, Americans longed for a distinct national musical identity. As the most prestigious of all instrumental genres, the symphony proved to be a potent vehicle in this project as composers found inspiration for their works in a dazzling array of subjects, including Niagara Falls, Hiawatha, and Western pioneers. With a wealth of musical sources at his disposal, including never-before-examined manuscripts, Shadle reveals how each component of the symphonic enterprise-from its composition, to its performance, to its immediate and continued reception by listeners and critics-contributed to competing visions of American identity. Employing an innovative transnational historical framework, Shadle's narrative covers three continents and shows how the music of major European figures such as Beethoven, Schumann, Wagner, Liszt, Brahms, and Dvorák exerted significant influence over dialogues about the future of American musical culture. Shadle demonstrates that the perceived authority of these figures allowed snobby conductors, capricious critics, and even orchestral musicians themselves to thwart the efforts of American symphonists despite widespread public support of their music. Consequently, these works never entered the performing canons of American orchestras. An engagingly written account of a largely unknown repertoire, Orchestrating the Nation shows how artistic and ideological debates from the nineteenth century continue to shape the culture of American orchestral music today.