Modernism and Music: An Anthology of Sources [Paperback]

Daniel Albright (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0226012670 | ISBN-13: 978-0226012674 | Publication Date: February 3, 2004 | Edition: 1

If in earlier eras music may have seemed slow to respond to advances in other artistic media, during the modernist age it asserted itself in the vanguard. Modernism and Music provides a rich selection of texts on this moment, some translated into English for the first time. It offers not only important statements by composers and critics, but also musical speculations by poets, novelists, philosophers, and others-all of which combine with Daniel Albright's extensive, interlinked commentary to place modernist music in the full context of intellectual and cultural history.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I highly recommend Daniel Albright''s collection as a useful set of texts for any course dealing with Modernism, especially Modernism in music. In no other place are so many important writings gathered together, and students will find the introductory and explanatory material extremely helpful when beginning their studies."

(Alan Shockley Fontes Artis Musicae )

“In Modernism and Music, Albright assigns the full flush of Modernism to the period 1890–1910, identifying 1894 as a watershed year in the history of music (Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel). He is, however, perfectly justified in including earlier, hugely influential works such as Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy (1872), Wagner’s Beethoven (1870), and Baudelaire’s Les fleurs du mal (1857) in his scope. . . . Albright’s range of reference extends that indicated by the table of contents, covering everything from Augustine to Abate, Boethius to Berlioz.  The commentaries that link this diverse assembly do so with elegance and purpose. . . . A virtually error-free work of reference.”—Thomas Mansell, Yearbook of English Studies

(Thomas Mansell Yearbook of English Studies ) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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If in earlier eras music may have seemed slow to respond to advances in other artistic media, during the modernist age it asserted itself in the vanguard. Modernism and Music provides a rich selection of texts on this moment, some translated into English for the first time. It offers not only important statements by composers and critics, but also musical speculations by poets, novelists, philosophers, and others-all of which combine with Daniel Albright's extensive, interlinked commentary to place modernist music in the full context of intellectual and cultural history.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 440 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (February 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226012670
• ISBN-13: 978-0226012674
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #448,518 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 20th Century Music on its own terms, March 2, 2006

By 

Philip Pogson (Ryde, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Modernism and Music: An Anthology of Sources (Paperback)

Having read many histories of 20th century concert music I could not easily conceive of an addition to the canon that is as interesting, challenging and original as this. Albright has gathered together an eclectic range of primary source materials authored by composers, writers, artists and theorists all of which explore aspects of musical modernism and its putative antithesis - post-modernism. In just bringing this material together he has done music history a service. Yet in one sense what I most enjoyed is Albright's own commentaries which link his diverse sources together so effortlessly that the book reads like a novel; and his prose writing is superb. If only more "textbooks" were of this quality.