The years since the early music revival gathered momentum in the 1960s and 70s have witnessed many new developments in the field of pre-Baroque music: some revelatory recordings and concert performances have opened our ears to a new range of possible sound worlds for music of this period, and scholars have made discoveries that in many ways challenge the accepted views about this until recently neglected end of the repertory. Much pre-1600 music, the more so the further we go back in time, sound not only unfamiliar but also strange to modern ears accustomed to the harmonies and rhythms that later came to dominate the Western musical tradition. How to account for this strangeness and how to weave it into our own musical experience are questions that confront us whenever we attempt to draw nearer to the music: its beauty is readily appreciated, but its meaning is often elusive. David Fallows and Tess Knighton, scholars and critics in the field of medieval and Renaissance music, invited a number of international researchers and performers to contribute short essays on some of the most intriguing aspects of the subject. The aim was not so much a comprehensive reference book, although the Glossary gives brief definitions of terms and composer biographies, nor a strictly chronological survey, though the Chronology provides an overview of the main developments of the period, for these basic tools are already available. Rather, the Companion to Medieval and Renaissance Music, spanning over eight centuries of music-making, hopes to broaden and stimulate the reader's interest by discussing issues of live debate such as the original context for the music, how it was composed, and the ways in which it was performed. What was it like to be a composer in the Middle Ages? Can we appreciate the difference between a good and a bad piece of medieval polyphony? Why did certain musical genres flourish and others fall into disuse? What can surviving documents or pictures or the musical manuscripts themselves tell us about how the music was performed, listened to, and appreciated during the period? The essays consider a wide range of the kind of evidence from which scholars and performers have to draw their conclusions and make the decisions that affect the ways in which the music can be brought back to life today. This fascinating volume is aptly titled: it isn't an introduction to the medieval and Renaissance repertoire, but rather a companion-a collection of essays, each covering some aspect of early music and its modern-day performance, to which a listener (or performer) can refer as topics of interest arise. Editors Tess Knighton and David Fallows have foregone the chronological approach that might seem obvious for a book of this sort (although they do include an excellent glossary and chronology as appendices) in favor of essays grouped around particular issues such as genre (keyboard works, Mass cycles, or wind ensemble music, for example), using historical evidence (not only written music and treatises but pictorial evidence, folk-music traditions, and surviving instruments), pre-performance decisions (preparing performing editions, pitch standard, even choosing performance venues), and performance techniques (tempo, vocal production, embellishment). There is quite a range of contributors-academic musicologists, performers, critics, and combinations thereof-and the level on which the essays are written varies widely. [+]

This is the second volume in the critically acclaimed Letters of Charlotte Bronte. During the important four years covered in this volume, Charlotte witnessed the success of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, but also endured the deaths of Branwell Bronte and Emily, followed by Anne's in May 1849. Haunted by the fear that she also would succumb, Charlotte found salvation in writing Shirley, published in October 1849, and comfort in her friendship and correspondence with Ellen Nussey, with her publishers-especially George Smith-with Mrs. Gaskell, and (for a time) Harriet Martineau. She may also have received a proposal of marriage from Smith, Edler's manager, James Taylor. This volume is fully annotated and introduced by eminent Bronte scholar Margaret Smith.

A spicy biography of the late Virgil Fox (-), who was the most successful and famous organist in history. Prepared by the organists managers for years, the book is based on a -page memoir of Foxs artistic heir and protg, Ted Alan Worth, with contributions by other associates and students who knew Fox intimately.

Umberto Eco is arguably best known for his novel The Name of the Rose yet there is much more to him than simply being an exemplary novelist. Semiotician, literary and media critic, philosopher and historian, Umberto Eco is one of the greatest and most original thinkers working today. He has contributed to many fields and is one of a handful of writers who can claim to be a key public intellectual in Europe. This has made it extraordinarily difficult for commentators to place him in the Western tradition of social thought. This is especially so, because there is a playful quality in his work, exemplified above all by his use of skills and techniques from semiotics, the philosophy of language, medieval life and thought and aesthetics and techniques that he employed to great affect in The Name of the Rose. He has also made seminal contributions in thinking on postmodern developments in culture and epistemology. This collection provides an unrivalled overview of his writings and includes a selection from considerations of his contribution to semiotics, literary theory, philosophy of language, the analysis of fiction and narratives, his novels, his critiques of mass culture and communication and his contributions to the theory of laughter, politics and ethics. The result is the most complete assessment of Eco's contribution and its impact on social, cultural and critical thought. Mike Gane is Professor of Sociology at the University of Loughborough; Nicholas Gane is Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Communications at Brunel University, London.

This book provides the fullest account yet to appear in English of the composer's long life and huge musical output. The struggle for recognition, the crucial role played in the formation of a French national school after 1871, his controversial views on such questions as modern music and the influence of Wagner, his character and outlook are extensively discussed, with analysis and comment on the principal compositions.

This volume, edited by William Hammerstein, encompasses lyrics from Oscar Hammerstein's entire canon; from the early "Indian Love Call" written in 1924 with Otto Harbach and Rudolph Friml, to his final song, "Edelweiss," written with his long-time collaborator Richard Rodgers in 1959. Oscar Hammerstein's introduction, Notes on Lyrics, has been an acknowledged classic text for musical theatre enthusiasts since 1949 and remains a definitive work today. To say Oscar Hammerstein II made a significant contribution to the art of lyric-writing is understating the case. He, with his lyrics, and his collaborators, with their music, rewove the fabric of the musical theatre for all time.

Rex Ingram established his reputation in the 1920s with the success of such films as "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" and "Scaramouche". This book follows his career from his formative years in Dublin through his apprenticeship in New York, his years in Hollywood, and his periods in Nice, North Africa and elsewhere. It features stills from all of Ingram's 27 films, plus a filmography.

This enormous, oversize, three-volume reference of performers' television credits (United States) is for serious researchers and writers who cannot afford not to have the most complete information available anywhere. The data begin in 1948, with the advent of serious network television broadcasting, and go through May 31, 2000, the end of the 1999-2000 TV season. Death information is included up to the end of 2000. Included are persons appearing on dramatic and comedy programs, made-for-TV movies and miniseries, game and quiz shows, performance-oriented talk shows and variety shows. For logical reasons, persons who appeared on shows with very little performance activity are excluded (award shows, sporting events, parades, news broadcasts, and reality programming are examples). A performer's birthplace, birth date and date of death are listed (where possible), along with information about his or her best-known television roles, Emmy Awards won, descriptions of memorable career moments, appearances on soap operas, talk, game and variety shows. As a bonus, information is provided on actors' best-known writing, directing and producing credits.