This guide is designed to get you started on your research for MUS 420. The sources below are not a complete list of what the library may have on the topics you are covering this semester. The items listed below are meant to give you an idea of the kinds of materials we offer and link you to sources recommended by your instructor.
If you are looking for a particular book or having difficulty finding the information you need, you can find my contact info at the bottom of this guide.
Opera: Great Composers and Their Masterworks
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This invaluable reference book explores the background to 400 years of opera the composers, the singers, plus the buildings and festivals that have developed to showcase them. The development of opera is explored and set in its political and social context. At the heart of the book are concise biographies of major composers, accompanied by portraits and illustrations relating to their works, together with recommended recordings (both historical and contemporary).
The Classical Music Lover's Companion to Orchestral Music
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An invaluable guide for lovers of classical music designed to enhance their enjoyment of the core orchestral repertoire from 1700 to 1950 Robert Philip, scholar, broadcaster, and musician, has compiled an essential handbook for lovers of classical music, designed to enhance their listening experience to the full. Covering four hundred works by sixty-eight composers from Corelli to Shostakovich, this engaging companion explores and unpacks the most frequently performed works, including symphonies, concertos, overtures, suites, and ballet scores. It offers intriguing details about each piece while avoiding technical terminology that might frustrate the non-specialist reader. Philip identifies key features in each work, as well as subtleties and surprises that await the attentive listener, and he includes enough background and biographical information to illuminate the composer's intentions. Organized alphabetically from Bach to Webern, this compendium will be indispensable for classical music enthusiasts, whether in the concert hall or enjoying recordings at home.
The History of Classical Music
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This volume covers the history of classic music with individual chapters on its medieval and renaissance roots, the baroque era, classical period, romantic era, modern era, and classical music in the new millennium. Informative sidebars, numerous quotations from authoritative sources, annotated bibliographies, and a complete index make this volume a valuable research tool for students.
Gender and the Musical Canon
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A classic in gender studies in music Marcia J. Citron's comprehensive, balanced work lays a broad foundation for the study of women composers and their music. Drawing on a diverse body of feminist and interdisciplinary theory, Citron shows how the western art canon is not intellectually pure but the result of a complex mixture of attitudes, practices, and interests that often go unacknowledged and unchallenged. Winner of the Pauline Alderman Prize from the International Alliance of Women in Music, Gender and the Musical Canon explores important elements of canon formation, such as notions of creativity, professionalism, and reception. Citron surveys the institutions of power, from performing organizations and the academy to critics and the publishing and recording industries, that affect what goes into the canon and what is kept out. She also documents the nurturing role played by women, including mothers, in cultivating female composers. In a new introduction, she assesses the book's reception by composers and critics, especially the reactions to her controversial reading of Cécile Chaminade's sonata for piano. A key volume in establishing how the concepts and assumptions that form the western art music canon affect female composers and their music, Gender and the Musical Canon also reveals how these dynamics underpin many of the major issues that affect musicology as a discipline.
Harvard Dictionary of Music
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This classic reference work, the best one-volume music dictionary available, has been brought completely up to date in this new edition. Combining authoritative scholarship and lucid, lively prose, the Fourth Edition of The Harvard Dictionary of Music is the essential guide for musicians, students, and everyone who appreciates music. The Harvard Dictionary of Music has long been admired for its wide range as well as its reliability. This treasure trove includes entries on all the styles and forms in Western music; comprehensive articles on the music of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Near East; descriptions of instruments enriched by historical background; and articles that reflect today's beat, including popular music, jazz, and rock. Throughout this Fourth Edition, existing articles have been fine-tuned and new entries added so that the dictionary fully reflects current music scholarship and recent developments in musical culture. Encyclopedia-length articles by notable experts alternate with short entries for quick reference, including definitions and identifications of works and instruments. More than 220 drawings and 250 musical examples enhance the text. This is an invaluable book that no music lover can afford to be without.
Article databases recommended by your instructor:
Make sure to set up an account on Music Listening Online using your WCU email. You will need to be logged in to the service before the playlist links posted below will work. If you use your phone to listen to playlists, I would make sure you are logged into the service on whatever browser you use.
For most of your encyclopedia and background information, I recommend using Credo Reference. You can search an entire encyclopedia library with a single search.
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