1996

BH-96-4 -- Music


96-4-466

Donne in musica [Women in Music]. Patricia Adkins Chiti. Roma: Armando, 1996. 415 p. ill. 24 cm. (Temi del terzo millennio) ISBN 88-7144-593-7: Lit. 45,000

Written by the singer and musicologist Patricia Adkins Chiti, Donne in musica consists of two sections of almost equal length: a history of women in music from the Sumerians to the present day, and a chronologically organized compendium of some 200 biographies (from one to two pages long) from Sappho to our own time. It concludes with a bibliography and an index of names. The numerous black and white illustrations are of mediocre quality. Because it does not list compositions and because of its chronological arrangement, it does not really work as a reference book, and it is in any case not up to the standard set by the more comprehensive Women Composers (New York; London, 1996-) (reviewed in IFB 96-2/3-317). [mr/sl]

96-4-467

Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik [Music in History and in the Present: General Music Encyclopedia]. Ed. Ludwig Finscher. 2d rev. ed. Kassel [et al.]: Bärenreiter, Stuttgart [et al.]: Metzler. 28 cm. ISBN 3-7618-1100-4 (Bärenreiter); ISBN 3-476-41022-6 (Metzler) Subjects. Vols. 1-8. ISBN 3-7618-1101-2 (Bärenreiter); ISBN 3-476-41000-5 (Metzler): DM 348.00 per vol. until April 30, 1997)

Vol. 1. A-Bog. 1994. xlix p., 1644 columns. ill. ISBN 3-7618-1102-0 (Bärenreiter); ISBN 3-476-41001-3 (Metzler)

Vol. 2. Böh-Enc. 1995. vi p., 1778 columns. ill. ISBN 3-7618-1103-9 (Bärenreiter); ISBN 3-476-41002-1 (Metzler)

Vol. 3. Eng-Hamb. 1995. vi p., 1779 columns. ill. ISBN 3-7618-1104-7 (Bärenreiter); ISBN 3-476-41003-X (Metzler)

Vol. 4. Hamm-Kar. 1996. vi p., 1810 columns. ill. ISBN 3-7618-1105-5 (Bärenreiter); ISBN 3-476-41004-8 (Metzler)

Vol. 5. Kas-Mein. 1996. vi p., 1812 columns. ill. ISBN 3-7618-1106-3 (Bärenreiter); ISBN 3-476-41005-6 (Metzler)

96-4-468

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Ed. Stanley Sadie. Reprint. London [et al.]: Macmillan, 1995. Vols. 1-20 ill. 24 cm. ISBN 1-56159-174-2 (pbk.): £320.00

96-4-469

Dizionario enciclopedico universale della musica e dei musicisti [Encyclopedic Dictionary of Music and Musicians]. Directed by Alberto Basso. Torino: UTET. 31 cm.

Subjects. 1989. Vols. 1-4. ISBN 88-02-03732-9: Lit. 680,000

Persons. 1989. Vols. 1-8. ISBN 88-02-03930-5: Lit. 1,360,000

Appendices. 1990. x, 770 p. ISBN 88-02-04396-5: Lit. 170,000

The New Grove with 22,500 articles and the Dizionario enciclopedico, or DEUMM, with 30,500 articles, are more comprehensive than the classic Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (12,300 articles), both with respect to the number of articles and their scope. The old MGG has relatively few articles on non-classical forms such as jazz, rock, and pop music. The new edition of MGG, which began publication in 1994 and continues rather than replaces the earlier edition, has not changed in this respect. In their foreword, the editors of the new MGG refer to it as an encyclopedia of traditional musicology, while they allude to the New Grove rather dismissively as a "lexicon." They do not even mention DEUMM, which, like MGG,consists of separate subject and biographical parts. All three works address all areas of music, though they are, naturally, stronger in the music of their respective countries. All three include relevant bibliographic and library-oriented articles such as "Printing and Publishing of Music," "Libraries," and "Dictionaries and Encyclopedias of Music." Of special importance in the New Grove and in DEUMM are the detailed, chronological lists of composers' works. The double column layout of the old MGG, on the other hand, is hard to use. The New Grove is especially rich in illustrations. DEUMM has many name cross-references that are sometimes useful when looking for a name linked under another form in the New Grove. That the New Grove is now available in a paperback edition probably means that a new edition is in the works, as was the case with the paperback version of the old MGG. [mr/mth]

96-4-470

Das neue Lexikon der Musik [New Dictionary of Music]. Ed. Ralf Noltensmeier (text) and Gabriela Rothmund-Gaul (illustrations). New ed. Stuttgart; Weimar: Metzler, 1996. Vols. 1-4. ill. 25 cm. ISBN 3-476-01338-3: DM 398.00; DM 348.00 (subscription price until April 30, 1997)

96-4-471

Riemann-Sachlexikon Musik [Riemann Dictionary of Music]. Ed. Wilibald Gurlitt and Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht. Special ed. Reprint of Riemann-Musiklexikon [Subjects], 12th completely rev. ed. 1967. Mainz [et al.]: Schott, 1996. xiii, 1087 p. 26 cm. ISBN 3-7957-0032-9: DM 98.00; DM 78.00 (subscription price until March 31, 1997)

Middle-sized music lexica are also becoming standard tools, both because of their clear and scholarly presentation of the material and because of their moderate size and price. Günther Massenkeil's German translation and adaptation of Marc Honegger's 1976 Dictionnaire de la musique, usually cited as Honegger-Massenkeil, has been successful enough to go through numerous printings. In this German edition, which is far more than a mere translation, texts were updated, terms and texts were adapted to a German readership, and over 600 articles relating to stage works were added. It has expanded Honegger-Massenkeil with numerous articles on pop, rock, and jazz. The preface indicates that only articles on living musicologists and citations to secondary literature were deleted; numerous articles on persons, however, have been excluded from this edition. The bibliographical data have not been updated. The lexicon now includes over 10,000 articles, with 6,000 devoted to persons. The Riemann-Musiklexikon, which first appeared in 1882, can look back on a much longer tradition. The present lexicon is an unrevised paperback edition of the subject section of the twelfth, completely revised edition, first published in 1967. Although some important new concepts are therefore not included (minimal music, for example), the advantages of the Riemann lexicon still make it the lexicon of choice; these include numerous articles (with extensive bibliographies) on countries, regions, and localities, as well as a strength in the area of religious music, in which Das neue Lexikon der Musik is weaker. The personal name section of the Riemann is out of date, which is no doubt the reason why the publisher has not reprinted it. [mr/vh]

96-4-473

Beethoven: signori, il catalogo è questo! [Beethoven: Catalog of His Works]. Amedeo Poggi and Edgar Vallora. Torino: Einaudi, 1995. vi, 733 p. 20 cm. (Gli struzzi, 473). ISBN 88-06-13279-2: Lit. 54.000

96-4-474

Mozart: signori, il catalogo è questo! [Mozart: Catalog of His Works]. Amedeo Poggi and Edgar Vallora. Torino: Einaudi, 1991. vi, 767 p. 20 cm. (Gli struzzi ; 421). ISBN 88-06-12742-X: Lit. 48.000

Because of the success of their earlier published catalog of the works of Mozart's compositions, the two compilers Poggi and Vallora have continued their proven formula with a corresponding catalog of Beethoven's works. These sizable catalogs represent not just a Werkverzeichnis, or listing, of the great composers' works, nor are they simply Italian-language versions of the now standard catalogs by Ludwig Ritter von Köchel (Mozart) and Kinsky-Hahn (Beethoven). Rather, the two compilers - both avowed lovers of classic music and not scholars - have successfully brought together informative and interesting companions for the laymen wishing to learn more about the works of Mozart and Beethoven.

Both volumes follow the chronological format of the thematic catalogs by Köchel and Kinsky-Hahn, though neither includes sections on doubtful or spurious works. Each entry contains what one would expect for identifying and acquiring general information on the individual works: title, key, instrumentation (and ensemble indication), year, and place of composition, year of first publication, incipit, and name of author for music with texts. More detailed information is also included, such as a description of the roles in operas, the first lines of text for songs (Liedern), general information about the work, and biographical details. Many entries also include critical commentary and background material on the history and reception of the work.

While the catalogs are laden with information on the individual compositions, the layout and the nature of the textual material (which often even includes interesting anecdotal information) have been designed with the serious devotee in mind (rather than the practicing scholar). The two catalogs end with short bibliographies of essential works for further study, and with an index of instrumentation. Other indexes, such as for title, name, or place, would have added to the usefulness of these works, but they are absent. Nonetheless, these additions to the reference literature on Mozart and Beethoven should appeal to a wide audience of music connoisseurs. [mr/rob]

96-4-475

Hans Werner Henze: ein Werkverzeichnis 1946-1996 [Hans Werner Henze: A Catalog of His Works, 1946-1996]. Ed. Andreas Krause. Mainz [et al.]: Schott, 1996. 436 p. ill. 24 cm. ISBN 3-7957-0322-0: DM 78.00

Normally, the complete index to a composer's work is compiled posthumously and is expected to be, indeed, complete. Sometimes, as in the case of Mozart, it is put together by the composer, in which case certain compositions may be suppressed from the listing. The Henze bibliography at hand is, as Henze himself puts it, "a completely revised and corrected listing," although the excluded works, as well as collective works, occasional pieces and variant titles are accounted for in the chronological index. Henze himself wrote a section containing his observations and suggestions regarding performance, as well as the commentary on the genesis and textual history of the individual works listed in the main body of the bibliography, which is organized by genre, and then chronologically. The information provided for each title includes year of composition/revision, duration of performance, dedication, date of first performance, individual movements, etc. A listing of publishers for available titles remains a desideratum, as does a section that renders the incipts. An appendix contains a selected bibliography of Henze's writings, the chronological (i.e., complete) listing of works, an alphabetical title listing, a listing by instrumentation, the names of librettists and writers of other texts to which Henze set music, and so on. The text is for the most part trilingual (English, German, Italian). The generously conceived layout makes this an easy book to use. This is a milestone work in Henze studies, although scholars will continue to need the index published by the Schott-Verlag (titles vary, e.g. Hans Werner Henze: Werkverzeichnis, Hans Werner Henze: Verzeichnis der veröffentlichten Werke) and the catalog of the Henze holdings of German public music libraries published in Forum Musikbibliotek in 1989. [mr/sl]


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