Cambridge Companion To The Lied, The

Description:
Beginning several generations before Schubert, the Lied first appears as domestic entertainment. In the century that follows it becomes one of the primary modes of music-making. By the time German song comes to its presumed conclusion with Richard Strauss's 1948 Vier letzte Lieder, this rich repertoire has moved beyond the home and keyboard accompaniment to the symphony hall. This is the first introductory chronicle of this fascinating genre. In essays by eminent scholars, this Companion places the Lied in its full context - at once musical, literary, and cultural - with chapters devoted to focal composers as well as important issues, such as the way in which the Lied influenced other musical genres, its use as a musical commodity, and issues of performance. The volume is framed by a detailed chronology of German music and poetry from the late 1730s to the present and also contains a comprehensive bibliography.

Review:
'How pleasing to see that the lied merits its own volume in this attractively presented series from CUP' The Schubertian '... a fine addition to the material written on this subject, and I do recommend it highly.' Piano Professional

Table of Contents:
Notes on the contributors; Acknowledgments; The Lied in context: a chronology; Names and dates mentioned in this Volume; Part I. Introducing a Genre: 'Introduction: Why the Lied?' James Parsons: 1. 'In the beginning was poetry' Jane Brown; Part II. The Birth and Early History of a Genre in the Age of Enlightenment: 2. The eighteenth-century Lied James Parsons; 3. The Lieder of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven Amanda Glauert; Part III. The Nineteenth Century: Issues of Style and Development: 4. The Lieder of Schubert Marie-Agnes Dittrich; 5. The early nineteenth-century song cycle Ruth O. Bingham; 6. Schumann: reconfiguring the Lied Jurgen Thym; 7. The Lied at mid-century James Deaville; 8. The Lieder of Liszt Rena Charnin Mueller; 9. The Lieder of Brahms Heather Platt; 10. Tradition and innovation: the Lieder of Hugo Wolf Susan Youens; 11. Song beyond song: instrumental transformations and adaptations of the Lied from Schubert to Mahler Christopher H. Gibbs; Part IV. Into the Twentieth Century: 12. The Lieder of Mahler and Richard Strauss James L. Zychowicz; 13. The Lied in the modern age: to mid century James Parsons; Part V. Reception and Performance: 14. The circulation of the Lied: the double life of an artwork and a commodity David Gramit; 15. The Lied in performance Graham Johnson; A guide to suggested further reading; Index.

Author Biography:
JAMES PARSONS is Associate Professor of Music History at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. He is the author of numerous essays on German song, including the article on the eighteenth-century Lied for the second edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. His article ''Deine Zauber binden wieder': Beethoven, Schiller, and the Joyous Reconciliation of Opposites,' recently was published in Beethoven Forum, (2002) 9/1, 1-53. Other essays have appeared in The Journal of the American Musicological Society and Music Analysis.