Critical entertainments : music old and new / Charles Rosen.

Author/creator Rosen, Charles
Format Book
Publication InfoCambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 2000.
Description328 pages : music ; 25 cm
Subjects
Music--History and criticism.

Contents Introduction -- Performance and musicology. The aesthetics of stage fright -- The discipline of philology: Oliver Strunk -- The eighteenth century. Keyboard music of Bach and Handel -- The rediscovering of Haydn -- Describing Mozart -- Beaumarchais: inventor of modern opera -- Radical, conventional Mozart -- Beethoven's career -- Brahms. Brahms: influence, plagiarism, and inspiration -- Brahms the subversive -- Brahms: Classicism and the inspiration of awkwardness -- Musical studies: contrasting views. The benefits of authenticity -- Dictionaries: the old Harvard -- Dictionaries: the New Grove's -- The new musicology -- The crisis of the modern. Schoenberg: the possibilities of disquiet -- The performance of contemporary music: Carter's Double Concerto -- The irrelevance of serious music.
Abstract These essays cover a broad range of musical forms, historical periods, and issues--from Bach through Brahms to Carter and Schoenberg, from contrapuntal keyboard music to opera, from performance practices to music history as a discipline. They revisit the author's favorite subjects and pursue some less familiar paths. They court controversy (with strong opinions about performance on historical instruments, the so-called New Musicology, and the alleged "death" of classical music) and offer enlightenment on subjects as diverse as music dictionaries and the aesthetics of stage fright.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references and index.
LCCN 99088602
ISBN0674177304 (alk. paper)

Availability

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Music Music Stacks ML60 .R7848 2000 ✔ Available Place Hold