Western Classical Music Resources: Find Books, Films, & Recordings

American popular music reflects a rich cultural diversity. From Aaron Copland to Miles Davis to Elvis Presley to Muddy Waters, the United States has produced some of the most influential and beloved musicians and performers of the 20th century. The blues, jazz, and rock and roll - musical genres loved around the world - were born here, and American composers, producers, singers, and songwriters have crafted a unique heritage in other genres such as classical and folk. ""American Popular Music"", a new eight-volume set, celebrates American music by presenting a wealth of information on seven major musical branches. Each comprehensive book provides the perfect, one-stop starting point for research in each musical field. Between 300 and 500 entries in each volume cover key personalities, landmark performances and recordings, hit songs and experimental compositions, important publications, musical instruments, styles of music, social and historical issues, organizations and schools, record companies, and much more. Together, the volumes comprise a panoramic depiction of American music and the influential threads that weave among the different musical genres. Written by experts for students and enthusiasts, ""American Popular Music"" is an essential resource for the study and appreciation of American music. A seven-member editorial board of expert advisers includes top academics who are also performing musicians, producers, and songwriters, including a Grammy nominee and an internationally recognized composer. Each book includes 40 to 60 photographs, a glossary, a discography of recommended listening, a chronology, and an index. The eighth volume, included for free with the purchase of the complete seven-volume set, is a comprehensive index that allows readers to easily locate musical terms, musicians, songs, and more throughout the entire set, ""American Popular Music"" is a must-have resource not only for students researching music but also for those interested in social movements, cultural history, geography, technology, the growth of broadcast and recorded media, ethnography and anthropology, and many other topics.

Since time immemorial, the response of the living to death has been to commemorate the life of the departed through ceremonies and rituals. For nearly two millennia, the Christian quest for eternal peace has been expressed in a poetic-musical structure known as the requiem. Traditional requiem texts, among them the anonymous medieval Latin poem Dies Irae ("Day of Wrath"), have inspired an untold number of composers in different ages and serving different religions, Western and Eastern. This book, the first comprehensive survey of requiem music for nearly half a century, provides a great deal of diverse and detailed information that will be of use to the professional musician, the musical scholar, the choral conductor, the theologian and liturgist, and the general reader. The main body of the guide is a description of some 250 requiems. Each entry includes a concise biography of the composer and a description of the composition. Details of voicing, orchestration, editions, and discography are given. An extensive bibliography includes dictionaries, encyclopedias, prayer books, monographs, and articles. An appendix lists more than 1700 requiems not discussed within the main text.

This 2-volume reference work offers a complete chronology of classical music from the 18th-century through the end of the 20th. Organized by year, each entry gives: births of key musicians/composers, deaths, performing debuts, new positions, prizes/honors, bibliographical highlights, cultural beginnings, musical literature, and compositions. This work answers hundreds of common questions, from "Who wrote that piece?" to "When was it first performed"? A complete index is given in each volume, making finding information quick and easy. This book will strongly appeal to music students, professors, and lovers of classical music.

Among the reviewers of the arts, classical music critics are perhaps the least esteemed by those they write about. Yet these often despised beings are also, for better or worse, key players in the world of classical music. This history, in which Mark N. Grant traces the development of music criticism in the United States from the early 19th century to the present, is both a comprehensive portrait gallery of our significant music critics and a study of the evolving role of classical music in American cultural life.

Volume I. Orchestral works ; Chamber music (23 discs) -- Volume II. Keyboard works (23 discs) -- Volume III. Cantatas I (30 discs) -- Volume IV. Cantatas II (30 discs) -- Volume V. Vocal works (32 discs) -- Volume VI. Organ works (17 discs) -- [Volume VII.] Texts/libretti (CD-ROM).

v.1. Symphonies -- v.2. Concertos -- v.3. Serenades, divertimenti, dances -- v.4. Chamber music, violin sonatas, church sonatas -- v.5. String ensembles -- v.6. Keyboard works -- v.7. Sacred works -- v.8. Concert arias, songs, canons -- v.9. Operas -- [v.10] Texts/libretti (on CD-ROM disc).