Music

Richard Wagner

A Life in Music

Martin Geck

“Geck describes a Wagner who is grounded, focused, and even cautious, a savvy realist and ironist rather than a flamboyant, flailing ideologue. . . . Geck’s musical analyses are succinct and superb, and he is skilled at finding clues to Wagner in the interstices of his career.”—New York Times

2013 464 p. 6 x 9 43 halftones, 37 line drawings 272 Cloth ISBN: 978-0-226-92461-8 $35.00

Your Price: $11.00

A Portrait in Four Movements

The Chicago Symphony under Barenboim, Boulez, Haitink, and Muti

Andrew Patner

“The interviews in A Portrait in Four Movements often read like relaxed conversations over drinks, even as they are guided by Patner’s subtle hand. . . For Patner [music reviewer for the Chicago Sun-Times], music was lifeblood for a rich and meaningful existence, and his role was to share it.”—Chicago Tribune

“This book . . . will primarily appeal to music fans who pay attention to who’s at the conductor’s podium, but it’s an intriguing read for more casual fans as well: these are people whose lives revolve around thinking deeply about music, but their personalities and quirks, from Bernard Haitink’s dry wit to Riccardo Muti’s scholarly approach, shine through. A charming addition for followers of orchestral music.”—Library Journal

2019 272 p. 6 x 9 12 halftones 273 Cloth ISBN: 978-0-226-60991-1 $27.50

Your Price: $9.00

American Orchestras in the Nineteenth Century

Edited by John Spitzer

“This collection of diverse essays reflects well the fits and starts of American orchestral development. . . . While American orchestras’ leadership is beyond question, the path by which they reached it is shown to be much less direct and far more compelling.”—Journal of American History Music and Science in London, 1789–1851

Edited by J. Q. Davies and Ellen Lockhart

“The book picks up on recent work on the history of soundscapes, on scientific exhibitions and lectures, and on the sites of metropolitan knowledge production and consumption and connects them in ways that it would be hard not to find stimulating.”—Isis

2017 256 p. 6 x 9 34 halftones, 4 line drawings, 1 table 275 Cloth ISBN: 978-0-226-40207-9 $59.00

Your Price: $14.00

Curious and Modern Inventions

Instrumental Music as Discovery in Galileo’s Italy

Rebecca Cypess

“Curious and Modern Inventions takes readers on a wide-ranging journey through early seventeenthcentury culture, musical and otherwise. This is a highly rewarding adventure.”—Journal of the American Musicological Society

“An elegant book. . . . It should become essential reading for anyone interested in early modern Italian science.”—Isis

2016 320 p. 6 x 9 4 color plates, 17 halftones, 72 line drawings, 4 tables 276 Cloth ISBN: 978-0-226-31944-5 $59.00

Your Price: $14.00

Wherever the Sound Takes You

Heroics and Heartbreak in Music Making

David Rowell

“Quirky and delightful. . . Instead of the usual band profiles or reviews, Wherever the Sound Takes You offers eight elegant essays chronicling the odd, the marginal and the forgotten. . . . Rowell treats his subjects seriously, as people worthy of having their stories told, which endows them with dignity.”—Washington Post

“By focusing so narrowly—e.g., on the “hang,” an obscure, expensive instrument in Switzerland, the popular rise and decline of the Hammond organ, or the cult appeal of musical aggression known as “grindcore”—Rowell offers revelations that seem universal, if often ineffable. . . . Every story concerns music, but the heart of each is people—the ones who make the music or the instruments and the ones whose lives depend on it. Readers who have had any sort of musical passion should find these stories compelling.”—Kirkus Reviews

2019 248 p. 6 x 9 12 halftones 277 Cloth ISBN: 978-0-226-47755-8 $22.50

Your Price: $7.00

A Place for Us

West Side Story and New York

Julia L. Foulkes

“Foulkes’s approach is chronological, but this is no pedantic march through time. Rather, it is a fascinating read focusing equally on the show and the world into which it was born.”—Choice What It Is and Who Gets to Decide

John J. Sheinbaum

“Sheinbaum offers many brilliant ideas in his original and roaming coverage of seeming opposites: Mahler, Beethoven, Handel with Bruce Springsteen, prog rock, and jazz. Sheinbaum’s analysis of the Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ is particularly insightful.”—Choice

2018 320 p. 6 x 9 2 halftones, 25 musical examples, 8 tables 279 Paper ISBN: 978-0-226-59338-8 $32.00

Your Price: $11.00

Nightingales in Berlin

Searching for the Perfect Sound

David Rothenberg

“A hugely thoughtful and fascinating book. . . . Rothenberg strikes me as bonkers, but also brilliant, and his book expands on this musical challenge to ask key questions relevant to anyone engaged with the natural world.”—Spectator

2019 184 p. 6 x 9 14 color plates, 14 halftones, 1 line drawing 280 Cloth ISBN: 978-0-226-46718-4 $26.00

Your Price: $9.00

The Works of Giuseppe Verdi

Il trovatore

Critical Edition Study Score

2016 352 p. 81/2 x 11 5 halftones 281 Paper ISBN: 978-0-226-41972-5 $48.00

Your Price: $12.00

La traviata

Critical Edition Study Score

2017 624 p. 81/2 x 11 5 halftones 282 Paper ISBN: 978-0-226-52129-9 $48.00

Your Price: $12.00

Macbeth

Melodramma in Four Acts. Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave

Harvey G. Cohen

“Duke Ellington’s America attempts to get under the skin of this apparently most imperturbable of men, and the results, if hardly conclusive, are fascinating. . . . Extremely intelligent and formidably documented book—a welcome change from much that has been published about Ellington.”—New Yorker

“Illuminates Ellington’s career as never before, and also helps to deepen our understanding of larger trends and issues in American politics and culture. No previous book on Ellington has followed the money so rigorously, laying bare the interworkings of art and capital.”—Times Literary Supplement

2011 704 p. 6 x 9 12 halftones 284 Paper ISBN: 978-0-226-11264-0 $22.50

Your Price: $8.00

The Art of the Blues

A Visual Treasury of Black Music’s Golden Age

Bill Dahl

“The Art of the Blues celebrates the visual swagger of the blues. . . . This exhaustive book is a rich tapestry of how art was used to push the blues as an undisputed king of music in its 20th century heyday. . . . A sublime pictorial history of the blues itself.”—PopMatters

“The Art of the Blues will be a jewel in any blues fans library. It not only enhances the ability to understand and enjoy the music, it acts as a lavish historical document that will enrich anyone’s understanding of American history and the blues place in our ever changing society.”—Chicago Blues Guide

2016 224 p. 91/2 x 11 350 color plates 285 Cloth ISBN: 978-0-226-39669-9 $35.00

Your Price: $11.00

Say No to the Devil

The Life and Musical Genius of Rev. Gary Davis

Ian Zack

“[In this] biography of the blind preacher and street musician, the man who Keith Richards said, ‘started it all for me,’ . . . Zack gives an informative account of Davis’s life, both the sacred and profane. . . . A readable and faithful portrait of the times as well as the man.” —Times Literary Supplement

2015 344 p. 6 x 9 30 halftones 286 Cloth ISBN: 978-0-226-23410-6 $32.00

Your Price: $7.00

The Death and Resurrection of Elvis Presley

Ted Harrison

“Harrison’s central thesis—that Elvis has been much more heavily and successfully commercialized in death than in life—is convincing. . . . It is original. And its most compelling line is that the reason Elvis has been so brilliantly marketed after his death is because he was so badly handled in his lifetime.”—Spectator Rap Dreams in South Central

Jooyoung Lee

“Blowin’ Up: Rap Dreams in South Central represents a jump through the keyhole into the world of hiphop as it is lived by some of the art form’s most dedicated practitioners. . . . Necessary and important, Blowin’ Up provides an intimate look at this essential art form.” —PopMatters

2016 272 p. 6 x 9 9 halftones 288 Paper ISBN: 978-0-226-34889-6 $23.00

Your Price: $7.00

Rave On

Global Adventures in Electronic Dance Music

Matthew Collin

“Here are ten x-rays of dance culture in ten global hotspots that lovingly trace the history of each locale’s sound through its DJs, promoters, and proponents. . . . Collin’s quest is never short of illuminating.”—Observer

“With a DJ’s skill for the emotive build and drop, [Collin] deftly organizes these essays to illuminate club culture’s role in saving cities from bland gentrification; the health of the underground speaking volumes about the health of the society above.”—Sunday Times

2018 384 p. 6 x 9 13 halftones 289 Paper ISBN: 978-0-226-59548-1 $20.00

Your Price: $7.00

Music/City

American Festivals and Placemaking in Austin, Nashville, and Newport

Jonathan R. Wynn

“Wynn shows how music festivals like the Newport Folk Festival and Austin’s SXSW, have become increasingly important platforms as much for cities and their economies as for the careers of musicians.”—Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class “As a professional musician who rarely sees festivals from any perspective but the stage I found Music/City jam-packed with fascinating and indispensable information. Wynn has created a must read for music fans and festival goers the world over while also generating a how-to for the prospective host communities.”—Tegan Quin, singer-songwriter for the Grammy–nominated band Tegan and Sara

2015 336 p. 6 x 9 29 halftones, 4 line drawings 290 Paper ISBN: 978-0-226-30552-3 $32.00

Your Price: $9.00

Let’s Make a Better World

Stories and Songs by Jane Sapp

Jane Sapp and Cynthia Cohen

“Jane Sapp is a musical and cultural power. Her work in the field as a cultural organizer is only matched by what happens when she explodes on stage.”—Bernice Johnson Reagon, founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock

Neil Young

American Traveller

Martin Halliwell

“Halliwell knows what he’s talking about, and writes with real enthusiasm and know-how.”—PopMatters

“Halliwell’s study of Neil Young is a superb cultural history and a highly informed piece of music criticism. By situating Young’s songs and films in specific locations, as well as the deterritorialised realms of time and space, Halliwell explores the boundary-smashing nature of a 50-year career that has transformed the history of North American music.”—Will Kaufman, author of Woody Guthrie, American Radical

Distributed for Reaktion Books

2015 224 p. 6 x 81/4 35 halftones 292 Paper ISBN: 978-1-78023-531-8 $25.00

Your Price: $9.00

The Beatles in Hamburg

Ian Inglis

“Mr. Inglis has made a solid contribution to what I suppose we by now ought to call Beatles Studies. As an account of the ideas and ideals that impelled the band through its most formative years, the book is unbeatable.”—Wall Street Journal

“Inglis is at his best when summarizing the environmental forces and personal relationships that fostered the intense level of artistic growth the group achieved during their time in that city. In his chapter on the Beatles’ musical influences, he adeptly summarizes, in a short space, the unusual variety of musical currents that entered into their repertoire, including rhythm and blues, rockabilly, doo-wop, and Brill Building pop.” —The Weekly Standard

Distributed for Reaktion Books

2012 208 p. 54/5 x 81/4 30 halftones 293 Paper ISBN: 978-1-86189-915-6 $25.00

Your Price: $9.00

Van Halen

Exuberant California, Zen Rock’n’roll

John Scanlan

“Diamond Dave as a Zen master? Eddie Van Halen as musical monk? That’s the case John Scanlan makes—tongue only partly in cheek—in this learned but lively take on Van Halen’s rise to the pinnacle of rockstardom, improvising all the way. Philosophy you can dance to.”—Barnes and Noble Review