Synopsis:
This first scholarly book on Cecile Chaminade, a popular composer, pianist, and one of the few women to attain critical acclaim as a composer in the early twentieth century, contains an extensive biography drawn from a significant collection of primary sources. The study presents basic information, including facts not previously published, on this neglected composer and it offers a discussion of historical and aesthetic issues inherent in her life and career as well as observations about her musical style. The exhaustive bibliography, an annotated listing of her prolific output, contains a selection of reviews of her compositions and first performances, and a brief section identifying her prose works. The up-to-date discography lists every commercially made recording of her individual works, anthologies, and performances, and it includes out-of-print releases. This informative book offers the first detailed presentation of information on the location of Chaminade musical autographs and first editions. It fills an urgent need for the basic facts about her life and activities: exactly what she composed, when and why. It also deals with the nature of her performing career and documents critical reviews of both her playing and her compositions. This is the only volume of its kind on Chaminade and one of the few available on any women composer. It will be an indispensable resource for musicologists and researchers of women composers and French music history, as well as a valuable addition to all university and college music libraries.
Review:
"Citron, an expert on 19th-century women composers, does a thorough study of Cecile Chaminade in this volume. The book begins with a short scholarly biography of the composer, the first of its kind on Chaminade, based on various primary sources and interviews with surviving relatives. Previous biographical dictionary entries have been filled with errors. The biography is followed with a list of the composer's works, including dates and places of premieres and early performances, if known. A discography and a 479-item annotated bibliography end the main body of the volume. The bibliography includes concert announcements, contemporary reviews, dictionary entries, writings by Chaminade, and obituaries. The entries are arranged chronologically rather than alphabetically, providing an interesting picture of the musical world's awareness of the composer. The volume ends with useful alphabetical and classified lists of works and a summary of archival resources. The book is a valuable asset for both undergraduate and graduate students interested in Chaminade. It would also be a time-saving resource for scholars writing lengthier biographies."-Choice
?Citron, an expert on 19th-century women composers, does a thorough study of Cecile Chaminade in this volume. The book begins with a short scholarly biography of the composer, the first of its kind on Chaminade, based on various primary sources and interviews with surviving relatives. Previous biographical dictionary entries have been filled with errors. The biography is followed with a list of the composer's works, including dates and places of premieres and early performances, if known. A discography and a 479-item annotated bibliography end the main body of the volume. The bibliography includes concert announcements, contemporary reviews, dictionary entries, writings by Chaminade, and obituaries. The entries are arranged chronologically rather than alphabetically, providing an interesting picture of the musical world's awareness of the composer. The volume ends with useful alphabetical and classified lists of works and a summary of archival resources. The book is a valuable asset for both undergraduate and graduate students interested in Chaminade. It would also be a time-saving resource for scholars writing lengthier biographies.?-Choice
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