Collins Memorial Library: Music: Musical Analysis

Introduction

This page is a starting point for Puget Sound students looking for sources that analyze specific works of composers.

Sources

Analyses of Nineteenth- And Twentieth-Century Music, 1940-2000 by Arthur Wenk (Contribution by); D. J. Hoek
Call Number: Reference (ML113 .H695 2007 )
ISBN: 9780810858879
Publication Date: 2007-02-15
This new volume incorporates all entries from the previous editions by Arthur Wenk, expanding to cover writings drawn from periodicals, theses, dissertations, books, and Festschriften from 1940 to 2000. Over 9,000 references to analyses of works by over 1,000 composers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are included.
Music Analyses by Harold J. Diamond
Call Number: Reference (ML128.A7 D5 1991 )
ISBN: 9780028701103
Publication Date: 1991-05-01
This is a reference source to the analytical literature on music from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, designed for music scholars, students, and concert-goers interested in a technical explanation of a favourite composition.
Symphonies and Other Orchestral Works by Donald Francis Tovey
Call Number: Print Books (MT125 .T69 2015 )
ISBN: 9780486784526
Publication Date: 2015-02-18
More than 100 selections from the noted musicologist's Essays in Musical Analysis cover most of the standard works in the symphonic repertory. Subjects include Beethoven's overtures and symphonies, including the author's famous study of the Ninth Symphony; all Brahms's overtures and symphonies; 11 symphonies by Haydn; six by Mozart; three symphonies each by Schubert, Schumann, and Sibelius; four symphonies by Dvoràk; and many other works by composers from Bach to Vaughan Williams.
Concertos and Choral Works by Donald Francis Tovey
Call Number: Print Books (MT90 .T59 2015 )
ISBN: 9780486784502
Publication Date: 2015-02-18
Drawn from the well-known musicologist's celebrated Essays in Musical Analysis, this volume contains nearly all of the concertos in the standard repertoire, from Bach's concerto for two violins to Walton's concerto for viola. More than fifty selections include choral works with in-depth essays.

University of Tennessee Analysis Index
The Analysis Index provides access to program notes and descriptions or analyses of musical compositions in books owned by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The call numbers for the books should be the same or similar to those used in Collins Library.

Critical Works

Use Primo to find books that provide critical analysis.

Search the composer's name and criticism interpretation.

Ex. Mozart criticism interpretation (see examples below)

Mozart's Requiem by Simon P. Keefe
Call Number: Print Books (ML410.M9 K27 2012)
ISBN: 9780521198370
Publication Date: 2012-06-28
Presenting a fresh interpretation of Mozart's Requiem, Simon P. Keefe redresses a longstanding scholarly imbalance whereby narrow consideration of the text of this famously incomplete work has taken precedence over consideration of context in the widest sense. Keefe details the reception of the Requiem legend in general writings, fiction, theatre and film, as well as discussing criticism, scholarship and performance.
The Cambridge Companion to Mozart by Simon P. Keefe (Editor); Jonathan Cross (Contribution by)
Call Number: Print Books (ML410.M9 C255 2003)
ISBN: 9780521807340
Publication Date: 2003-05-22
Part I situates Mozart in the context of late eighteenth-century musical environments and aesthetic trends that played a pivotal role in his artistic development and examines his methods of composition. Part II surveys Mozart's works in all of the genres in which he excelled and Part III looks at the reception of the composer and his music since his death. Part IV offers insight into Mozart's career as a performer as well as theoretical and practical perspectives on historically informed performances of his music.

Biographies

Use Primo to find biographies of the composer. They frequently frequently include information about compositions.

Search the composer's name and biography

Ex. Vivaldi biography (see example below)

Antonio Vivaldi by Karl Heller; David Marinelli (Translator)
Call Number: Print Books (ML410.V82 H4413 1997 )
ISBN: 9781574670158
Publication Date: 1997-04-01

Databases

Search Tips:

When searching for analysis in databases, try the following terms along with the composer or name of work:

Reception
Reputation
Criticism

JSTOR
An interdisciplinary journal archive. It includes archives of over one thousand leading academic journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as select monographs and other materials valuable for academic work.
Music Periodicals Database
Provides indexing, abstracts and full-text, for international music periodicals. Content covers the full spectrum of subjects and all aspects of music, including music education, performance, ethnomusicology, musical theatre, theory, popular music forms and composition.

Research Guides

Use Primo to find research guides about a composer. These guides typically contain a chronology, complete list of works, detailed discography, and an annotated bibliography of books and articles.

Search the name of the composer and research guide. Ex. Brahms research guide

See examples below.

Johannes Brahms by Timothy Platt
Call Number: Print Books (ML134.B8 P6 2003)
ISBN: 9780203504444
Publication Date: 2003-03-01
Gustav and Alma Mahler by Susan M. Filler
Call Number: Print Books (ML134.M34 F54 2008)
ISBN: 9780415943888
Publication Date: 2007-11-02
This revised edition updates the core bibliography on Gustave Mahler (as well as his spouse and fellow composer Alma Mahler) by incorporating new research gathered over the past dozen years on his life and professional works.

Critical Editions of Scores

Critical editions of scores typically include commentaries. Below are some examples. Use Primo to find more.

Beethoven's Eroica Sketchbook by Lewis Lockwood (Editor); Alan Gosman (Editor)
Call Number: Print Books (ML96.4 .B4 2013 )
ISBN: 9780252037436
Publication Date: 2013-08-15
This edition makes available both a complete facsimile and transcription of the sketchbook for the first time, along with a detailed commentary on the origins, contents, and significance of this vitally important source.
Songs of Claude Debussy by Claude Debussy (Composed by); James R. Briscoe (Other Primary Creator)
Call Number: (M1619 D4 S6 1993 v.1 )
ISBN: 9780793529872
Publication Date: 1993-11-01
Each song is presented with a line-by-line translation and full critical notes citing the research as it applies to specifics in the songs.
Cantata by Gerhard Herz (Editor); Johann Sebastian Bach
Call Number: Score Music (M2020 .B16 S.4, H3 )
ISBN: 9780393097610
Publication Date: 1967-12-17
Music examples and charts illustrate the analyses, and each essay is fully annotated by the editor.

Oxford Music Online

Music Online (Oxford)
Provides articles on composers, performers, conductors, instruments and notation, forms and genres, and individual works.

Access limited to 3 simultaneous users.

Oxford Studies of Composers Series

Use Primo to find more books in this series. Search oxford studies composers.

Debussy by Roger Nichols
Call Number: ML410.D28 N5
ISBN: 0193154269
Publication Date: 1973-07-18
Henry Purcell by Peter Holman
Call Number: ML410.P93 H63 1994
ISBN: 9780198163404
Publication Date: 1995-02-23
This book, the first general survey of Purcell's music in a generation, is published to coincide with the tercentenary of his death. It is the first book to explore in detail the historical context of Purcell's music, dealing fully with the institutions he worked for, the origin anddevelopment of the various genres to which he contributed, and the sources of his music. In the process, a new picture of Purcell's creative personality emerges: a composer obsessed with formal counterpoint, extraordinarily well-versed in English music of the previous century, yet eager to embraceup-to-date features of the Italian style in the 1680s.
Palestrina by Jerome Roche
Call Number: Print Books (ML410.P15 R5 )
ISBN: 0193141175
Publication Date: 1971-12-15
Schoenberg by Anthony Payne
Call Number: ML410.S283 P38
ISBN: 9780193141162
Publication Date: 1970-02-15
Shostakovitch by Norman Kay
Call Number: ML410.S53 K4
ISBN: 0193154226
Publication Date: 1971-12-15