New Perspectives in Music History and Criticism Series

Generally acknowledged as the most important German musicologist of his age, Hugo Riemann (1849-1919) shaped the ideas of generations of music scholars, not least because his work coincided with the institutionalisation of academic musicology around the turn of the last century. This influence, however, belies the contentious idea at the heart of his musical thought, an idea he defended for most of his career - harmonic dualism. By situating Riemann's musical thought within turn-of-the-century discourses about the natural sciences, German nationhood and modern technology, this book reconstructs the cultural context in which Riemann's ideas not only 'made sense' but advanced an understanding of the tonal tradition as both natural and German. Riemann's musical thought - from his considerations of acoustical properties to his aesthetic and music-historical views - thus regains the coherence and cultural urgency that it once possessed.

This book explores the evolution of, and interactions between, fantasy and music in Romantic France, providing new contexts for the study of Berlioz and his contemporaries. The volume will appeal to readers beyond the musicological community, drawing together musical, literary, scientific, and visual materials, and applying theoretical and historical approaches.

Julie Brown presents a new way of understanding Schoenberg's step into atonality in 1908. Reconsidering his early atonal works, his theoretical writings and previously unexplored archival documents, she argues that Schoenberg's revolutionary step was in part a response to Wagner's negative charges concerning the Jewish influence on German music.

A fresh perspective on the Ballets Russes, focusing on relations between music, dance and the cultural politics of belle-epoque Paris.

Political Beethoven explores Beethoven's music as an active participant in political life from the Napoleonic Wars to the present day.

With new information on four generations of women musicians, this book expands and alters the narratives that scholars and musicians have told about music in sixteenth-century Ferrara. A radical perspective on a familiar repertoire, it proposes a new way of thinking with consequences for music history and performance practice.