Scarecrow Press
Pages: 368
•
Trim: 6½ x 9½
978-0-8108-5750-6 • Hardback • April 2011 • $147.00 • (£113.00)
978-0-8108-7951-5 • eBook • April 2011 • $139.50 • (£108.00)
Charles Edward McGuire is associate professor of Musicology at Oberlin College. His research focuses on the music of 19th- and 20th-century England, in particular the music of Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, the history of English music festivals, and the Tonic Sol-fa Movement.
Steven E. Plank is professor of Musicology at Oberlin College. His wide-ranging research includes studies of the relationship of liturgics and musical style, the music of 17th-century England, the oratorio, and questions of historical performance practice.
McGuire (Music and Victorian Philanthropy) and Plank (Choral Performance) identify the composers, publishers, venues, movements, companies, genres, and major works from England’s Renaissance to rock’s infancy....The alphabetized entries are accessible and fully cross-referenced and in a field of period-specific monographs, this is the first book to embrace such a broad span of musical history.
— Library Journal
Authors McGuire and Plank, both on the music faculty of Oberlin College, present brief entries for people, musical styles, organizations, significant compositions, and events related to more than 500 years of English “classical” music history. They are clear in their preface that coverage is limited to the music of England, not the greater British Isles, unless particular topics or people from outside England had a significant connection to England’s musical culture. Examples of these inclusions are German-born composers Felix Mendelssohn and George Frideric Handel. A chronology is followed by the introduction, in which the authors walk readers through each featured century of English music, highlighting characteristics, composers, styles, and genres that represent music of the country: for example, secular “lute songs” of the Elizabethan sixteenth century, operas of Henry Purcell in the seventeenth century, and the “Golden Era” of English music in the twentieth century, led by composers Benjamin Britten, Gustav Holst, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. In fact, England’s “Golden Era” ends with the death of Vaughan Williams, in 1958, not coincidentally the terminal date for the volume’s coverage. More than 600 entries vary in length from a paragraph or two to more than two pages for some broad musical subjects like Opera. The majority of the biographies are for composers, with only a few prominent performers included. The well-organized bibliography is arranged by name and topic. Surprisingly, there are no significant comparable volumes available on this topic, making this a nice addition for academic and music libraries.
— Booklist
Oberlin scholars McGuire and Plank here maintain the high standards achieved in earlier volumes of the "Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts." An introductory essay discusses the establishment of a specifically English musical idiom, and there is also a useful chronology. The main dictionary includes entries for composers, performers, genres, organizations, important manuscripts and publications, and specific works regarded as English musical landmarks (e.g., Dido and Aeneas, Messiah, Elijah). McGuire and Plank provide entries for both English musical figures and continental European composers and performers (e. g., Mendelssohn, Lind) who made major contributions to English musical life. The two compilers discuss in detail certain genres peculiarly English, such as the carol and the masque. They also provide fine descriptions of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, including the Old Hall Manuscript, Eton Choirbook, and Fayrfax Book. The bibliography is wide-ranging. Recommended. All academic libraries; lower-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty. — Choice Reviews
This excellent and thoughtful historical introduction covers some dozen pages and usefully surveys the concept and development of English music – or music in England – and the interplay of a succession of foreign-born musicians over some five hundred years into the always active British musical scene. The actual coverage is remarkably good although the entries are short. — The Elger Society Journal
The authors note early on their position as American scholars writing about English music, but they demonstrate both interest and longstanding research experience in different aspects of English music.The seemingly arbitrary cut-off date of the book at 1958 is in fact because this was the year of Vaughan Williams’ death. He is seen to represent the last in a line of composers writing in a quintessentially “English” style from the end of the nineteenth to the middle of the twentieth centuries, and this allows the book to remain current rather than constantly having to update for every new development within the sphere of musical composition in England....Generally a useful addition to specialist music libraries and larger general reference collections, particularly as it will not date quickly.— Reference Reviews
Historical Dictionary of English Music focuses on music from the early Renaissance to the mid-20th century, ending with the death of Ralph Vaughan Williams. The dictionary begins with a list of acronyms and abbreviations, a chronology beginning in the 1335 Robertsbridge Codex, and ending with the death in 1958 with the death of Vaughan Williams. In an introduction the authors provide an interesting overview of English music, which can stand alone in its historical depth. The main part of the bibliography is alphabetically arranged and annotated. It provides the name, dates of birth and death, the person’s involvement with music, and a brief biography. No individual discographies or bibliographies are provided. In addition there is a selected bibliography that begins with an interesting essay and contains about 500 items. The bibliography begins with references and general works, and then lists composers, conductors, critics, journalists, and assorted writers, musical instruments, and miscellaneous. Recommended for larger public and academic libraries.
— American Reference Books Annual