Musical revolutions : how the sounds of the western world changed / Stuart Isacoff.
| Author/creator | Isacoff, Stuart author. |
| Format | Book |
| Edition | First edition. |
| Publication Info | New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2022. |
| Description | 303 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Introduction -- Singing from symbols [Arezzo, des Pres] -- Tones like coiling vines [Medieval music, Dufay, Dunstable, Palestrina] -- The birth of opera [Monteverdi] -- Out of the Bachs -- The show-offs [Paganini, Paganini Violin Concerto no. 1, Liszt, Mozart] -- The alchemy of sound [Debussy, gamelan, electronic music] -- Jazz goes to Paris [Gershwin] -- A great noise [Antheil, Stravinsky, Rite of Spring] -- Emancipating the dissonance [Schoenberg, Berg] -- Bebop [Gillespie, Monk] -- Miles ahead [Davis] -- Process music [Reich, Glass] -- A question of sex [women in music] -- Mozart among the lotus blossoms [Chinese music] -- Epilogue: the revolutionary spirit. |
| Abstract | From the critically acclaimed author of Temperament, a narrative account of the most defining moments in musical history--classical, jazz, rock--all of which forever altered Western culture. The invention of musical notation by a skittish Italian monk in the eleventh century. The introduction of multilayered hymns in the Middle Ages. The birth of opera in a Venice rebelling against the church's pious restraints. Baroque, Romantic, and atonal music; bebop and cool jazz; Bach and Liszt; Miles Davis and John Coltrane. In telling the exciting story of Western music's evolution, the author explains how music became entangled in politics, culture, and economics, giving rise to new eruptions at every turn, from the early church's attempts to bind its followers by teaching them to sing in unison, to the global spread of American jazz through the Black platoons of the First World War. The author investigates questions like: when does noise become music? How do musical tones reflect the natural laws of the universe? Why did discord become the primary sound of modernity? This book is replete with the stories of our most renowned musical artists, including notable achievements of people of color and women, whose paths to success were the most difficult. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 279-285) and index. |
| LCCN | 2021045361 |
| ISBN | 9780525658634 hardcover |
| ISBN | 0525658637 hardcover |
| ISBN | electronic book |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music | Music Stacks | ML160 .I83 2022 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |