The Song Cycle

by Laura Tunbridge

• ISBN13: 9780521721073
• ISBN10: 0521721075
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-03-07
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The song cycle was one of the most important musical genres of the nineteenth century. Famous examples by Schubert, Schumann and Mahler have received a great deal of attention. Yet many other cycles - by equally famous composers, from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries - have not. The Song Cycle introduces key concepts and a broad repertoire by tracing a history of the genre from Beethoven through to the present day. It explores how song cycles reflect the world around them and how national traditions and social relationships are represented in composers' choice of texts and musical styles. Tunbridge investigates how other types of music have influenced the scope of the song cycle, from operas and symphonies to popular song. A lively and engaging guide to this important topic, the book outlines how performance practices, from concert customs to new recording technologies, have changed the way we listen.

Table of Contents

List of music examples	p. ix
List of tables	p. xiv
Preface and acknowledgements	p. xv
Selected chronology	p. xvii
Concepts	p. 1
Wanderers and balladeers	p. 23
Performance: the long nineteenth century	p. 40
Gendered voices	p. 50
Between opera and symphony: the orchestral song cycle	p. 64
Travels abroad	p. 81
Modern subjects	p. 112
The death of the song cycle	p. 123
Performance: the twentieth century	p. 144
Afterlife: the late twentieth century	p. 153
Rebirth: pop song cycles	p. 169
Notes	p. 187
Guide to further reading	p. 213
Index	p. 218
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