• Joseph Gibaldi and Walter Achtert, MLA Handbook for Writers of
Research Papers (New York: 1988). ISBN 0-87352-379-2. (Note: This book
is required for all HUX Courses.)
• Palisca, Claude. Baroque Music. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
1968
This offers a short overview of the Baroque Period in music. For the student
with a music
background, it covers many examples in detail. The more generally educated
humanities
student will have to read for the basic information contained therein, and
skim the more
technical descriptions.
• Butt, John. ed. The Cambridge Companion to Bach. Cambridge:
Cambridge UP. 1997.
I selected this book for several reasons. First, because it is one of the
most current volumes in
print. Second, because it provides the opinions of a diverse group of authors
on a variety of
topics, some of which are related to other disciplines in the humanities.
Three, because it was
available in paperback, and I hope to leave you sufficient funds to buy some
good baroque
CDs.
RECOMMENDED FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING:
• Grout/Palisca’s A History of Western Music is probably
the most commonly used text book in university-level music history courses.
Chapters 9 to 12 give an overall look at the period; some focus on the early
Baroque, while other sections are pertinent to some of the better-known composers
and forms of the period.
• Music in the Baroque Era had been the standard history of
the era since its publication in 1947 although the 1986 edition of the Harvard
Dictionary of Music criticizes it as follows: “Bukofser remains
a standard survey of musical styles within the period 1600-1750, though many
of the general contrasts he draws between Renaissance and Baroque style need
qualification in light especially of recent scholarship of the Renaissance.”
The author is the late Manfred Bukofser, formerly a distinguished professor
at the University of California at Berkeley. His work may be flawed in some
respects, but still offers some interesting ideas not available elsewhere.
• Bach: Essays on His Life and Music is a current work by the
eminent musicologist and Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
at Harvard University, Christopher Wolff. It is devoted to the life and works
of a single composer, but makes many references to other important figures.
It gives greater biographical data than any of the general history books.
• Handel and His World by H.C. Robbins Landon, is another biographical
work, but includes a lot of material that enhances one’s appreciation
for the world in which the composers of this period functioned.
Since students’ audio equipment, and access to libraries and record
stores vary greatly, you are presented with several different options for
fulfilling the listening aspects of the assignments. Where possible use CD’s,
as opposed to cassette tapes, since they offer greater ease in selecting or
repeating specific parts of the music for study. They also obviously provide
truer audio fidelity. When they are available, try listening to more than
one rendition of the music, preferably one performed on modern instruments
and another on period instruments. Your choices include:
1) Audio files listed at the top of this page.
2) Audio resources (and musical scores) at any convenient university or public
library.
3) Your local music store.
4) Direct order from an internet source such as amazon.com. If you are choosing
from one of several interpretations of any given composition,
there are a few conductor/ performers I would pick for my own record collection.
In the modern instrument field, I like Neville Marriner’s renditions,
and those by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. For period instrument recordings,
I prefer those led by either Trevor Pinnock or Christopher Hogwood. For any
Bach keyboard works, look for harpsichord or organ versions, but if you only
have access to piano renditions, Glenn Gould is usually the best.
Ideally you will have recordings of the following works:
- Monteverdi’s opera, Orfeo (or excerpts from same)
- Handel’s opera, Giulio Cesare (or excerpts from same)
- Handel’s Concerto Grosso, opus 6, No. 10
- Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2
