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A biography of British composer Alan Bush.
Born in 1900, Alan Bush, the English composer, conductor and pianist, studied with Corder and Matthay, and privately with John Ireland. This book documents his works and the many arrangements of music by other composers. It includes printed scores, CD recordings, bibliographical material, and manuscript scores and their locations.
The first major study of Alan Bush, this book provides new perspectives on twentieth-century music and communism. British communist, composer of politicised works, and friend of Soviet musicians, Bush proved to be 'a lightning rod' in the national musical culture. His radical vision for British music prompted serious reflections on aesthetics and the rights of artists to private political opinions, as well as influencing the development of state-sponsored music making in East Germany. Rejecting previous characterisations of Bush as political and musical Other, Joanna Bullivant traces his aesthetic project from its origins in the 1920s to its collapse in the 1970s, incorporating discussion of modernism, political song, music theory, opera, and Bush's response to the Soviet music crisis of 1948. Drawing on a wealth of archival sources, including recently released documents from MI5, this book constructs new perspectives on the 'cultural Cold War' through the lens of the individual artist.
John Ireland (1879-1962) had a long and close friendship with Alan Bush (1900-1995) which lasted forty years, from 1922, until Ireland's death in 1962. The160 letters between Ireland and Bush, published here for the first time, provide not only a compelling and engaging narrative, but also a unique insight into the musical and day-to-day lives of the two men. The letters were written during a most interesting and turbulent period in British history: the inter-war period of the 1920s and 30s. The volume will appeal to those interested in British musical life, social and political history, as well as followers of Ireland and Bush.
Born in 1900, Alan Bush, the English composer, conductor and pianist, studied with Corder and Matthay, and privately with John Ireland. He was appointed professor of harmony and composition at the Royal Academy of Music in 1925, a post he held until 1978. In 1929-31, he continued to study at Berlin University and had piano lessons with Moiseiwitsch and Schnabel. The present Source Book documents his works (many of which reflect his Communist sympathies) and the many arrangements of music by other composers. A wealth of detail is provided, including printed scores, CD recordings, bibliographical material and manuscript scores and their locations, the majority of which have been deposited recently in the British Library by the Bush family. A chronology of the composer's life draws on many sources including letters and scrapbooks.
After the opening autobiographical essay, Alan Bush expounds in this work his social and philosophical values.
This is the extraordinary story of the English poet Randall Swingler, godson of the Archbishop of Canterbury, communist, librettist, publisher, propagandist, poet and war-hero. It is a book about the Second World War and the story of the African and Italian campaigns, recorded uniquely through the eyes of the ordinary soldier. It is a case study of the intellectual consequences of the Cold War in Britain, McCarthyism and Zhdanovism. Croft's retelling of Randall Swingler's life from comfortable childhood and public school through to crushing penury will appeal to cultural, political and literary historians.
This Companion provides a wide ranging and accessible study of one of the most individual composers of the twentieth century. A team of international scholars shed new light on Tippett's major works and draw attention to those that have not yet received the attention they deserve.
Die britische Sinfonik ist erst in jüngster Zeit ins allgemeine Interesse gerückt. Ein Überblick über die sinfonische Entwicklung im Vereinigten Königreich seit den Anfängen im 18. Jahrhundert bis ins 20. Jahrhundert blieb aber bis heute ein Desideratum. Der hier vorgelegte Überblick zeigt, wie sich die Identität einer britischen Sinfonik über mehr als hundert Jahre entwickelte, geprägt durch Einflüsse vom europäischen Kontinent und von dem Bedürfnis, eigene Wege zu finden. Gegen Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts nahm das sinfonische Schaffen in Großbritannien stark zu, brachte jedoch erst mit Edward Elgar einen prominenten Vertreter von internationalem Rang hervor. Ein besonderer Schw...
When considering the role music played in the major totalitarian regimes of the century it is music's usefulness as propaganda that leaps first to mind. But as a number of the chapters in this volume demonstrate, there is a complex relationship both between art music and politicised mass culture, and between entertainment and propaganda. Nationality, self/other, power and ideology are the dominant themes of this book, whilst key topics include: music in totalitarian regimes; music as propaganda; music and national identity; émigré communities and composers; music's role in shaping identities of 'self' and 'other' and music as both resistance to and instrument of oppression. Taking the contributions together it becomes clear that shared experiences such as war, dictatorship, colonialism, exile and emigration produced different, yet clearly inter-related musical consequences.