Author : Herbert Kennedy Andrews
Publisher : London, Novello
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 270 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)
Book Synopsis An Introduction to the Technique of Palestrina by : Herbert Kennedy Andrews
Download or read book An Introduction to the Technique of Palestrina written by Herbert Kennedy Andrews and published by London, Novello. This book was released on 1958 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Palestrina's music is justly regarded as exemplifying the most perfect and consistent technique of sixteenth-century ecclesiastical polyphony. It is for this reason that a study of his style has come to be considered as a necessary part of the training of serious musicians. Not only is the technique well-nigh perfect in itself, but it is also the vehicle of expression for some of the noblest music of the great age of vocal counterpoint. This book investigates the various technical processes as they appear in the music itself. For that reason copious music examples have been given, and the reader is asked to take very little 'theory' on trust; he is invited to examine for himself what Palestrina did or did not do. The book is, on the one hand, more specialized than Morris' Contrapuntal Technique; its conclusions are therefore easier to grasp, because less subject to exceptions and qualifications. On the other hand, it is wider in scope than Jeppesen's Palestrina and the Dissonance; in particular, it includes a thorough and sensitive analysis of Palestrina's methods of form and design, a subject that has hitherto been much neglected. Dr. Andrews has given many years to the study and teaching of Palestrina's style at Oxford, and to the actual performance of the music during the time when he was in charge of the music at New College. His knowledge of the subject is not confined to academic dissection of technical matters; he is fully aware of the aesthetic and expressive powers of the music, which, as he points out, can only be fully realized in its performance in the service of the church."--Dust jacket.