Lost Adelaide: A Photographic Record

Arts & Photography

BURDEN, Michael

Photography & Video

Oxford Univ. Pr.

The Purcell Companion

Biographies & Memoirs

Faber and Faber

Purcell Remembered

<p>Purcell was the greatest ornament of English music in the seventeenth century, and has been a source of inspiration for British composers ever since. Michael Tippett, Benjamin Britten and Peter Maxwell Davies are among those who have expressed indebtedness to Purcell's musical genius. But his personality has seemed shadowy; in Purcell's day there were no newspapers to illuminate his career, no colour supplements to delve into his sitting room. From the mass of assorted material that does exist, Michael Burden has assiduously and cunningly devised a portrait of the composer both in his time and since, using diaries, letters and official and published writings from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. Many pieces that are known in excerpts are given here in full and placed in context, including all Purcell's prefaces and dedications, collected together for the first time. There is a comparative chronology of the period, a time of extreme political fragility in England. The fragility of Purcell's own life is bleakly evoked in the composer's final will, signed on the day he died, aged 36. As the views of musicians from the three hundred years since his death show, however, the 'English Orpheus' remains a vital thread in his country's musical thought.</p>

Music

Amadeus Press

Purcell is considered by many to have been the greatest ornament of English music in the 17th century, and has been a source of inspiration for British composers ever since. From the mass of assorted material that exists, this book, published to coincide with the tercentenary of his birth, presents a portrait of the composer in his time and since, using diaries, letters and official and published writings from the 17th century to the 20th. The compiler, Michael Burden, has written widely on English music of the 17th and 20th centuries, and was volume editor of Faber's "Purcell Companion".

Purcell remembered

Henry Purcell has long been acknowledged as one of England's greatest composers. Little is known about his life beyond his official appointments and their duties, but as a musician he excelled as a servant of the Court, the Church and the theatre, writing odes, welcome songs, sonatas, anthems, service music and incidental music, and a series of operatic extravaganzas which fascinated the public during the 1690s. The Purcell Companion opens with four background chapters - by Andrew Pinnock, Jonathan Wainwright, Graham Dixon and Michael Burden - on his position in British musical history, on music in London during his lifetime, on his Italian connections and on his contemporaries. In the section on the music, Eric Van Tassel presents a new view of the church music, Bruce Wood re-assesses the odes, and Peter Holman writes perceptively about the instrumental music. On the theatre works, Edward Langhans considers their context, while Roger Savage studies the music for the operas and plays. Finally Andrew Parrott deals with aspects of performance, and the volume closes with a revision of Savage's classic essay on producing Purcell's ever-popular opera Dido and Aeneas. A bibliography details research undertaken on various aspects of Purcell's life and career.

Dido and Aeneas has been one of the most compelling and durable of the great classical myths. The material the story offers has led artists, authors and musicians throughout the centuries to appropriate - and misappropriate - the story for both artistic and political ends. Ten distinguished contributors from the fields of Fine Art, History, English Literature, Classics and Music examine the myth itself and the way in which it has been re-interpreted by later authors. The volume opens with a consideration of the theatrical aspects of Book IV of Virgil's Aeneid, the character of Dido and the appearances of Mercury, while later interpretations discussed include the way the image of the Queen has been used in art, a play by Marlowe, operas by Cavalli and Purcell, and seventeenth-century English satire. Michael Burden - the Editor of this stimulating volume - was Lecturer in Music at New College, Oxford, from 1989, and since1995 has been Fellow in Opera Studies at New College. His research interests are centred on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century music, particularly English opera.

A Woman Scorn'd: Responses to the Dido Myth

Regina Mingotti: Diva and Impresario at the King's Theatre, London (Royal Musical Association Monographs)

Regina Mingotti was the first female impresario to run London's opera house. Born in Naples in 1722, she was the daughter of an Austrian diplomat, and had worked at Dresden under Hasse from 1747. Mingotti left Germany in 1752, and travelled to Madrid to sing at the Spanish court, where the opera was directed by the great castrato, Farinelli. It is not known quite how Francesco Vanneschi, the opera promoter, came to hire Mingotti, but in 1754 (travelling to England via Paris), she was announced as being engaged for the opera in London 'having been admired at Naples and other parts of Italy, by all the Connoisseurs, as much for the elegance of her voice as that of her features'. Michael Burden offers the first considered survey of Mingotti’s London years, including material on Mingotti's publication activities, and the identification of the characters in the key satirical print 'The Idol'. Burden makes a significant contribution to the knowledge and understanding of eighteenth-century singers' careers and status, and discusses the management, the finance, the choice of repertory, and the pasticcio practice at The King's Theatre, Haymarket during the middle of the eighteenth century. Burden also argues that Mingotti’s years with Farinelli influenced her understanding of drama, fed her appreciation of Metastasio, and were partly responsible for London labelling her a 'female Garrick'. The book includes the important publication of the complete texts of both of Mingotti's Appeals to the Publick, accounts of the squabble between Mingotti and Vanneschi, which shed light on the role a singer could play in the replacement of arias.

Routledge

<p>(Amadeus). A long overdue book on the master of the English Baroque, this volume contains a group of fresh, new studies on aspects of the composer's background, on his music and on performance practice. Henry Purcell has been acknowledged as one of England's greatest composers. Little is known about his life beyond his official appointments and their duties, but as a musician he excelled as a servant of the Court, the Church and the theatre, writing odes, welcome songs, sonatas, anthems, service music, and a series of operatic extravaganzas which fascinated the public during the 1690s. The Purcell Companion opens with four background chapters by Andrew Pinnock, Jonathan Wainwright, Graham Dixon and Michael Burden on his position in British musical history, on music in London during his lifetime, on his Italian connections and on his contemporaries. In the section on the music, Eric Van Tassel presents a new view of the church music, Bruce Wood re-assesses the odes, and Peter Holman writes perceptively about the instrumental music. On the theatre works, Edward Langhans considers their context, while Roger Savage studies the music for the operas and plays. Finally, Andrew Parrott deals with aspects of performance. An up-to-date bibliography details research undertaken on the various aspects of Purcell's life and career. HARDCOVER.</p>

Arts & Literature

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Books by BURDEN, Michael

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by BURDEN, Michael. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Lost Adelaide: A Photographic Record

The Purcell Companion

Purcell Remembered

Purcell remembered

The Purcell Companion

A Woman Scorn'd: Responses to the Dido Myth

Regina Mingotti: Diva and Impresario at the King's Theatre, London (Royal Musical Association Monographs)

The Purcell Companion

Regina Mingotti: Diva and Impresario at the King's Theatre, London (Royal Musical Association Monographs)