145 books match the query 'Classical' and 2 start with o

cover of Otello, ossia Il Moro di Venezia: Dramma per musica in Three Acts by Francesco Berio di Salsa

Otello, ossia Il Moro di Venezia

Dramma per musica in Three Acts by Francesco Berio di Salsa

Gioachino Rossini

University of Chicago Press, 1994

Rossini's Otello, first performed in 1816, remained an immensely popular opera throughout the nineteenth century and was only eclipsed by Verdi's more Shakespearean version. The critical edition by Michael Collins allows us to rediscover Rossini's Otello as one of the composer's early masterpieces in the tragic genre.

The first of eight serious operas newly-written for the Teatro San Carlo of Naples, Otello reveals Rossini as a composer deeply concerned with both character development and large-scale musical forms. Desdemona's "Willow Song" is a fine example: here not only is variation technique used for dramatic ends, but the song itself forms part of a larger scheme that encompasses the entire third act as a single, unified piece.
Far more than a mere forerunner to Verdi, Rossini's Otello deserves to be known for its own innovative qualities.
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cover of Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Canon. Misc. 213

Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Canon. Misc. 213

Edited by David Fallows

University of Chicago Press, 1995

This volume makes available for the first time in a facsimile edition one of the most important musical manuscripts of the late Middle Ages.

Copied probably in Venice around 1430, the Oxford manuscript contains the most comprehensive surviving collection of secular songs of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. Of the 326 pieces, 216 are not found in any other source. Including works by Guillaume Dufay, Binchois, and nearly all other leading composers of their generation, it is central to an understanding of fifteenth-century song traditions. Because of the copyist's clear and distinctive hand, it is also significant for studies of late medieval musical notation. David Fallows's introduction includes a history of the manuscript, analysis of its preparation, and survey of its choice of repertory, as well as a full inventory of the music and alphabetical indexes by title and composer. The original-size facsimile includes beta-radiographs of all watermarks, as well as ultraviolet photos that show the copyist's changes and revisions.

This volume is the first edition in a new series called Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Music in Facsimile edited by Margaret Bent and John Nádas and published by the University of Chicago Press. This series will include high-quality reproductions of some of the most important and frequently studied European music manuscripts of the late thirteenth through early fifteenth centuries. Each beautifully produced facsimile edition will include a detailed critical introduction and a complete inventory by an acknowledged expert in the field.
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