The Cambridge Companion to the Concerto: (Cambridge Companions to Music)

No musical genre has had a more chequered critical history than the concerto and yet simultaneously retained as consistently prominent a place in the affections of the concert-going public. This volume, one of very few to deal with the genre in its entirety, assumes a broad remit, setting the concerto in its musical and non-musical contexts, examining the concertos that have made important contributions to musical culture, and looking at performance-related topics. A picture emerges of a genre in a continual state of change, re-inventing itself in the process of growth and development and regularly challenging its performers and listeners to broaden the horizons of their musical experience.

Table of Contents:
Notes on the contributors; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; The concerto: a chronology Simon P. Keefe; Introduction Simon P. Keefe; Part I. Contexts: 1. Theories of the concerto from the eighteenth century to the present day Simon P. Keefe; 2. The concerto and society Tia DeNora; Part II. The Works: 3. The Italian concerto in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries Michael Talbot; 4. The concerto in northern Europe to c. 1770 David Yearsley; 5. The concerto from Mozart to Beethoven: aesthetic and stylistic perspectives Simon P. Keefe; 6. The nineteenth-century piano concerto Stephan D. Lindeman; 7. Nineteenth-century concertos for strings and winds R. Larry Todd; 8. Contrasts and common concerns in the concerto 1900-1945 David E. Schneider; 9. The concerto since 1945 Arnold Whittall; Part III. Performance: 10. The rise (and fall) of the concerto virtuoso in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Cliff Eisen; 11. Performance practice in the eighteenth-century concerto Robin Stowell; 12. Performance practice in the nineteenth-century concerto David Rowland; 13. The concerto in the age of recording Timothy Day; Notes; Selected further reading; Index.

About the Author :
Simon P. Keefe is Senior Lecturer in Music at City University London. He is the author of Mozart s Piano Concerto s: Dramatic Dialogue in the Age of Enlightenment (2001) and editor of The Cambridge Companion to Mozart (2003). He has recently published articles on Mozart and on eighteenth-century aesthetic and stylistic topics in Acta Musicologica, The Journal of Musicology, Music and Letters, The Music Quarterly, The Journal of Musicological Research and Mozart-Jahrbuch.

Review :
At the heart of this volume, one senses a kind of missionary zeal, a concerted effort (no pun intended) to take this particular genre out of academic limbo. Though perhaps the most popular musical form among great masses of music lovers, the concerto has often been dismissed by scholars as trivial, overly theatrical, ego driven, physical rather than intellectual. In this well-edited volume, Keefe provides a thorough, comprehensive antidote to such misconceptions. The volume explores every aspect of concerto history and literature, offering social and political contexts, stylistic comparisons, and a survey of major works (including structural analysis). The level of scholarship is high and perceptive comments abound. Highly recommended. Choice