Selected writings of Max Reger / edited and translated by Christopher Anderson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Reger, Max, 1873-1916.

Contributor:

Anderson, Christopher, 1966 July 13-

Standardized Title:

Essays. Selections. English

Language:

English

German

Subjects (All):

Reger, Max, 1873-1916.

Reger, Max.

Music--History and criticism.

Music.

Physical Description:

xliii, 138 pages : illustrations, music ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Routledge, 2006.

Summary:

Max Reger (1873-1916) proved to be a thoroughly distinctive and controversial composer in an era of profound upheaval on artistic, social, and political fronts. This compact collection of his writings, including eight essays and other smaller pieces, appears for the first time in English, translated in a lively, accessible style that reveals Reger as an important contributor to the often vituperative aesthetic dialogue of his day.

Reger engaged artists, composers, and scholars in high-pitched debates that betray the problematic face of a generation caught in the dialectic of tradition and progress: from his extensive evaluation of Hugo Wolf to the sarcastic parody of Isadora Duncan's improvisatory dance technique, from the acerbic exchange with his former mentor Hugo Riemann to the defense of his own modulation theory, and from the support for his supposed artistic nemesis Richard Strauss to the entertaining "anti-analyses" of his own works.

Selected Writings of Max Reger is richly annotated and introduced by an essay that addresses Reger's peculiarly conflicted relationship to the written word. Not only do its contents spark insight with regard to Reger and his music, but the book also contributes to the reception in history of figures like Mendelssohn, Wagner, Brahms, Wolf, and Richard Strauss.

Contents:

Part I Defense of the Beitrage zur Modulationslehre of 1903 1

1 I Request the Floor! 3

2 "More Light" 13

Part II The "Draeseke Controversy" of 1906 19

3 Music and Progress 21

4 An Open Letter 27

5 Hugo Riemann: Degeneration in Music 35

6 Degeneration and Regeneration in Music 41

Part III Reception 53

7 Hugo Wolf's Artistic Legacy 55

8 On April 1 67

9 Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's Songs Without Words 75

10 [On Johann Sebastian Bach] 81

11 [On Richard Strauss] 83

Part IV "Analyses" of Reger's works for the festivals of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Musikverein 85

12 String Quartet op. 74 in D minor 87

13 Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Joh. Seb, Bach for Piano, Two Hands op. 81; and Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Beethoven for Two Pianos, Four Hands op. 86 95

14 Psalm 100 for Chorus, Orchestra, and Organ op. 106 99

15 Quartet for Violin, Viola, Violoncello, and Piano op. 113 101

16 Romischer Triumphgesang for Men's Chorus and Orchestra op. 126 103.

Notes:

Translated from German.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 131-134) and index.

ISBN:

0415973821

OCLC:

62302390

Publisher Number:

9780415973823