Research Catalog

Title

The cello / Elizabeth Cowling.

Author

Cowling, Elizabeth

Publication

New York : C. Scribner's Sons, 1983.

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Holdings

Details

Description

240 p., [31] p. of plates : ill.; 22 cm.

Summary

"After a history of some 450 years the cello--thanks to the achievement of virtuosi such as Casals, Piatigorski, Feuermann and Rostropovitch--now enjoys a greater musical prestige than ever before. That this is so is borne out both by the increasing number of concerts at which the cello today appears either in consort or as a solo instrument, and also by the proliferation of important works which twentieth-century composers have written for it. ... [For] this book, Professor Cowling has in mind a readership made up of amateurs as well as students and professional musicians. In an opening section she describes the instrument itself, its anatomy, physics, early makers, variants, development, and its bow. The early history of the cello is then outlined, starting from the sixteenth-century origins and continuing to the spread in popularity during the eighteenth century to countries outside Italy. The literature of the instrument is next described, from the earliest compositions to the work of such twentieth-century composers as Elgar, Bloch, Debussy, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Britten. A final section discusses the qualities of some eminent modern cellists, and the book ends with the author's conclusions and reflections on her theme. Particularly useful are Professor Cowling's list of pieces for piano and cello and of effective transcriptions."--Jacket.

Subject

Cello

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Note

• Includes index.

Bibliography (note)

• Bibliography: p. 231-233.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

List of illustrations -- List of music examples -- Preface -- Introduction -- The instrument -- The early development of the cello -- About the literature for the cello -- A selective group of twentieth-century cellists -- Conclusions and reflections -- Postlude -- References -- Appendix A. Cello continuo sonatas: Italian Baroque composers -- Appendix B. A short list of effective pieces for cello and piano -- Appendix C. A short list of effective transcriptions -- Appendix D. The Baroque cello -- A brief bibliography of useful books -- Index.

ISBN

0684178702 :

LCCN

^^^82062120^/MN

OCLC

• 10481784
• SCSB-9898371

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library