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The Music of Herbert Howells Hardcover – Illustrated, 17 Oct. 2013

by Phillip A. Cooke (Author, Editor), David Maw (Editor)

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Herbert Howells (1892-1983) was a prodigiously gifted musician and the favourite student of the notoriously hard-to-please Sir Charles Villiers Stanford. Throughout his long life, he was one of the country's most prominent composers, writing extensively in all genres except the symphony and opera. Yet today he is known mostly for his church music, and there is as yet relatively little serious study of his work. This book is the first large-scale study of Howells's music, affording both detailed consideration of individual works and a broad survey of general characteristics and issues. Its coverage is wide-ranging, addressing all aspects of the composer's prolific output and probing many of the issues that it raises. The essays are gathered in five sections: Howells the Stylist examines one of the most striking aspect of the composer's music, its strongly characterised personal voice; Howells the Vocal Composer addresses both his well-known contribution to church music and his less familiar, but also important, contribution to the genre of solo song; Howells the Instrumental Composer shows that he was no less accomplished for his work in genres without words, for which, in fact, he first made his name; Howells the Modern considers the composer's rather overlooked contribution to the development of a modern voice for British music; and Howells in Mourning explores the important impact of his son's death on his life and work. The composer that emerges from these studies is a complex figure: technically fluent but prone to revision and self-doubt; innovative but also conservative; a composer with an improvisational sense of flow who had a firm grasp of musical form; an exponent of British musical style who owed as much to continental influence as to his national heritage. This volume, comprising a collection of outstanding essays by established writers and emergent scholars, opens up the range of Howells's achievement to a wider audience, both professional and amateur.

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Product details

Hardcover: 382 pages
Publisher: Boydell Press; Illustrated edition (17 Oct. 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1843838796
ISBN-13: 978-1843838791
Product Dimensions: 15.6 x 2.2 x 23.4 cm
Customer reviews: 5 customer ratings
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 699,593 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1120 in Music Reference
- #857 in Classical Musician Biographies
- #700 in Sacred & Religious Music

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Review

A major advance towards a fuller and more balanced understanding of the composer. THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL MUSICAL ASSOCIATION

Superb and highly welcome addition to the literature on Howells ... goes a very considerable way towards demonstrating that this neglect is indeed highly unjust ... Unprecedented insight into both known and unfairly neglected corners of his oeuvre and should be keenly sought by anyone with an interest in his work and English music in the twentieth century. CHOMBEC News

Now we can all appreciate these works afresh, with the useful and pertinent insights afforded by this welcome volume. INTERNATIONAL PIANO

Eye opening dimensions ... fascinating ... Above all, this collection of essays emphasises purely and simply what a sophisticated and accomplished composer he was - headed up by a cameo of a foreword in which Howells enthusiast John Rutter expertly and engagingly sets the scene. CLASSICAL MUSIC, December 2013

The first large-scale and in-depth survey of his music ... Phillip A. Cooke and David Maw have curated and contributed to an excellent resource for anyone who wants to understand fully Howells's contribution to his musical landscape. TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, February 2014

About the Author

PHILLIP COOKE is Lecturer in Composition at the University of Aberdeen. DAVID MAW is Tutor and Research Fellow in Music at Oriel College, Oxford, holding Lectureships also at Christ Church, The Queen's and Trinity Colleges. CONTRIBUTORS: Byron Adams, Paul Andrews, Graham Barber, Jonathan Clinch, Phillip A. Cooke, Jeremy Dibble, Lewis Foreman, Fabian Huss, David Maw, Diane Nolan Cooke, Lionel Pike, Paul Spicer, Jonathan White. Foreword by John Rutter.

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William Barr

An Excellent Book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 April 2014

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I recently purchased this book and have read it cover to cover – at last there is a book that does justice to Howells, both the man and the music. It is a thoroughly impressive book which covers all aspects of the composer’s life and works – it really does add some scholarly input to the few books on Howells that currently exist. I can’t recommend this book enough, whether you are a lover of Howells’s music, a lover of British music or just a lover of music in general.

I really don’t understand what the previous reviewer was getting at – did he read the same book? I found nothing pretentious here, merely a much needed academic look at Howells’s work. I didn’t find any ‘made up words’ – sure, there was plenty of academic jargon but what do you expect in a book like this? I really don’t believe that scholar or music appreciator alike would be disappointed in this book.

I would urge any lovers of British music to buy this book right away – it gives a valuable insight to this misunderstood and neglected composer.

13 people found this helpful

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Kathryn S.

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 June 2016

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as expected

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Marion How

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 March 2016

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Very good.

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Christopher Stevens

Pretensions beyond belief

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 March 2014

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Having just read this book, I am none the wiser as to Howell's style or technique. The book is appallingly written with atrocious syntax and made-up words which confuse rather than explain. On top of this are pretentious comments which are profusely supplied. D Cooke writes "the player who sets out to learn them (organ pieces)-not in practical or mechanical terms but in the more internal sense of progressing from one level of understanding to the next". There are many of these gems within the pages of this book. Another chapter which deserves singling out is Pike on Howells & Counterpoint. Commonly found musicologists' analyses of brackets around thematic material and numbers to accompany them await you in this chapter. One finds comments made on the music which seem to be so tentative, one has to ask if they are valid?

Essentially this book tries to prove the improvable. Can anyone truly know how a piece of music is put together? How are those choices and compositional methods chosen by the composer? Sadly most musicologists write about music by composers who are dead. I assume this is to avoid rebuke from the composers themselves when they are confronted by such awful analyses and writing styles. The only saving grace of this book is Paul Spicer's contribution, but his contributions are far better heard on cd with the Finzi Singers!

I would recommend listening to Howells' music and buying the scores then ask your own questions and find your own answers. They will probably be far more insightful and useful than the pretentious rubbish on offer here.

Having spent many years at University and reading countless analyses of composers works, this will be the last book I read on music which purports to understand and give insight into that mysterious process of writing music

Stay clear of this overpriced tome!

Avoid this book like the plague or wait till it drops in price in the bargain basement.

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