Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"In this new edition of Historical Anthology of Music by Women, Briscoe offers an indispensable resource for our own moment. . . . He has commissioned new biographical and critical essays by leading musicologists such as Thomas J. Mathiesen, Elizabeth Aubrey, Suzanne Cusick, Ellen Rosand, and Mark Everist, thus making the most recent interpretations of these women and their music easily available for the classroom." --from the Foreword by Susan McClary

New Historical Anthology of Music by Women updates the extremely popular collection with 55 compositions by 46 women composers from the ancient Greeks to the present. Each work is introduced by an informative essay by a specialist in the field, with recommendations for further reading, listening, and performing. Historical scores have been transcribed into modern notation for ease of use, and the works represent a wide variety of genres, including solo songs, chamber music, piano music, and orchestral scores. Composers include Sappho, Hildegard of Bingen, Barbara Strozzi, Clara Schumann, and Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel. The anthology includes a foreword by Susan McClary, the leading scholar on women's music. New Historical Anthology of Music by Women is supplemented by an expanded 3-CD set featuring newly commissioned recordings.

Contributors: Elizabeth Aubrey, Laura Barceló-Lastra, Melissa Blakesly, Adrienne Fried Block, Marcia J. Citron, Suzanne Cusick, David Gordon Duke, Susan Erickson, Mark Everist, Jill Munroe Fankhauser, Annegret Fauser, Nancy Fierro, Susan M. Filler, Barbara Garvey Jackson, Bryony Jones, Michael Klaper, Carolyn Lindeman, Roberta Lindsey, Thomas J. Mathiesen, Hidemi Matsushita, Susan McClary, Sharon Mirchandani, Craig B. Parker, Karin Pendle, Barbara A. Petersen, Martin Picker, Janet Pollack, Caroline Potter, Nancy B. Reich, Ellen Rosand, Judith Rosen, and Diane Touliatos-Milesis.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

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• 6 Margaret of Austria
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• 13 Maria Margherita Grimani Barbara
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• 32 Florence Price
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• 43 Augusta Read

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Briscoe (musicology, Butler Univ.) has revised his valuable 1987 anthology with up-to-date scholarship, ten new composers, and a more representative set of musical compositions. The collection is made up of short biographical essays for 43 composers, plus musical selections from all but one: Sappho, whose work is represented by two poetic fragments. The entries are presented chronologically, beginning with Sappho and continue through the centuries to Augusta Read Thomas (b. 1964). Along the way, we also come across such luminaries as Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), Francesca Caccini (1587-1641), Marianna von Martines (1744-1812), Clara Wieck Schumann (1819-96), and Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901-53). The essays, written by authorities, are uniformly well written and informative. Bottom Line Although there are other books about women composers, such as From Convent to Concert Hall: A Guide to Women Composers, edited by Sylvia Glickman and Martha Furman Schleifer, they tend to focus on biographical details. Briscoe's appears to be the only anthology of music composed by women. Recommended for all libraries. [A three-CD set that includes the music of many of the composers is available separately through the publisher (ISBN 0-253-34406-9).-Ed.]-Timothy J. McGee, Hastings, Ont. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.