Music in the Renaissance (Revised Edition) by Gustave Reese - 1959

W. W. Norton, 1959. Hardcover. Very Good/Fair w/tears and chips. Very Good in good dust jacket. No marks in text. Binding is tight and square. Previous owners name marked out on front end paper. Dust jacket is worn but intact. . . . . . . This is a fine book on a wonderful period in music history. The Renaissance era produced a revolution in music and many of us feel that this era was a high point in liturgical music. The music of this period was the subject of a great deal of research and performance in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, but has fallen off somewhat in the past decade or two. That is a shame, because it is remarkably beautiful music. It is also music that can be played by informed amateurs. It requires an informed approach and great aesthetic sensibility, and the more skill the better. However, it doesn't require the kind of virtuosity that, say, Chopin or Brahms might demand. That is where this book comes in. It is a large book, but it is full of wonderful information about the music of these centuries and covers the various developments throughout Europe. Reese divides the period into two large parts: development and then diffusion. Within these parts he looks at what happens by geography. This is important because there were very different traditions and developments that slowly made their way to other courts. -- Craig Matteson