Early Music America Winter 2013 - (Page 47)

BOOK reviews Edited by Mark Kroll Byrd. Kerry McCarthy. Oxford University Press, 2013. xvi, plus 282 pages. Reviewed by Basil Considine. The field of Byrd scholarship has been a fruitful and fertile one of late. In the decade since the completion of Stainer and Bell's Byrd Edition in 2004, a steady stream of books and articles has continued to bring intriguing new discoveries and analytical findings to light. One of the brilliant features of Kerry McCarthy's new monograph on William Byrd is the knitting together of these diverse threads of scholarship into a smooth and coherent narrative that sprinkles the overarching chronology with social, biographical, and technical details that will intrigue the reader. For a singer or avid listener familiar with Byrd's vocal repertoire, McCarthy's book is a particular treasure. Some cautions should be made about what this book is and is not. Since it is part of Oxford University Press's series The Master Musicians, it includes some standard guide materials: a timeline of key events in the composer's life, a complete works list, a glossary of key persons, a selected bibliography, and a short reference guide entitled "A Reader's Guide to Byrd Literature." The works list includes a suggested modern score edition for each piece as well as the number of voices and/or instruments required-a helpful starting point for a vocal ensemble or chamber music group searching for new repertoire. The bibliography is up-to-date and includes many works that went to press as recently as last year; the short reference guide is a convenient starting resource for introductory Byrd studies or performing the composer's music. The writing is also easy to follow and reasonably accessible to those who do not read music. One standout feature is the way that McCarthy smoothly interweaves discourses on the "big picture" of Elizabethan society with connections to Byrd's life and music. Many selections of the text, especially discussions of specific pieces, would by themselves make useful program or liner notes. What this book is not is an exhaustive tome of Byrd scholarship or a source for detailed citations. The first would require a hefty multivolume series and would more than likely make a handy sleep aid; McCarthy's choice to analyze a smaller (but still hefty) number of musical works within the text helps keep things moving. At any rate, as For a singer or avid listener familiar with Byrd's vocal repertoire, this book is a particular treasure.... There is no bodice ripping here, but plenty of amusingly dour and pleasantly flamboyant characters. the author points out, there are already a number of recent specialized monographs for different areas of Byrd scholarship. While McCarthy frequently credits scholars by name in the prose, it is often unclear whose work (or which work) to start reading for further information. Whether this lack of citation is important depends on what each reader wants. Scholars will likely be frustrated, while this omission might pass under the radar for the mass market of musicians and music aficionados that comprise the most likely readership. This is not to say that footnotes wouldn't have been helpful for them as well-the book overflows with tantalizing details and anecdotes that cry out for additional explanations or further reading. Nevertheless, the lack of footnotes forces the reader to make two choices: to make educated guesses about where to start looking-or, more likely, to simply shrug and continue reading. This is unfortunate, because many of the episodes and figures described in the book are of such a colorful nature that readers would probably constantly check the notes for more details. This is especially true when the author presents a sample of the insults and recriminations resulting from Byrd's innumerable lawsuits or when we read fascinating anecdotes about musicians and poets moonlighting as spies. These reservations aside, McCarthy's book will be of considerable value to any Byrd aficionado. It will also be of interest for the casual reader who wants to know more about Elizabethan England, since he or she will find references to some of the more recognizable historical figures in film, television, and historical novels, further underscoring how prominent a figure William Byrd was in his day. There is no bodice ripping here, but plenty of amusingly dour and pleasantly flamboyant characters colliding nevertheless. Byrd may have been a very private figure in some respects, but Kerry McCarthy's book makes it clear that his life and music were firmly connected to the English court and society. Basil Considine is a music scholar and composer-playwright in the Boston area. An opera scenes coach and administrator by day, he is the author of a forthcoming book on French opera and revolutionary songs overseas during the French Revolution. The Ashgate Research Companion to Henry Purcell. Rebec- Linking to the books: Oxford University Press www.oup.com/us Ashgate Publishing www.ashgate.com Pendragon Press www.pendragonpublishing.co.uk Jewish Music Reseach Centre www.jewish-music.huji.ac.il National Music Museum www.usd.edu/smm Brepols Publishers www.brepols.net Suggestions about books to review may be sent to Mark Kroll at books@earlymusic.org. ca Herissone, editor. Ashgate, 2012. 420 pages. Reviewed by Mark Kroll. Rebecca Herissone, the editor of this welcome new book on Henry Purcell, tells us in the introduction that it "does not comprise a traditional series of chapters focusing on genres, or periods of the composer's life... it takes as its starting point a variety of approaches to understanding Purcell and his music that have Early Music America Winter 2013 47 http://www.oup.com/us http://www.ashgate.com http://www.pendragonpublishing.co.uk http://www.jewish-music.huji.ac.il http://www.usd.edu/smm http://www.brepols.net

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Early Music America Winter 2013

Editor's Note
Reader Forum
Sound Bytes
Musings: Time Traveling with Instruments
Profile: Pure Gold: Beiliang Zhu
Recording Reviews
Let's put on a... Zarzuela!
A Banquet of Music 40 Years in the Serving
Honoring Krebs
Book Reviews
Ad Index
In Conclusion: Dido and Aeneas Reconsidered

Early Music America Winter 2013