Violin Music by Women Composers: A Bio-Bibliographical Guide by Rose-Marie Johnson; FluteMusic by Women Composers: An Annotated Catalog by Heidi M. BoenkeReview by: Judy TsouNotes, Second Series, Vol. 47, No. 2 (Dec., 1990), pp. 396-397Published by: Music Library AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/941984 .

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NOTES, December 1990 NOTES, December 1990 NOTES, December 1990

author points out, the string-length of the bass can vary from one instrument to an- other by as much as 51/2 inches (or 14 cm.- it certainly would be a boon to readers if all measurements were given consistently in inches or in centimeters, preferably both). The chart in the review copy was not us- able at all because the sections of the orig- inal paste-up were assembled in the wrong order.

The book is handsomely produced in an open, legible format with clear musical ex- amples, and the typography is greatly im- proved over that of the first edition. The plastic-comb binding will be convenient for most individual users, but librarians will not welcome it, especially since the margin width for possible rebinding seems minimal.

The Contemporary Contrabass is a remark- able, stimulating study, suffused with the author's generosity, musicality, and good humor. With its many revisions, additions, and new musical examples (and except for the omission of the sound recording), this new edition completely supersedes the pre- vious one.

DOUGLAS LEEDY Oceanside, Oregon

The Ill-Tempered String Quartet: A Vademecum for the Amateur Musi- cian. By Lester Chafetz. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. (Box 611, Jef- ferson, NC 28640), 1989. [xii, 168 p. ISBN 0-89950-398-5. $19.95.]

The title of this volume is a play on the title of The Well-Tempered String Quartet (London: Novello, 1938), the English translation of Bruno Aulich and Ernst Hei- meran's standard guide to string quartet playing for amateurs, now in its fiftieth German edition. Lester Chafetz claims he set out to write "the book the writer would have liked to have when he began playing chamber music several years ago."

The volume is part guide, part warning. As a guide, it provides sound advice on how to assemble a chamber-music group, pick music within the group's abilities, and have an enjoyable music-making session. Its warning is that experienced amateur string players are not always nice to their peers, much less to novice and intermediate play-

author points out, the string-length of the bass can vary from one instrument to an- other by as much as 51/2 inches (or 14 cm.- it certainly would be a boon to readers if all measurements were given consistently in inches or in centimeters, preferably both). The chart in the review copy was not us- able at all because the sections of the orig- inal paste-up were assembled in the wrong order.

The book is handsomely produced in an open, legible format with clear musical ex- amples, and the typography is greatly im- proved over that of the first edition. The plastic-comb binding will be convenient for most individual users, but librarians will not welcome it, especially since the margin width for possible rebinding seems minimal.

The Contemporary Contrabass is a remark- able, stimulating study, suffused with the author's generosity, musicality, and good humor. With its many revisions, additions, and new musical examples (and except for the omission of the sound recording), this new edition completely supersedes the pre- vious one.

DOUGLAS LEEDY Oceanside, Oregon

The Ill-Tempered String Quartet: A Vademecum for the Amateur Musi- cian. By Lester Chafetz. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. (Box 611, Jef- ferson, NC 28640), 1989. [xii, 168 p. ISBN 0-89950-398-5. $19.95.]

The title of this volume is a play on the title of The Well-Tempered String Quartet (London: Novello, 1938), the English translation of Bruno Aulich and Ernst Hei- meran's standard guide to string quartet playing for amateurs, now in its fiftieth German edition. Lester Chafetz claims he set out to write "the book the writer would have liked to have when he began playing chamber music several years ago."

The volume is part guide, part warning. As a guide, it provides sound advice on how to assemble a chamber-music group, pick music within the group's abilities, and have an enjoyable music-making session. Its warning is that experienced amateur string players are not always nice to their peers, much less to novice and intermediate play-

author points out, the string-length of the bass can vary from one instrument to an- other by as much as 51/2 inches (or 14 cm.- it certainly would be a boon to readers if all measurements were given consistently in inches or in centimeters, preferably both). The chart in the review copy was not us- able at all because the sections of the orig- inal paste-up were assembled in the wrong order.

The book is handsomely produced in an open, legible format with clear musical ex- amples, and the typography is greatly im- proved over that of the first edition. The plastic-comb binding will be convenient for most individual users, but librarians will not welcome it, especially since the margin width for possible rebinding seems minimal.

The Contemporary Contrabass is a remark- able, stimulating study, suffused with the author's generosity, musicality, and good humor. With its many revisions, additions, and new musical examples (and except for the omission of the sound recording), this new edition completely supersedes the pre- vious one.

DOUGLAS LEEDY Oceanside, Oregon

The Ill-Tempered String Quartet: A Vademecum for the Amateur Musi- cian. By Lester Chafetz. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. (Box 611, Jef- ferson, NC 28640), 1989. [xii, 168 p. ISBN 0-89950-398-5. $19.95.]

The title of this volume is a play on the title of The Well-Tempered String Quartet (London: Novello, 1938), the English translation of Bruno Aulich and Ernst Hei- meran's standard guide to string quartet playing for amateurs, now in its fiftieth German edition. Lester Chafetz claims he set out to write "the book the writer would have liked to have when he began playing chamber music several years ago."

The volume is part guide, part warning. As a guide, it provides sound advice on how to assemble a chamber-music group, pick music within the group's abilities, and have an enjoyable music-making session. Its warning is that experienced amateur string players are not always nice to their peers, much less to novice and intermediate play-

ers new to chamber music. Chafetz appears to nurse a bit of a grudge from his expe- rience as an adult beginner. He is a keen observer, however, of what he calls "the so- ciopathology of string quartet players," with some suggestions (such as a "no-fault re- hearsal policy") for keeping that disease under control.

The author is at his best describing mu- sic from his own experience as a player. The book includes brief notes on about 150 string quartets from the standard amateur literature, with Chafetz's opinions on their technical challenges and aesthetic rewards. He writes of Schubert's Quartet no. 4 in D minor ("Death and the Maiden"), "We rec- ommend that all the repeats be observed so that the end of the piece can be delayed as long as possible," and of Beethoven's op. 59, no. 3 (the third "Rasoumovsky" Quar- tet), "A violist who feels animosity towards the first fiddle has the perfect opportunity to break him in this movement by setting the tempo very fast."

Chafetz is at heart an unsentimental but sincere apologist for amateur music-mak- ing. It is no more a sacrilege, he claims, for an amateur quartet to struggle through a great piece of music in private, and learn thereby something of its depth and com- plexity, than it is for an art student to make a bad copy of a Rembrandt. He differs from Aulich and Heimeran, and from many am- ateurs, in insisting that amateur players who cannot meet professional standards should not perform in public: that would be like the art student trying to pass off his copy as the real thing.

TED RUST Berkeley, California

Violin Music by Women Composers: A Bio-bibliographical Guide. Com- piled by Rose-Marie Johnson. (Music Reference Collection, 22.) New York: Greenwood Press, 1989. [xxvii, 253 p. ISBN 0-313-26652-2. $39.95.]

Flute Music by Women Composers: An Annotated Catalog. Compiled by Heidi M. Boenke. (Music Reference Collection, 16.) New York: Green- wood Press, 1988. [xiv, 201 p. ISBN 0-313-26019-2. $37.95.]

ers new to chamber music. Chafetz appears to nurse a bit of a grudge from his expe- rience as an adult beginner. He is a keen observer, however, of what he calls "the so- ciopathology of string quartet players," with some suggestions (such as a "no-fault re- hearsal policy") for keeping that disease under control.

The author is at his best describing mu- sic from his own experience as a player. The book includes brief notes on about 150 string quartets from the standard amateur literature, with Chafetz's opinions on their technical challenges and aesthetic rewards. He writes of Schubert's Quartet no. 4 in D minor ("Death and the Maiden"), "We rec- ommend that all the repeats be observed so that the end of the piece can be delayed as long as possible," and of Beethoven's op. 59, no. 3 (the third "Rasoumovsky" Quar- tet), "A violist who feels animosity towards the first fiddle has the perfect opportunity to break him in this movement by setting the tempo very fast."

Chafetz is at heart an unsentimental but sincere apologist for amateur music-mak- ing. It is no more a sacrilege, he claims, for an amateur quartet to struggle through a great piece of music in private, and learn thereby something of its depth and com- plexity, than it is for an art student to make a bad copy of a Rembrandt. He differs from Aulich and Heimeran, and from many am- ateurs, in insisting that amateur players who cannot meet professional standards should not perform in public: that would be like the art student trying to pass off his copy as the real thing.

TED RUST Berkeley, California

Violin Music by Women Composers: A Bio-bibliographical Guide. Com- piled by Rose-Marie Johnson. (Music Reference Collection, 22.) New York: Greenwood Press, 1989. [xxvii, 253 p. ISBN 0-313-26652-2. $39.95.]

Flute Music by Women Composers: An Annotated Catalog. Compiled by Heidi M. Boenke. (Music Reference Collection, 16.) New York: Green- wood Press, 1988. [xiv, 201 p. ISBN 0-313-26019-2. $37.95.]

ers new to chamber music. Chafetz appears to nurse a bit of a grudge from his expe- rience as an adult beginner. He is a keen observer, however, of what he calls "the so- ciopathology of string quartet players," with some suggestions (such as a "no-fault re- hearsal policy") for keeping that disease under control.

The author is at his best describing mu- sic from his own experience as a player. The book includes brief notes on about 150 string quartets from the standard amateur literature, with Chafetz's opinions on their technical challenges and aesthetic rewards. He writes of Schubert's Quartet no. 4 in D minor ("Death and the Maiden"), "We rec- ommend that all the repeats be observed so that the end of the piece can be delayed as long as possible," and of Beethoven's op. 59, no. 3 (the third "Rasoumovsky" Quar- tet), "A violist who feels animosity towards the first fiddle has the perfect opportunity to break him in this movement by setting the tempo very fast."

Chafetz is at heart an unsentimental but sincere apologist for amateur music-mak- ing. It is no more a sacrilege, he claims, for an amateur quartet to struggle through a great piece of music in private, and learn thereby something of its depth and com- plexity, than it is for an art student to make a bad copy of a Rembrandt. He differs from Aulich and Heimeran, and from many am- ateurs, in insisting that amateur players who cannot meet professional standards should not perform in public: that would be like the art student trying to pass off his copy as the real thing.

TED RUST Berkeley, California

Violin Music by Women Composers: A Bio-bibliographical Guide. Com- piled by Rose-Marie Johnson. (Music Reference Collection, 22.) New York: Greenwood Press, 1989. [xxvii, 253 p. ISBN 0-313-26652-2. $39.95.]

Flute Music by Women Composers: An Annotated Catalog. Compiled by Heidi M. Boenke. (Music Reference Collection, 16.) New York: Green- wood Press, 1988. [xiv, 201 p. ISBN 0-313-26019-2. $37.95.]

396 396 396

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Book Reviews Book Reviews

These bio-bibliographies were compiled by performers in response to their recital programming needs. Rose-Marie John- son's Violin Music by Women Composers con- tains three main sections: a biography, di- vided into historical periods; a bibliography of music, arranged by genre, with anno- tations for some items; and a discography, with two subsections-works arranged by composer and a list of recording compa- nies and distributions with addresses.

The compiler, a violinist, has arranged the book with practicality in mind. Per- formers will need the arrangement of the works by genre; librarians and others will find the addresses of publishers and music and record distributors essential for ac- quiring the materials. The book has some peculiarities, however: addresses for rec- ord distributors appear at the end of the discography section, but the list of publish- ers and distributors of music is included as part of the front matter. The index, curi- ously, is placed at the beginning of the main part of the book instead of at the end of the volume. The index itself is not as use- ful as it could be; references to page num- bers rather than names of sections would be much more useful.

Tucked away in the introduction is an excellent historical overview of women composers for the violin. The section on Italian composers from orphanages and convents is especially captivating.

Heidi Boenke's Flute Music by Women Composers is easy to use, with the main body of the book arranged in alphabetical order by composer. Indexes by instrumentation and title aid performers in using the book for programming purposes. The volume also includes addresses of publishers and composers, the latter helpful for obtaining unpublished music, and a list of sources and further reading.

Like Johnson's Violin Music, this volume is broad in scope, spanning three centuries and including composers from forty coun- tries. The repertoire ranges from works for unaccompanied and solo flute to those for various flute ensembles and to flute con- certos. It also includes works that employ "soloistic use of flutes."

The biographic entries, outweighed by the bibliographies, are brief and often in- accurate, perhaps because of Boenke's re- liance or the first edition of Aaron Cohen's

These bio-bibliographies were compiled by performers in response to their recital programming needs. Rose-Marie John- son's Violin Music by Women Composers con- tains three main sections: a biography, di- vided into historical periods; a bibliography of music, arranged by genre, with anno- tations for some items; and a discography, with two subsections-works arranged by composer and a list of recording compa- nies and distributions with addresses.

The compiler, a violinist, has arranged the book with practicality in mind. Per- formers will need the arrangement of the works by genre; librarians and others will find the addresses of publishers and music and record distributors essential for ac- quiring the materials. The book has some peculiarities, however: addresses for rec- ord distributors appear at the end of the discography section, but the list of publish- ers and distributors of music is included as part of the front matter. The index, curi- ously, is placed at the beginning of the main part of the book instead of at the end of the volume. The index itself is not as use- ful as it could be; references to page num- bers rather than names of sections would be much more useful.

Tucked away in the introduction is an excellent historical overview of women composers for the violin. The section on Italian composers from orphanages and convents is especially captivating.

Heidi Boenke's Flute Music by Women Composers is easy to use, with the main body of the book arranged in alphabetical order by composer. Indexes by instrumentation and title aid performers in using the book for programming purposes. The volume also includes addresses of publishers and composers, the latter helpful for obtaining unpublished music, and a list of sources and further reading.

Like Johnson's Violin Music, this volume is broad in scope, spanning three centuries and including composers from forty coun- tries. The repertoire ranges from works for unaccompanied and solo flute to those for various flute ensembles and to flute con- certos. It also includes works that employ "soloistic use of flutes."

The biographic entries, outweighed by the bibliographies, are brief and often in- accurate, perhaps because of Boenke's re- liance or the first edition of Aaron Cohen's

International Encyclopedia of Women Compos- ers (New York: Bowker, 1981) as a main source.

Despite these flaws, the book serves its primary goal-to provide a list of flute works for programming. The user should be aware of its shortcomings and avoid us- ing the biographical section as the basis for program notes.

JUDY Tsou University of California at Berkeley

The Shakuhachi: A Manual for

Learning. By Christopher Yohmei Blasdel and Yuko Kamisango. Tr. by Christopher Yohmei Blasdel. Tokyo: Ongaku No Tomo Sha, 1988. [ix, 160

p. ISBN 4-276-13351-3. Y3,500.

Of the few books in English about the shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute), The Shakuhachi: A Manual For Learning is by far the most complete. This thorough manual covers many aspects of the instrument, in- cluding the varieties of shakuhachi; the materials used in its construction; its struc- ture, handling, and care; and its historical development. The book is provided with a supplement containing musical exercises.

The text is divided into two parts. "Learning to Play," written by Blasdale, discusses most of the aspects of the disci- pline of shakuhachi study, analyzes the music, and describes various playing tech- niques. Blasdale's straightforward expla- nation makes the book useful to both the novice and the more experienced Western musician. In addition, Japanese and West- ern notations are written down together. One cannot stress enough, however, that this book should not be understood as a substitute for studying under an experi- enced teacher. Because of the instrument's difficulty, a sensei, or teacher, is essential to avoid the formation of bad habits.

"The Shakuhachi-History and Devel- opment," written by Yuko Kamisangyo, traces the historical development of the shakuhachi from ancient times to the pres- ent. It is by far the most thorough histor- ical treatment of the shakuhachi in English

International Encyclopedia of Women Compos- ers (New York: Bowker, 1981) as a main source.

Despite these flaws, the book serves its primary goal-to provide a list of flute works for programming. The user should be aware of its shortcomings and avoid us- ing the biographical section as the basis for program notes.

JUDY Tsou University of California at Berkeley

The Shakuhachi: A Manual for

Learning. By Christopher Yohmei Blasdel and Yuko Kamisango. Tr. by Christopher Yohmei Blasdel. Tokyo: Ongaku No Tomo Sha, 1988. [ix, 160

p. ISBN 4-276-13351-3. Y3,500.

Of the few books in English about the shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute), The Shakuhachi: A Manual For Learning is by far the most complete. This thorough manual covers many aspects of the instrument, in- cluding the varieties of shakuhachi; the materials used in its construction; its struc- ture, handling, and care; and its historical development. The book is provided with a supplement containing musical exercises.

The text is divided into two parts. "Learning to Play," written by Blasdale, discusses most of the aspects of the disci- pline of shakuhachi study, analyzes the music, and describes various playing tech- niques. Blasdale's straightforward expla- nation makes the book useful to both the novice and the more experienced Western musician. In addition, Japanese and West- ern notations are written down together. One cannot stress enough, however, that this book should not be understood as a substitute for studying under an experi- enced teacher. Because of the instrument's difficulty, a sensei, or teacher, is essential to avoid the formation of bad habits.

"The Shakuhachi-History and Devel- opment," written by Yuko Kamisangyo, traces the historical development of the shakuhachi from ancient times to the pres- ent. It is by far the most thorough histor- ical treatment of the shakuhachi in English

397 397

This content downloaded from 188.72.126.88 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 05:41:03 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions