Umberto Giordano (1867–1948)
Andrea Chenieris in ASO121 (1989).
868.Umberto Giordano. Ed. Mario Morini. Milan: Sonzogno, 1968. 315, 119p.
No ISBN. ML410 .G5 M86.
Ten essays by various writers on Giordano’s style, orchestration, life, letters,
and singers of his works. A valuable anthology of criticism by 23 scholars is
included. List of premieres, chronology of life and works, discography, good
bibliography (including newspaper reviews) of some 400 entries, indexes of
titles and names.
869.Umberto Giordano e il verismo. Atti del Convegno di Studi.Ed. Mario Morini
and Piero Ostali. Milan: Sonzogno, 1989. 174p. No ISBN. ML410 .G37 U734.
The conference, at Verona, 2–3 July 1986, yielded 25 informal papers. Name
and title index.
Peggy Glanville-Hicks (1912–1990)
870.Hayes, Deborah. Peggy Glanville-Hicks: A Bio-Bibliography.Bio-Bibliographies
in Music, 27. New York: Greenwood, 1990. x, 274p. ISBN 0-313-26422-8.
ML134 .G52 H4.
A bibliography of 699 writings by Glanville-Hicks and 410 about her, with
brief annotations. It is a challenge to find anything in this volume, which puts
the entries in chronological order and has a very poor index. A worklist is
included.
Philip Glass (1937–)
- Glass, Philip. Music by Philip Glass.New York: Harper & Row, 1987. 222p.
ISBN 0-0601-5823-9. ML410 .G398 A3.
A British edition was titled Opera on the Beach(London: Faber, 1988). Essen-
tially a genesis account of Einstein on the Beach(1976) and Akhnaten (1984),
disclosing the composer’s strong concern with plot and visual elements. Full
libretti are given, along with some musical examples in partly legible hand-
writing. The book also offers “revealing anecdotes” about Nadia Boulanger
and Ravi Shankar, who helped Glass to formulate his views. Selective worklist,
1965–1987, expansive index. - Richardson, John. Singing Archaeology: Philip Glass’s “Akhnaten.”Middle-
town, Conn.: Wesleyan U.P., 1999. 294p. ISBN 0-8195-6317-X. ML410 .G54
R54.
The “central concern is to examine the complex and often troubled relation-
ship between this music and earlier musical practices.” Richardson also tries to
answer the (apparently unanswerable) question: Why do the people who like
Philip Glass’s music like it? Genesis, reception, and a technical study of the
micro and macro aspects are interesting, but the story drifts into Brechtian
alienation, Akhnaten’s “religious credo and its representation in music,” and
deep thoughts from Jacques Lacan and Julia Kristeva. Backnotes, expansive
Philip Glass 173