Editing Essays in Musical Analysis

{{Short description|Series of essays on classical music by Donald Tovey}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Italic title}}

[[Donald Tovey|Sir Donald Francis Tovey]]'s '''''Essays in Musical Analysis'''''<ref>{{cite book |last=Tovey |first=Donald |date=1935 |title=Essays in Musical Analysis, Vols. I-VI |publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Tovey |first=Donald |date=1989 |title=Essays in Musical Analysis; Vol. 1, Symphonies and other Orchestral Works; Vol. 2, Concertos and Choral Works |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-315149-9 }}</ref> are a series of [[musical analysis|analytical]] essays on [[classical music]]. The essays came into existence as [[programme notes]], written by Tovey, to accompany concerts given (mostly under his own baton) by the Reid Orchestra in [[Edinburgh]]. Between 1935 and 1939, they were published in six volumes as ''Essays in Musical Analysis''. Each volume focused on a certain genre of [[orchestra]]l or [[choral music]] (for example, Volumes I and II were devoted to Symphonies; Volume III to Concertos), with many of the works discussed with the help of music examples. In 1944, a posthumous seventh volume appeared on [[chamber music]]. In 1989, a new version was published with some essays omitted and the remainder of Volumes I-VI consolidated into two volumes.

Tovey's ''Essays'' were written as introductory notes for the concert-going public and are occasionally light-hearted in tone. Nevertheless, they analyse the pieces and describe their structure in much more depth than standard programme notes, even in a few pages each. Tovey saw his role as being "counsel for the defence" (Introduction to Volume I): in speaking up on behalf of the work about to be performed, he was seeking to facilitate the listener's appreciation of its artistic content and technical merits. As a result, his approach tends to 'track' the structure of a work as it unfolds through time before the ear of his imaginary 'naive listener'.

* '''Volume 1''': ''Symphonies''. Includes essays on Beethoven's overtures and symphonies, including the author's famous study of the Ninth Symphony; all Brahms's overtures and symphonies; 11 symphonies by Haydn; six by Mozart; three by Schubert, three by Sibelius; four by Dvorak.
* '''Volume 2''': ''Symphonies (II), variations, and orchestral polyphony''. Schumann, Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, Julius Rontgen, Bach Orchestral Suites and Concertos, Vaughan Williams, Holst.
* '''Volume 3''':  ''Concertos''. Analysis of concertos by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Chopin, Joachim, Brahms, Dvorak, Elgar, Somervell, Franck, Dohnanyi, Spohr, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Saint-Saens, Bruch, Stanford, Delius, R. Strauss, Glazounov, Sibelius, Schmidt, Respighi and Walton.
* '''Volume 4''': ''Illustrative music''. Essays on works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Wagner, Dvorak, Parry, Elgar (''Falstaff''), J B McEwen and Holst.
* '''Volume 5''': ''Vocal music''. Includes long essays on Bach's B minor Mass, Beethoven's Mass in D, Haydn's ''The Creation'' and Verdi's Requiem.
* '''Volume 6''': ''Supplementary essays, glossary and index''. CPE Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Reger, Mahler, Elgar, Sibelius, Havergal Brian. 
* '''Volume 7''': ''Chamber music''. Essays on Bach's ''Goldberg Variations'' and ''The Art of Fugue'' as well as key works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, and Brahms.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.28890/ Essays In Musical Analysis Vol-vi] - digital copy at the Internet Archive

{{Musical analysis}}

[[Category:Music books]]
[[Category:1935 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:1936 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:1937 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:1938 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:1939 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:1944 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:British non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Oxford University Press books]]
[[Category:Classical music analysis]]