The University of North Carolina Press is proud to announce Howard
Smither's ground-breaking four-volume
A History of the
Oratorio, are now available in one convenient Omnibus E-Book
edition. Published as UNC Press Enduring Editions, these volumes
bring Smither's landmark scholarship to a new generation of readers
and scholars.
Written by an eminent scholar in a style that represents American
musicological writing at its communicative best,
A History of
the Oratorio offers a synthesis and critical appraisal so
exhaustive and reliable that the serious student of the oratorio
will be compelled to look to these volumes as an indispensable
source. No work on the history of the oratorio has yet appeared in
the English language that is comparable in scope and treatment with
Smither's comprehensive four-volume work.
Volumes 1 and 2, published by the University of North Carolina
Press in 1977, treated the oratorio in the Baroque era, while
Volume 3, published in 1987, explored the genre in the Classical
era. The final volume, Volume 4, published in 2000, surveys the
history of nineteenth- and twentieth-century oratorio, stressing
the main geographic areas of oratorio composition and performance:
Germany, Britain, America, and France.
A History of the Oratorio is the first full-length history
of the genre since Arnold Schering published his
Geschichte des
Oratoriums in 1911. In addition to synthesizing current thought
about the oratorio, these volumes contribute new information on
relationships between oratorio librettos and contemporary literary
and religious thought, and on the musical differences among
oratorios from different geographical-cultural regions.
Information on the 4 volumes included in this Omnibus E-Book:
A HISTORY OF THE ORATORIO
Howard E. Smither
Volume 1: The Oratorio in the Baroque Era: Italy, Vienna, Paris
507 pp., 59 illus., 74 music examples
Volume 2: the Oratorio in the Baroque Era: Protestant Germany and
England
415 pp., 48 illus., 75 music examples
Volume 3: the Oratorio in the Classical Era
736 pp., 37 illus., 30 tables, 110 music examples
Volume 4: The Oratorio in the Nineteenth and Twentieth
Centuries
856 pp., 24 illus., 33 tables, 90 figs.
About UNC Press Enduring Editions
UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to
make available again books from our distinguished backlist that
were previously out of print. These editions are published
unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable
paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural
value.