Symphonic Spectacles

How did composers in the early twentieth century combine traditional approaches to musical structure? In Symphonic Spectacles author Sam Reenan presents a set of case studies, using works by Strauss, Beach, Ellington, and Mahler among others to show readers how analyses of these works can tease apart the compositional design and reception histories of each piece. The book makes these comprehensive analyses even more relevant by including discussion of how the musical works reflect aspects of their composers' identities within their historical contexts.

Sam Reenan is Assistant Professor of Music Theory at Miami University (Oxford, OH, USA). His work examines issues of musical form, narrative, and reception history as they intersect with aspects of identity and cultural constructions of meaning.

- Chapter 1: Structure, Spectacle, Symphony
- Chapter 2: Genres, Systems, Networks: Intersections with Formal Analysis
- Chapter 3: Form, Drama, and Gender Politics in Strauss's Eine Alpensinfonie
- Chapter 4: Cyclic Form and Programmaticism in Beach's "Gaelic" Symphony
- Chapter 5: Imposed Sonata Form in "Black" from Ellington's Black, Brown and Beige
- Chapter 6: The Symphonic Voice as Woman's Work in Smyth's The Prison
- Chapter 7: Repetition and Spectatorship in Coleridge-Taylor's Hiawatha's Wedding Feast
- Chapter 8: Multidimensionality in Mahler's Eighth Symphony
- Appendix: Catalogue of Published Rehearsal Numbers