Oliver Messiaen: Treatise on Rhythm, Color, and Ornithology, Vol. 1 (1994/1998)

A translation of the first volume of Messiaen’s 7-volume music theory treatise. Where possible, all musical examples have been reproduced in their entirety. This volume addresses several of Messiaen’s ideas on musical as well as non-musical rhythm. He discusses time, rhythm, greek metrics, hindu rhythms, and analyzes the 39 choruses of Le Printemps by Claude Le Jeune.

Originally published as Traité de rythme, de couleur, et d’ornithologie, Tome 1, Alphonse Leduc, Paris, 1994
With a Preface by Pierre Boulez
Translated by Melody Baggech
as her Dissertation thesis
Graduate Faculty of the School of Music, The University of Oklahoma, 1998
426 pages
via Charles Turner

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James Tenney: META⌿HODOS and META Meta⌿Hodos: A Phenomenology of 20th Century Musical Materials and an Approach to the Study of Form (1964/1988)

One of the great music theory books of the 20th century, by a thought-provoking composer. One of earliest applications of gestalt theory and cognitive science to music.

Originally published by the Inter-American Institute for Musical Research, Tulane University, New Orleans, 1964 (META-HODOS), and the Journal of Experimental Aesthetics 1.1, 1977 (“META Meta-Hodos”)
Edited by Larry Polansky
Second edition
Publisher Frog Peak Music, Oakland/CA, 1988
ISBN 0945996004, 9780945996002
116 pages

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Songs of The IBM (1931-)

“[Since the year 1900], the gatherings and conventions of our IBM workers have expressed in happy songs the fine spirit of loyal cooperation and good fellowship which has promoted the signal success of our great IBM Corporation in its truly International Service for the betterment of business and benefit to mankind.

In appreciation of the able and inspiring leadership of our beloved President, Mr. Thos. J. Watson, and our unmatchable staff of IBM executives, and in recognition of the noble aims and purposes of our International Service and Products, this edition of IBM songs solicits your vocal approval by hearty cooperation in our song-fests at our conventions and fellowship gatherings.” (from introduction)

Publisher International Business Machines Corporation, New York, 1931
45 pages

music clips
publisher and more information about IBM’s music and bands
commentary (Rob Weir)

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From VKhUTEMAS to MARKhI, 1920-36 (2005) [English/Russian]

This album contains exercises, diploma works and projects of graduates and professors of the Moscow schools that graduated architects in the 1920s and 1930s: VKhUTEMAS-VKhUTEIN, MPI-MIGI, MVTU, and ASI-MAI. The book includes both original works and photos of projects and models gathered by the MARKhI Museum in 1989-2004. Most materials are published for the first time.

From VKhUTEMAS to MARKhI, 1920-1936: Architectural projects from the collection of the MARKhI Museum
Editors A.P. Kudryavtsev, N.O. Dushkina
Authors L.I.Ivanova-Veen, E.B. Ovsiannikova
Publisher A-Fond Publishers, Moscow, 2005
ISBN 9077344098, 9789077344095
231 pages

VKhUTEMAS at Monoskop wiki

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Robert Darnton: Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History (1985-)

When the apprentices of a Paris printing shop in the 1730s held a series of mock trials and then hanged all the cats they could lay their hands on, why did they find it so hilariously funny that they choked with laughter when they reenacted it in pantomime some twenty times? Why in the eighteenth-century version of Little Red Riding Hood did the wolf eat the child at the end? What did the anonymous townsman of Montpelier have in mind when he kept an exhaustive dossier on all the activities of his native city? These are some of the provocative questions Robert Darnton answers in this classic work of European history in what we like to call “The Age of Enlightenment.”

First published in 1985
Publisher Basic Books, New York, 1990
ISBN 0465027008
298 pages

wikipedia
publisher
google books (Revised ed.)

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David Rothenberg: Bug Music: How Insects Gave Us Rhythm and Noise (2013)

In the spring of 2013 the cicadas in the Northeastern United States will yet again emerge from their seventeen-year cycle—the longest gestation period of any animal. Those who experience this great sonic invasion compare their sense of wonder to the arrival of a comet or a solar eclipse. This unending rhythmic cycle is just one unique example of how the pulse and noise of insects has taught humans the meaning of rhythm, from the whirr of a cricket’s wings to this unfathomable and exact seventeen-year beat.

In listening to cicadas, as well as other humming, clicking, and thrumming insects, Bug Music is the first book to consider the radical notion that we humans got our idea of rhythm, synchronization, and dance from the world of insect sounds that surrounded our species over the millions of years over which we evolved. Completing the trilogy he began with Why Birds Sing and Thousand Mile Song, David Rothenberg explores a unique part of our relationship with nature and sound—the music of insects that has provided a soundtrack for humanity throughout the history of our species. Bug Music continues Rothenberg’s in-depth research and spirited writing on the relationship between human and animal music, and it follows him as he explores insect influences in classical and modern music, plays his saxophone with crickets and other insects, and confers with researchers and scientists nationwide.

This engaging and thought-provoking book challenges our understanding of our place in nature and our relationship to the creatures surrounding us, and makes a passionate case for the interconnectedness of species.

Publisher St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of Macmillan
ISBN 1250005213, 9781250005212
289 pages

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Nicola Anne Candlish: The Development of Resources for Electronic Music in the UK, with Particular Reference to the bids to establish a National Studio (2012)

This thesis traces the history and development of the facilities for electronic music in the UK. It covers the early attempts to experiment with electronic music and create studios in less than ideal circumstances and the subsequent bids to create a national centre. It also covers some elements of worldwide development of electronic music and sound recording, in particular those which occurred before 1965. The thesis calls upon non-traditional sources and the author was able to access many documents in the personal archives of electronic music pioneers. There is substantial reference to committees and societies for electronic music and their effects on the development of facilities for electronic music in the UK. Some of the early pioneers are studied in detail; these include Daphne Oram, Tristram Cary and Hugh Davies. Unprecedented access to information on Hugh Davies and Daphne Oram was provided by the family estates of these recently deceased composers. This allowed the author to gain valuable insight into the working patterns and methodology of these composers. Many references to later pioneers such as Trevor Wishart are also made but the focus remains on the facilities available to composers rather than the composers and their works.

Doctoral thesis
Music Department, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Durham University, 2012
189 pages

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