Intro and Latest News
Introduction
Theory of Music was founded in 2007 by the composer and writer Barry Mitchell. The main purpose of Theory of Music is to publish resources for the study of the history and theory of music and broadly related subjects.
The main activities engaged in by Theory of Music are:
- the publication of resources provided free on this website
- e-books that are available commercially (currently only in versions for kindle sold by Amazon)
- one to one tuition in music history and theory (this can be done face to face or remotely)
Please feel free to leave a comment.
Barry Mitchell August 2012
barry.mitchell@theoryofmusic.eu
Latest News
28 October 2014
Theory of Music’s translation of Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (https://theoryofmusic.wordpress.com/2008/02/04/a-translation-of-il-combattimento-di-tancredi-e-clorinda-by-monteverdi/) used in National Centre for Early Music Young Composers Award in partnership with BBC Radio 3.
The National Centre for Early Music runs the annual NCEM Young Composers Award in partnership with BBC Radio 3 and, in 2015, the Dunedin Consort, Scotland’s leading baroque ensemble. It is a national award for composers under the age of 25 with the aim of introducing them to the sound world of early music. The winners from each of the age categories, 18 and under, and 19 – 25, will receive the prize of having their piece performed by the Dunedin Consort in a public concert and recorded for broadcast by BBC Radio 3. You can read more about the award at www.ncem.co.uk/composersaward2015 , For the 2015 award entrants will be invited to set a short scene from either Orfeo or Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. The text of Il combattimento and the Theory of Music translation will be on the NCEM website for the composers to download.
10 October 2014
Theory of Music’s translation of Schubert’s Winterreise (https://theoryofmusic.wordpress.com/2009/07/18/english-translation-of-schuberts-winterreise-poems-by-w-muller/) used at 2014 Oxford Leider Festival workshop.
World renowned mezzo-soprano Sarah Walker CBE will use the translation of Winterreise from Schubert’s Wanderers at her Oxford Lieder Festival masterclass on 16 October 2014 . The venue is St. Columba’s Church, Alfred St. Oxford. See: http://www.oxfordlieder.co.uk/events/1280
28 Comments
leave one →
I’m very much interested in old classical music because I like instrumental music, I’m just getting into music because of some I heard on Turner Classica Movie. I can only indicate to you that Morzat is an interest of my I’v listen to it before. I sorry, I can not name anything because, I not great with remembering names. It is something I have to practice. But if there is any download on some I would be quiet interest in listening to it. Also, I Love to hear any African opera, and some unknown vocalist that are still not know today. I like to compare todays music verse earlier voices of lycrics.
What a goldmine of info here, thank you very much for all the effort!
A lot to get your teeth into, but well worth it!
its good..it help with me with your articles
Excellent site.
Great blog!
I opened a blog teaching music theory. Go and check it if you want, and tell me what you think: http://beamusician.wordpress.com . Hope it helps. Thanks!
A great idea, good luck with it. I look forward to seeing how the site develops!
Thank you for such a great public service. I especially appreciate original texts/libretti with accompanying English translation. Please keep up the good work and may God bless you.
Great blog! Thank you for sharing your hard work!
I love very much your work. Always a great pleasure to read it. I manage this site of Mozart’s letters: http://letters.mozartways.com/. Maybe you’d like sometimes to dig some letter there. Congratulations!
Thanks for your comment. I’ve had a look at your Mozart letters site and it is great – keep up the good work!
Excellent site!! I had to do some research on the history of music for my class assignment but when I turned to internet all I saw was scattered information which was even poorly organized. What I really wanted was first hand information from someone who knows the field but couldn’t find a single blog dedicated to solely music at that time. You are doing a great service and I hope you’ll keep it up for the benefit of information-starved people like me
Thank you very much for your positive comments. It is a lot of work keeping up this blog, though I enjoy it, so it is good to know that it is appreciated.
pls send me music theory( all about music) I wana be a musician. this is my email gabrielogbu28@gmail.com. thanks
I really like your article in here and I’m very much interested in old classical music because I like instrumental music and mellow tune. I am enjoying reading it and we are looking forward to see more in here.
_____________________________
Christmas music online
I have something to add to your blog. I published an article this year in defense of just intonation over equal temperament and also augmenting the centuries-old C256hz/A432hz proposition. My horological theory of why A=432hz really clarifies the argument and greatly settles why the standard ought to be changed. Please read the article, titled “A=432hz: On the Proper Concert Pitch and a New Standardization of Tempo,” at http://www.trueconcertpitch.com – or find it at the Amazon Kindle or iBookstore marketplaces. I have made a YouTube video presenting an augmented version of the article as well, @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBQ9XkQyXxI. There is even a Facebook page, named “A=432hz Concert Pitch.” I hope you get a lot out of my work!
Dear Mr. Mitchell
As someone who grew up with a fascination for both popular & “classical” forms of music, a site like this is of great interest. I am also a student of philosophy (specifically Ayn Rand’s Objectivism) and constantly find myself challenged by our current culture’s hostility toward both a solid appreciation of abstract music, as well as an understanding of philosophy (upon which any true aesthetic appreciation must be based). Having a personal tendency to eclecticism, on the one hand, but given to an almost mystical enthusiasm for the music & the arts on the other, I seek out -above all- music that expresses an integration (rather than mere juxtaposition) of intellectual sense with emotional sensibility, complex structures as the vehicle for expressing profound human passions (e.g. Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Poulenc etc). I thank you, and shall continue to read with great interest.
Sincerely,
Jae Alexander
For my study in the Netherlands I’m researching the development of music in the past 2000 years. This site was one of the sites that inspired me for the research. Thank you!
I am regular reader, how are you everybody? This
paragraph posted at this web site is truly good.
Dear Mr. Mitchell, I just found your site, Amazing! Truly inspiring and very useful not only for a musician, composer and music teacher, as in my case, but for all those who love music. Thanks for sharing all that information and for the so many hours of work and research that takes to keep a page like this.
Good luck and keep up the good work!
Thanks for your positive comments!
Really appreciated your lucid essay on the opera seria. Just one comment I think Durastanti was a mezzo soprano woman not a castrato. She played the dfirst Sexto in Cesare.
Keep up the good work. jeanne
Thanks for your comment and you are indeed correct about Durastanti.
Thanks, I have clarified the point about Durastanti in the post.
Hello there I am so thrilled I found your web site, I really found you by accident, while I was searching on Google
for something else, Anyways I am here now and would just like to say kudos for a tremendous post and a all round interesting blog
(I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read it all at the moment but I have bookmarked it and also added your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read much more, Please do keep up the awesome job.
Hello there I am so thrilled I found your web site, I really found you by accident, while I was searching on Google for something else
Muchas gracias Sr. Barry Mitchell, a usted y sus colaboradores, por este hermoso regalo
Thank you, very much, for this magnificent gift
Appreciating the time and effort you put into your site and
detailed information you present. It’s nice to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the
same unwanted rehashed material. Wonderful read! I’ve bookmarked your
site and I’m adding your RSS feeds to my Google account.