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Beethoven's Ninth Symphony has held musical audiences captive for close to two centuries. Honing in on the significance of the symphony in contemporary culture, this book establishes a dialog between Beethoven's world and ours. In particular, it outlines what is special about the Ninth in millennial culture, where music is encoded not only as score but also as digital technology.

Carousel (1945) was Rodgers and Hammerstein's second collaboration following their hugely successful Oklahoma! (1943). Based on Ferenc Molnar's play, Liliom (1909), it took Broadway musical theater in far darker directions given its subject and extensive music. Here we discover how it came about, and what it was trying to achieve.

In this history of the ballad "Over the Rainbow", author Walter Frisch traces the song's journey from the imagination of composer Harold Arlen and lyricist "Yip" Harburg and its debut performance by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz (1939) through its numerous, widely varying interpretations throughout the twentieth century.

Appalachian Spring, with music by Aaron Copland and choreography by Martha Graham, counts among the best known American contributions to the global concert hall and stage. Distinguished musicologist Annegret Fauser offers a concise and lively introduction to the history of the work, its realization on stage, and its transformations over time.

The first book dedicated to the breakthrough work by one of the most acclaimed composers today, Arvo Part's Tabula Rasa tells the story of its composition and premiere against the backdrop of late Soviet culture and the end of the Cold War.