Description
Alfred A. Knopf, Published 1944. Hardcover, 128 pp plus index; 22 cm; First Edition; illustrated with musical notation throughout and 3 plates (2 of music); the original laid-in cardboard record ruler present.
Rare, out-of-print & unusual books · Since 1997
111
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Catalog notes
Condition & notes
In Very Good condition, no dust jacket. Black cloth boards, blind-stamped lyre and horns device on front cover, gilt lettering on spine; mild shelf and edge wear, with some scuffing and spotting to the edges. Top edge stained yellow, as issued. Binding tight. Mild toning to the endpapers, with the residue of an erased pencil notation to the upper corner of the front free endpaper; text otherwise unmarked. The laid-in cardboard ruler ("HOLD HERE, BUT DO NOT BEAR DOWN HEAVILY!"), issued with the book for measuring the grooves of 78 rpm records, is present and in very good condition, mildly toned. Rarely found with the ruler. B. H. Haggin's guide to listening, written for the reader who takes pleasure in Hamlet but is baffled by a Schubert sonata. Haggin, then music critic of The Nation, argues that music communicates the same order of content as poetry, and walks the reader through Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, Schubert, Mozart, and Wagner with musical examples printed in the text. What sets the book apart is its method: passages are keyed to timings on specific commercial 78 rpm recordings, so the reader follows along with the record playing, using the laid-in ruler to find the exact groove. Printed and bound at The Plimpton Press, designed by James Hendrickson, with the musical autographs by Maxwell Weaner. Contents: Why Hamlet: An Exciting Content Communicated Through a Rich Poetic Form; Why Music: A Similar Content Communicated Through Forms in Sound; The Meaning of Music and How to Listen to It; Some Exciting Forms in Sound and What to Listen For in Them; About Performance of Music; What to Read About Music; A List of Recorded Performances of the Works Discussed; Acknowledgments; with index to the music and index to subjects.