Forms and genres

Visit Guide to Western music genresWith almost 1,300 encyclopedic pages, this important work is suitable for both simple consultation and more in-depth research. Over 200 entries are listed alphabetically, plus some 130 cross-references - the Konzertstück, for example, refers to the chapter on the concerto. The most popular genres are covered, including the madrigal, opera (to which 80 pages are devoted) and symphony, as well as the less common khorovode and todesca, or genres as particular as pantoum and ranz des vaches, medieval rotrouenge, chiaranzana (Renaissance dance), improvisation, carol and electroacoustic music. The most important entries include a description and history of the genre (evolution, variants and functions) as well as a comprehensive list of composers and related works. By way of example, the chapter devoted to the concerto is subdivided into definition, appellation, typology (sacred concertos, grosso, solo, double and triple concertos, symphony concertante, cadenza, etc.), numbers and history.

Less bulky, the Guide to western music forms focuses on the structures of musical construction, from the Middle Ages to the open forms experimented with in contemporary music. Some sections are supplemented by formal analysis of scores reproduced in full or as excerpts. Particularly useful for students, this guide approaches forms not in a fixed way, but with a lively look at their natural evolution and historical context. Rarely described forms, such as the ritornello concerto or the Scarlett sonata, rub shoulders with medieval chansons, monothematic sonata forms, madrigal sonata forms, arch sonata forms, deferred sonata forms and kaleidoscopic sonata forms.

Claude Abromont and Eugène de Montalembert, Guide des genres de la musique occidentale, 1309 p., € 42.60, Editions Fayard and Editions Henry Lemoine, Paris 2010,ISBN 9782213634500

id., Guide des formes de la musique occidentale, 237 p., € 20.30, ISBN 9782213655727