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Josephine Lang: Her Life and Songs.

Article Excerpt
Josephine Lang: Her Life and Songs. By Harald Krebs and Sharon Krebs. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. [xiii, 308 p. ISBN-10: 0195173635; ISBN-13: 9780195173635. $45.] Music examples, illustrations, bibliographic references, appendices, index, compact disc.

This latest book on the life and works of composer, singer, and pianist Josephine Lang contributes to a growing body of scholarship devoted to increasing awareness and appreciation of nearly forgotten artists. It will probably not surprise readers of Notes to hear that this woman composer, well known and revered in her time, has been written out of musical history since the onset of the twentieth century. This omission is slowly being corrected by the husband and wife team of Harald Krebs and Sharon Krebs, two formidable individual researchers and performers, who accomplish together a significant feat in Josephine Lang: Her Life and Songs. The book is the result of several years of ongoing involvement with the documents of Lang's career, including her musical autographs, surviving letters between Lang and her colleagues and family members, published songs and piano pieces, and printed biographical studies from Lang's own time to the present. The study revisits the facts of Lang's life and career, adding some details that had previously been overlooked or suppressed, and provides many insightful commentaries on her artistic output. Illustrated throughout with copious music examples, the analysis provides a lively and engaging discussion of the composer's music.

The authors also provide several essential tools for future investigators of Lang's music beyond their own text. An essential component of any reassessment of a marginalized composer is access to scores. Some of Lang's works were published in modern editions as part of the Women Composers Series edited by Judith Tick (Da Capo Press, 1982)....

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