Elizabeth Maconchy in Context
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- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
- Publication date:
- 23 April 2026
- 07 May 2026
- ISBN:
- 9781009307130
- 9781009307116
- Dimensions:
- (229 x 152 mm)
- Weight & Pages:
- 0.746kg, 410 Pages
- Dimensions:
- Weight & Pages:
- Series:
- Composers in Context
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Book description
Elizabeth Maconchy was one of the most prominent and successful composers of the twentieth century, a champion of contemporary music who composed chamber operas, choral music, orchestral works, a range of compositions and operas for children, and a highly-regarded series of string quartets. This collection explores her life and work, her Irishness and her formative years at the Royal College of Music. It examines her intersections with musical and cultural movements, and the persistent and insidious presence of sexism against which she presented a forceful, often humorous stance. There are chapters devoted to her important friendships with composers and teachers, interactions with broadcasters and festival organisers along with a focused section dedicated to the breadth and depth of Maconchy's compositions. The Irish-English composer is revealed a force to be reckoned with who frequently demonstrated a powerful instinct to thrive and survive, often against the odds.
Reviews
‘In these 33 meditations on Elizabeth Maconchy's extraordinary life and works, her music is given the space it has always deserved but has rarely been afforded. Her cultural, social, aesthetic, gendered, political, and medical environments are drawn upon in fascinating detail to shine a light on her iron will to be a composer against all the odds. This book forms an ideal introduction to Maconchy and her relevance then and – most importantly – now.'
Annika Forkert - Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester
‘A brilliant documentation of Elizabeth Maconchy’s exquisite artistry, balancing biographical angles with studies of a composer prolific in all genres - symphonic, operatic, chamber, and vocal. Assembling chapters from some two-dozen leading scholars, Vickers and Walker and their team of leading scholars have created an unusually wide-ranging portrait of a canonic figure in twentieth-century music.’
Philip Rupprecht - Professor of Music, Duke University
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