LVCCLD-Hot Topics-Arts

ARTS - PERFORMING

Whether you're browsing for the sake of discovery or have a specific research goal, the Library's collection offers a rich variety of materials on the perfoming arts. Below you will also find links to overviews of the various performing arts, biographies, and specific information on music and musicans, theater, dance and cinema .

DATABASES

100 Albums That Changed Popular Music
From country and R&B to rock and hip-hop, 100 Albums That Changed Popular Music: A Reference Guide tells the stories behind the most groundbreaking, influential, and often controversial albums ever recorded.

Biography InContext
Biographical information on people throughout history and around the world. Includes the Complete Marquis Who's Who. Search by occupation, ethnicity, nationality and/or gender!

First Position: A Century of Ballet Artists
This work includes biographical and critical portraits of fifteen of the most notable ballet dancers of the last century, aimed at ballet fans, professional dancers, aspiring students, and those new to ballet and its lexicon.

Social Dancing in America
A History of American Social Dancing, is the most comprehensive collection of American social dance from the first settlements in 1607 through the birth of the nation in 1776 and into the beginning of the 21st century. This two-volume companion set provides a history of American social dances including the Virginia Reel, Square Dancing, the Lindy Hop, Rock n' Roll, the Twist, Disco, Breakdancing, and Hip Hop.

CREDO TOPIC PAGES

Cinema

A form of art and entertainment consisting of moving pictures, in either black and white or color, projected on a screen. Cinema draws on other arts, such as literature, drama, and music. Its development, beginning in the 1890s, has been closely linked to technological advances, including action and color photography, sound reproduction, and film processing and printing. The first sound feature film was released in 1927. Learn More..

Famous Musicians

Beethoven was a child prodigy. His father hoped to exploit this, and, using his skills as a court musician, put his son on a brutal regimen. Though the plan failed, teachers and members of the local aristocracy saw his talent and helped him along. In 1787, Beethoven visited Vienna for the first time, the center of the music world at the time. He played for Mozart then, and in 1792, he moved to Vienna and became Haydn´s student. He studied under several other teachers, but eventually reached the point where his genius prevented him from gaining from others´ instruction. His gifts afforded him some tolerance from those who noticed his less sociable aspects (such as a lack of manners and a proneness to anger), as well as an income eventually no longer dependent on patronage. To read more about his compositions, and the stormy end of his life, go to the Ludwig van Beethoven Topic Page. Learn about other musicians in Credo Reference.

Music

Music is the art of combining sounds into a structured form, usually according to conventional patterns and for an aesthetic (artistic) purpose. Music is generally divided into different genres or styles such as classical music, jazz, pop music, country, and so on. The Greek word mousikē covered all the arts presided over by the Muses. The various civilizations of the ancient and modern world developed their own musical systems. This resource covers the major developments of music in different time periods and provides links to a variety of online resources about music and musicians. Learn More..

Origins of Dance
The earliest history of human dance is a continuing mystery. From the evidence of illustrated ceramic fragments, some archaeologists have speculated that dance originated some 5,000 to 9,000 years ago in early agricultural cultures located in a swath running from modern Pakistan to the Danube basin. Others, however, have expressed caution regarding the reconstruction of social behavior from such sources. Speculation aside, specific knowledge of prehistoric dances is lacking, and thus many experts have extrapolated dance history from the preserved ritual dances of various preliterate societies. Learn More..

Theater

Theater is defined as a building, structure, or space in which dramatic performances take place. In its broadest sense theater can be defined as including everything connected with dramatic art—the play itself, the stage with its scenery and lighting, makeup, costumes, acting, and actors. Theater started in Ancient Greece which developed from the ceremonial worship of the god Dionysus (in which the death and rebirth of the god was celebrated) and was communal in nature. The focal point of the structure in which the ceremony took place was a level, circular space at the foot of a hill. Around this space, called the orchēstra, an auditorium rose in a large semicircle. Behind the orchēstra was the skēne, a building where the actors could change costume. Between the skēne and the orchēstra was a space called the proskenion, which later developed into the stage. So how did theater developed over time? Learn More..

ART - GENERAL

Arts and Humanities Through the Eras
Profiling milestones and movements in the arts, literature, music and religion from a specific period, each volume in this set helps students and researchers understand the various disciplines of the humanities in relation to each other, as well as to history and culture. An overview of the period and a chronology of major world events begin each volume.

MOVIES & FILM

Chambers Film Factfinder
Covering Hollywood to Bollywood and everywhere in between, the Chambers Film Factfinder is packed with information about every country"s film industry, listing history, key figures, major films, festivals, and much more. Includes more than 1,000 biographies of actors, directors, and producers, including career highs and lows.

George Gallup in Hollywood
Explores the use of George Gallup's opinion polling techniques by the film industry in the 1930's and '40's. Traces Gallup's intellectual and methodological developments, examining his comprehensive approach to market research from his early education in the advertising industry to his later work in Hollywood.

Guide to African Cinema
Intended as a guide to the filmmakers and films of the African cinema. Provides the framework for understanding the history and development of African film with respect to its situation in world cinema.

Historical Dictionary of African American Cinema
Includes hundreds of entries on notable actors and actresses, singers, dancers, and comedians, as well as directors, producers, cinematographers, and scriptwriters. Some general topics, such as race movies, film genres, and stereotypes, are also included. Other entries briefly summarize the better-known films, old and new, good and bad, Academy Award winners and cult classics.

History of the American Cinema.
Multi-volume set traces the hsitory of American films.

Hollywood and the Culture Elite: How the Movies Became American
Explores how Hollywood and cultural institutions worked together, amid ethnic diversity, the rise of mass entertainment, world war, and the global spread of American culture, to insure their own survival and profitability and to provide a coherent, though shifting, American identity.

Movies Made for Television: 1964-2004
Comprehensive listing of movies made for television from 1964-1979. Entries cite each film's original network, airdate, and length of broadcast. Along with a brief summary, each entry also includes extensive production credits (director, writer, producer, composer, director of photography, and editor) and a complete cast (and character) listing.

Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film
This reference provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to film and film studies, covering such aspects as production, national traditions, studios, genres, critical theory and film history.

The Columbia Companion to American History on Film: How the Movies Have Portrayed the American Past
A reference guide for newcomers to film studies. Advanced scholars will also benefit from the historical analyses and interpretations of film texts.

VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever
Reviews movies that are available on DVD. Each entry includes title, alternate title, one-to four-bone rating, year released, MPAA rating, brief review, length, format, country of origin, cast, technical personnel, awards and made-for-television/cable/video designations.

MUSIC & MUSICANS

Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians
Covers all musical genres, with new entries written by a distinguished group of area specialists as well as the original articles by Nicolas Slonimsky. This work continues the tradition of offering the most comprehensive and authoritative information on musicians, along with interesting and insightful evaluations of their contributions to the musical world.

Contemporary Musicians
Contemporary Musicians profiles the colorful performers and composers who create or influence the music we hear today. Contemporary Musicians is designed to provide in-depth coverage of the important figures on the modern music scene in a format that is both informative and entertaining. Students, researchers, and casual browsers alike can use Contemporary Musicians to fill their needs for personal information about the artists, find a selected discography of the musician´s recordings, and read an insightful essay offering biographical and critical information.

Encyclopedia of National Anthems
A collection of national anthems from most of the 193 sovereign countries in the world. Provides sheet music arranged for piano as well as lyrics in the original language of each country along with an English translation, if applicable.

Jazz: A Regional Exploration
Focuses on the music's development that resulted in different styles and approaches to jazz improvisation being created in different cities and areas of the country.

The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music
The Faber Companion to 20th Century Pop Music has established itself as the classic reference work in this area. From Abba to ZZ Top, through Noel Coward, the Skatalites and The Stone Roses, this book covers the major players in the vast history of popular music in the twentieth century. With varied entries covering everything from bebop to western swing by way of psychedelic rock, Phil Hardy's indispensable book maps out a stimulating and informative cultural history of the century in popular music.

The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music
An incomparable guide to the thousands of characters, from humble artisan to lofty genius, who people the unfolding history of music, this volume brings together all the pertinent biographical information about composers, performers, music theorists, and instrument makers from the days of praise chants to the bop and pop of today. A long-awaited companion to The New Harvard Dictionary of Music, and compiled with the same meticulous scholarship and delight in detail, this biographical dictionary emphasizes classical and art music, but also gives ample attention to jazz and blues, rock and pop, and hymns and showtunes across the ages - with unusual care devoted to coverage of the twentieth century.

The Story Behind the Song: 150 Songs that Chronicle the 20th Century
Offers a guide to historically significant songs that helped chronicle the twentieth century. Explains the story behind each song's creation and how it reflected political, economic, and social events of the time.

THEATER & DRAMA

Contemporary Theatre, Film & Television
Biographical reference providing information on individuals active in the theatre, film, and television industries. Covers not only performers, directors, writers, and producers, but also behind-the-scenes specialists such as designers, managers, choreographers, technicians, composers, executives, dancers, and critics from the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and the world.

The American Repertory Theatre Reference Book: The Brustein Years
Provides a chronology of data and commentary on A.R.T. Loeb Stage and New Stages productions during the Brustein years. Entries include a synopsis of the play, a list of the artistic personnel, a cast list, the opening date, commentary and critical responses to the production. Other sections include: a detailed history of the A.R.T., historical highlights, and biographies of key personnel.

Thematic Guide to Modern Drama
Presents the numerous themes that weave their way through modern drama and highlights the variety of thought that exists in response to them.

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