Renaissance Books

Schoenfeldt masterfully combines a sophisticated literary analysis with the cultural prevalence of humoral medicine to provide real insight into the ways that people experienced and expressed their identities in early modern England. His book is well written, well considered, and should be well received. Hooray!

The next time I have the opportunity to teach a class on alchemy and art, I will be sure to include this book as required reading. Pamela Smith has given us a powerful argument for the place of alchemy in early modern art history. You will learn much about the subject of alchemy as matter theory from the point of view of renaissance artists, who found alchemy useful as a set of symbols and vocabulary for talking about their "subject matter." There is much of interest here about the mystical side of artists' thinking at the time--a much neglected subject full of surprises and delights. This book is a beautiful production with much lovely and strange imagery. The scholarship is solid and the references/bibliography open up a lot of doors.

Essential for any library or bookshelf dealing with the cutting edge in historical academic alchemical studies. Beyond the academic space, artists, mystics and occultists should find this book to be of great fascination, treating many practical concerns in historical snapshot.

My daughter is a 1st grader who is advanced in her reading and loves biographies. Since she is young for her class, it is difficult to get advanced vocabulary without the advanced content. This book was perfect for her. It held her interest and provoked questions. It helps that our family loves Beethoven!

Alexander and Pacht are simpley the best in Medieval scholorship. This book has been one of my favorites since a class in Manuscriopt Illumination. This book gives the basics with out being to large to digest. It provides fantastic illustrations and bibliography that should send even the most jaded art historian to their knees with gratitude. This book is good for hard core historians, lovers of illuminated pages, medieval history or art buffs and any one in love with line, color and decoration for the sake of decoration. Alexander and Pacht are clear knowledgeable writers who love to point out the details and side stories that make art and history so facinating to comb through. It is a pleasure to just turn the pages and study the art work. This book will give you a new appriciation of the "dark ages" and the legacy of art that was left for us.

This book is a wonderful compilation of Period alphabets from the 8th through the 14th centuries c.e. For medieval enthusiasts, calligraphers and artists interested in early manuscript styles, this is an invaluable reference. The alphabets are largely all decorative capitals, but some lower case sets are presented in the latter sections, and overall this is well worth hunting for if you can find it.

The period of time covered by this book, from 1580 to 1660, might be viewed as the origin of our modern theater concept. This is the time of Marlowe and Shakespeare. 'The Book of the Play' in those days was the term used to describe the printed version of the play, the script if you will.

It is, of course, well known that Shakespeare's plays were both published in print and performed on stage. But this is the first book to systematically analyze the effect that such printing had on the playwright, the printer and the readers of the plays.

The authors of these essays are all distinguished academics specializing in early modern drama. They are predominately from United States universities, but also include some from Canada and England.

In this beautifully illustrated work, Johnson plots the dramatic rise of the Borgias from their roots in Spain to their occupation of the highest position in Renaissance society in Italy at a time when that country occupied centerstage in Europe, both politically and culturally. She explains why history has depicted the Borgias as fallen angels in a corrupt era, but considers the condemnation to have been too absolute and maintains that behind the gaudy horrors existed people of real talent and achievement, some of whom even possessed moderate virtues.
All of the Borgias were strong and colorful characters who caught the world's attention whatever they did. The crimes and sins of Rodrigo Borgia (Pope Alexander VI), his children Cesare and Lucrezia, and the legends of poisoning and incest that surrounded them, are here compellingly re-examined by Johnson.
There are maps and genealogical tables, a select bibliography and a detailed index, and the text is enhanced by beautiful black & white and full-colour illustrations. This is a thoroughly researched and well-written book, and I highly recommend it.

The author's stated intention is to explain the Borgia phenomenon, not to rehabilitate the family. The Borgias were Spanish nobles of moderate standing who succeeded in inserting themselves into the upper strata of Renaissance society via the Catholic church.

The election of one member of the family as Pope Calixtus III prepared the way for the notorious Alexander VI and for many cardinals and rulers in Naples, Italy, France and Spain. The activities of Alexander (Rodrigo Borgia), his children Cesare and Lucrezia, and the lewd legends of incest and poisoning that have surrounded them have attracted the attention of poets, playwrights, novelists and historians of all subsequent generations.

Mallett succeeds in answering the questions, Who were the Borgias?, and, What were they doing in 15th century Italy that made them so hated and feared? The history is very thorough, starting with a discussion of the Renaissance Papacy, the Papal States in the 15th century, and the pontificate of Calixtus III. The election of Alexander VI up to the death of Alexander makes for the most exciting reading, while the last two chapters deal with the subsequent fortunes of the Borgia dynasty and the Borjas of Gandia.

Genealogocal tables include the Borja family of Jativa, the family of Alexander VI, the family of the dukes of Gandia, plus the Colonna, Orsini and Della Rovere families. There are extensive Notes and an exhaustive bibliography plus a thorough index. Text figures include a map of the Papal States in the 15th century, woodcut views of Rome from 1480 and 1492 and a map of the Roman Campagna. The sixteen black and white plates include portraits of Calixtus III, Alexander VI, Cesare Borgia, Alfonso d'Este and photographs of Bracciano and Nepi castles, the Torre Borgia and the Sala dei Santi in the Borgia Apartments.

Mallett's book is well-written and refreshingly free of sensationalism. He paints the bigger picture without getting lost in the complicated details of Italian politics in 15th century Italy and brings all the important individuals to life on these pages. I also recommend the excellent The Borgias by Marion Johnson for readers interested in this colourful and notorious Renaissance family.

J.S. Bach only waited about a century for Mendellsohn to rediscover him for the world. Now five centuries after succumbing to the plague in July of 1505 - probably contracted while ministering to plague victims - Obrecht's time may have come at last. Thanks largely to the research by Rob Wegman, his stature as a composer continues to grow steadily in the eyes of posterity. So much so that there may come a time when we speak of his age as being the age of Obrecht, whereas for now many still see it as the age of Josquin.

Jacob Obrecht (1458 - 1505) was a contemporary of artists such as Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519) and an older contemporary of Raphael (1483 - 1520) and Michelangelo (1475 - 1564). As a music teacher Obrecht also taught the humanist thinker, Erasmus (1466 - 1536). Obrecht belongs to a generation of composers of the 1400s to early 1500's who Monteverdi later referred to as the Prima Prattica - the artists of the First Practice - who brought the extraordinarily rich polyphonic music of the Renaissance to its peak. Until recently the judgement handed down through the centuries of Josquin as the single outstanding composer of the Prima Prattica has been unquestioningly accepted. Martin Luther is repeatedly quoted as saying that "Josquin is a master of notes, which must express what he desires; on the other hand, other choral composers must do what the notes dictate." Fortunately, we are increasingly discovering the sheer depth and diversity displayed by Josquin's contemporaries, in a Golden Age of Western music whose contrapuntal complexities have never been equalled let alone surpassed. Indeed it would appear that the radical innovations traditionally attributed to Josquin should now be attributed to Obrecht.

I must say I enjoy everything that Rob Wegman writes. He has a highly engaging writing style that makes light work of academia. In other words this book is a highly entertaining read for anyone with even a passing interest in early music. The book chronicles Obrecht's life from his birth to his final demise with excellent background on the social milieu of the times to help paint a full a picture as practical of this man. The picture that emerges is remarkably vivid. So much so that his trials and tribulations seem to come to life as he struggles along jumping from one mediocre job to the next before eventually making his ultimate break landing a dream job in faraway Italy - only to have his hopes shattered a few months later with the death of his employer, who as a patron of the arts had long been an admirer of Obrecht's art. Bereft of a job, he probably performed his duties as a priest ministering to the sick to eek out a living at a time of a plague epidemic - only to succumb to it himself. The heartbreak of the misery of his final ending is almost palpable. Yet somehow in the course of it all he managed to attain a mastery of composition that had enormous repercussions on the course of the development of musical history, with its new emphasis on imitation of a sort you take for grant whenever you listen to Josquin or Bach. At the end of it all, it is a moving experience to discover such genius in a composer who had to die and suffer in silence for so long, for Obrecht is in Wegman's view as great a composer as there has ever been.

The whole book reads like one continual narrative intertwining Obrecht's biography with his musical development, always giving us the fullest perspective of the social conditions of the time - of wars and conflicts, hunger and plague epidemics. The results are often more gripping than many a novel - or film even - such is the quality of the research and above all the eloquence of the writing that Wegman presents this to us with.

Essential reading. I couldn't put it down and stayed up half the night reading it.

The Boston Renaissance: Race, Space, And Economic Change In An American Metropolis is the detailed story of how Boston was transformed from a city with declining manufacturing base, depopulation, and racial unrest back in the 1970s, to the confident, multicultural, high-tech industry oriented, prosperous cosmopolitan city it is today. The authors draw upon a wide variety of historical and contemporary resources to explain Boston's impressive rebirth and redevelopment, and vastly improved ethnic and racial co-existence. Still very much a work in progress, Boston's story could well serve as a template for other troubled communities, large and small, anywhere within the confines of the United States as we progress through the first decade of a new century.