James Siddons, composer, author, pianist

Books and articles on music by James Siddons are described on this page, with ordering information for books. Dr. Siddons writes in the areas of contemporary music, music in Japan, and liturgy.

Toru Takemitsu: A Bio-Bibliography. Westport, Connecticut, and London: 2001.

• A research guide to the concert music, film scores, and prose writing by and about Japanese composer Tôru Takemitsu (1930-1996). James Siddons has written this book to be useful to performers, conductors, producers, reviewers, broadcasting programmers and others who may have interest in Takemitsu's music but be unfamiliar with Japanese language and music. The opening Biography chapter is accompanied by nine diagrams that chart Takemitsu's work by genre and instrumentation, making it easy for performers and conductors to find works by Takemitsu for a wide variety of combinations of Western instruments, some Japanese instruments, and electronic music. An annotated list of over 150 compositions follows. The subsequent chapters list books, articles and reviews by and about Takemitsu, his film scores and film documentaries about him, and over 250 recordings.
• For sale from Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, Connecticut 06881, USA, or www.greenwood.com. ISBN 0-313-27237-9.
• Reviewed by Prof. Steven Nuss of Colby College (USA) in Notes: Journal of the Music Library Association Vol. 59, no. 1 (September 2002), pp. 59-60: "The Takemitsu bio-bibliography of James Siddons is a marvelously thorough and wonderfully organized work. In addition to its cogent and elegantly written biography, his imaginative and highly useful general categorizations of works according to genre, instrumentation, and theme (figs. 1-9) complement beautifully the detailed performance, critical, and programmatic information given for almost every concert work. Particularly impressive are the ways in which Siddons clarifies relationships between works ... This book is a must for any music library; all students of either twentieth-century Japan or Japanese music are deeply indebted to the author."
• Reviewed in The Journal of Japanese Studies: "Siddons's meticulous work is an important achievement as the first volume concerning a Japanese composer in Greenwood's reliable Bio-Bibliographies in Music series ... [Siddons's lists of works, recordings etc] are indispensable guides for future explorers of Toru Takemitsu."
• Japanese Description...

こ れ は 、 音 楽 学 者 、 音 楽  · 映 画 批 評 家, プ ロ デュ ー サ ー , 音楽 家 、 指 揮 者 た ち の た め に 書 か れ た 作 曲 家 故 武 満  氏（1930ー1996 ）の 伝 記 付 作品 目 録 で す 。 本 書 は 、 武 満 氏 の 伝 記 、 演 奏 目 録 、 映 画 音 楽 目 録 、 Recordings  目 録 、 文 献 目 録 の5 章 よ り 構 成 さ れ て い ま す 。

James Siddons with Toru Takemitsu (left photo) and Toshiro Mayuzumi (right photo) at Suntory Hall, Tokyo, March 1990.

Anthony Milner: A Bio-Bibliography. Westport, Connecticut, and London: 1989.

     A study of the music of a leading Catholic composer of England, with lists of musical compositions for orchestra, choir, chamber ensembles, etc, with information on performances, reviews and studies. For sale from Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, Connecticut 06881, USA, or at www.greenwood.com. ISBN 0-313-25732-9.

     Reviewed in Notes: Journal of the Music Library Association, March 1991, pages  762-63.

Other Musicological Books and Articles by James Siddons

Articles on Japanese composers Kômei Abe and Yasushi Akutagawa for Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, second edition (Kassel, Germany: Bärenreiter Verlag, 1994), Personenteil 1, coll. 26ff.

Article on music libraries in Japan for The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980), Vol. 10, pages 820-821. Reprinted with editorial amendments in the Second Edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London: Grove/Macmillan, 2001), Vol. 28, pages 333-336.

"Some Definitions of 'Orchestra'," in Asian Culture Quarterly XVIII (Taiwan, 1990), pages 58-64.

"Fumio Koizumi of Japan: An Asian's Use of the Concepts of Melody Found in the Works of Abraham Z. Idelsohn, Robert Lachmann, and Curt Sachs," in Musica Judaica IX (1986-87), pages 35-46.

"On the Nature of Melody in Varèse's Density 21.5," in Perspectives of New Music 23 (1984), pages 298-316.

Japan Section of the Directory of Music Research Libraries. Kassel, Germany: Bärenreiter Verlag, 1979. RISM (Répertoire internationale des sources musicales) Series C, Vol. IV, pages 61-160. Reviewed in Musikhandel 30 (Germany, 1979), page 442, Brio 17 (England, 1980), page 29, and Music Library Association Notes 36 (1980), pages 660-61. Supplement published in Fontes Artis Musicae 33 (1986), pages 266-273. See also "A Librarian's Guide to Musical Japan," in Fontes Artis Musicae 24 (1977), pages 59-68.

Current Projects and Forthcoming Publications

A book of inspirational and interpretative essays; a study of the Book of Psalms and music.