Composers Books - Page 6

Marrying Mozart

Stephanie Cowell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 40 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

'Our beloved Mozart was not quite suited to this world' 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This is a very enjoyable novel about the four sisters Weber and their relationships: with each other, with their parents and with Mozart. Starting in 1777, when Mozart first meets the family Weber, the story ends some 60 years later as the last surviving Weber sister is being interviewed about the family's relationship with Mozart.

And what a story it is. Ms Cowell develops the individual characters of Josefa, Aloysia, Sophie and Constanze well. Their lives, loves and aspirations are not often in accord with their mother's overwhelming ambition to marry them to noblemen. Mozart's parents are equally determined that he make his name and fortune before marrying.

The journey of Mozart through this world is interesting. But for me, the real story is the life and times of the sisters. Ms Cowell has brought a richness to this novel which comes, I think, from her knowledge and appreciation of the music, society and related politics of the era.

Recommended to those who enjoy historical fiction and highly recommended to those who wish to see Mozart from another perspective.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Editorial Review:

Amadeus meets Little Women in this irresistibly delightful historical novel by award- winning author Stephanie Cowell. The year is 1777 and the four Weber sisters, daughters of a musical family, share a crowded, artistic life in a ramshackle house. While their father scrapes by as a music copyist and their mother secretly draws up a list of prospective suitors in the kitchen, the sisters struggle with their futures, both marital and musical—until twenty-one-year-old Wolfgang Mozart walks into their lives. Bringing eighteenth-century Europe to life with unforgiving winters, yawning princes, scheming parents, and the enduring passions of young talent, Stephanie Cowell’s richly textured tale captures a remarkable historical figure—and the four young women who engage his passion, his music, and his heart.

Late Beethoven: Music, Thought, Imagination

Maynard Solomon

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In a series of powerful strokes, the music of Beethoven's last years redefined his legacy and enlarged the realm of experience accessible to the creative imagination. Maynard Solomon's Late Beethoven investigates the phenomenon of the final phase, focusing especially on the striking metamorphosis in Beethoven's system of beliefs that began early in his fifth decade and eventually amounted to a sweeping realignment of his views of nature, antiquity, divinity, and human purpose. Using the composer's letters, diaries, and conversation books, Solomon traces Beethoven's attraction to a constellation of heterogeneous ideas, drawn from Romanticism, Freemasonry, comparative religion, Eastern initiatory ritual, Mediterranean mythology, aesthetics, and classical and contemporary thought. Through these often arcane sources, Beethoven gained access to a vast reservoir of imagery and ideas with the potential to expand music's expressive and communicative reach. This "multitude of productive images," writes Solomon, "provided kindling for the blaze of his imagination." Late Beethoven is a rich tapestry of original perspectives on Beethoven's music. Solomon sees the Seventh Symphony as a deployment of the rhythms of antiquity in an effort to revalidate the premises of the Classical world; the Ninth as an essay on the prospects and limits of affirmative, monumental endings; and the "Diabelli" Variations as a doorway to the universe of metaphoric significances that attach to beginnings. In the Violin Sonata in G, op. 96, Solomon finds a restoration of the full range of pastoral experience that the ancient poets had known. In the Grosse Fuge he locates issues of fragmentation and reassembly, and he suggests that pivotal passages of the last sonatas evoke sacred states of being. These stimulating perspectives illuminate the inner world within which Beethoven dwelled during his last fifteen years and the ways in which his thought and music may be interrelated. Written in accessible and eloquent prose, and with numerous music examples, Late Beethoven is a serious contribution to understanding this miraculous quantum leap in Beethoven's creative evolution. Illustrations: 5 figures, 61 music examples

The Heroic Symphony

Anna Harwell Celenza

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A TREASURE FOR YOUNG READERS 5 out of 5 stars.
19 of 19 people found this review helpful.

The author, an associate professor at Michigan State University, has already educated and entertained young readers with the lives of two composers in "The Farewell Symphony" and "Pictures At An Exhibition." When paired with rousing watercolor and ink illustrations by JoAnn Kitchel, both of those books are small treasures, as is "The Heroic Symphony," which relates the life of Beethoven.

As the story opens Beethoven has it all - fame, fortune, and the ability to play the piano better than anyone in all of Europe. However, the music lovers who flocked to hear him have no idea that he is slowly losing his hearing. Desperate, hoping for a cure in the spring of 1802 Beethoven fled to a remote clinic.. But there was no help for him.

As Beethoven despaired a melody began to fill his mind, and he realized that if he could no longer play the piano he could compose. He knew that he wanted to write music that would not only entertain but would also inspire, so he searched for inspiration. One name came to him - a war hero, Napoleon Bonaparte.

Later, upon learning that his hero, Bonaparte, had crowned himself Emperor of France Beethoven attempted to destroy his months of work, but was stopped by a close friend. At length Beethoven scratched the name Bonaparte from his manuscript and wrote a new title, "The Heroic Symphony."

A CD recording of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 ("Eroica" is included. It is performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Sir Georg Solti.

- Gail Cooke

Haydn: A Creative Life in Music (Third Revised and Expanded Edition)

Karl Geiringer, Irene Geiringer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A book to help you better appreciate this composer of the very first rank 5 out of 5 stars.
20 of 21 people found this review helpful.

Karl Geiringer was a wonderful musicologist from Austria. He lived a long life (1899-1989) and wrote many wonderful papers and books. This book on Haydn is typical of his style (his wife, Irene, gets a collaborative credit, and that is just super, since she has helped him in all his books). The book is divided in two parts: the first being a biographical narrative and the second being a biography through his musical works.

The first part is organized chronologically with the chapters focused on key events and periods in Haydn's life. The second part is organized by compositional style and maturity. Geiringer divides Haydn's compositional life into five periods: youth, transition, romantic crisis, maturity, and consummate mastery. The author makes a great case for this division. Each of these chapters takes us through the various types of compositions Haydn wrote in these periods such as piano sonatas, symphonies, string quartets, masses, and so forth.

Mozart's musical genius was fostered by his father, Leopold, who was a famous violinist. Beethoven's father and grandfather were musicians, and J.S. Bach's ancestors and progeny were musicians for generations and produced more than a few of great quality. Franz Joseph Haydn's (1732 - 1809) father was a wheelwright and his beginnings were so modest that when Beethoven was shown a picture of Haydn's birthplace he said, "Strange that so great a man should have been born in so poor a home."

While Haydn's musical ability was recognized early and he was given good musical training, he was not a prodigy like Mozart nor did he achieve greatness early. Most of Haydn's most important study was done on his own and at great personal effort. It wasn't until he earned the chief musical post with the royal Hungarian family of Esterházy that his genius matured. Haydn said, "My prince was always satisfied with my works. Not only did I have the encouragement of constant approval, but as conductor of the orchestra I could make experiments ... and be as bold as I pleased. I was cut off from the world; there was no one to confuse or torment me, and I was forced to become original."

Haydn wrote a vast number of musical works in all the important forms and styles of his day. He set the example for younger composers such as Mozart and Beethoven who admired him enough to imitate him. He and Mozart were great friends whose admiration was mutual and profound. Who else in the entire earth could understand the other's work as well as they?

This year I have been fortunate to sing Haydn's "Harmoniemesse" ("Wind Band Mass"). It is one of the great treasures of the composer's vast output. He wrote 14 masses that we know of, but one is lost. This work being the last of them and the very last major work Haydn ever wrote. As Karl Geiringer noted in his biography of the composer, "... it represents a kind of farewell not only to the Mass form but to music itself. Motives and moods from earlier Masses reoccur, and Haydn displays once more his magical ability to use all elements of the contrapuntal style."

This biography will help you not only appreciate Haydn as a person and give you a greater insight into his music, it will help you realize what former generations knew better than us, that Haydn is in the very first rank of musical genius and that his music is full of revelations and delights.

Editorial Review:

This definitive study of the life and works of Joseph Haydn represents half a century of research. As curator of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, Dr. Geiringer was in charge of one of the world's leading Haydn collections. His scholarly investigations took him to various monasteries, to libraries in Eisenstadt, Prague, Berlin, Paris, London, and Washington, D.C., and, as guest of the Hungarian government, to the previously almost inaccessible archives of the Princes of Esterhazy in Budapest.

Decoding Wagner: An Invitation to His World of Music Drama (includes 2 CDs)

Thomas May

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The cultural controversies he helped to create have long since died down, but Richard Wagner still remains a polarizing icon. Just as he dreamed of combining the arts, his influence extends well beyond the field of classical music to theater, literature, painting, and more. Wagner represents a phenomenon which is hard to ignore. His compulsive need to document his thoughts—apart from his art—finds an echo in the enormous body of explanation Wagner has inspired. Yet even with so much written about him, Wagner continues to be a deeply misunderstood figure.

This guide aims to unlock the world of Richard Wagner and his works, his monumental achievements, and, ultimately, the great emotional power inherent in his art. This emotional power is double-edged, often serving as a kind of mirror for what each listener brings to it. The book challenges the assumptions and stereotypes of the "Wagnerian" idea of art.

Decoding Wagner presents a straightforward, fresh overview of what Wagner attempted to achieve with his "artwork of the future." Lively discussions of his major works place them in the context of his life and consider the interplay of dramatic and musical elements with philosophical ideas which are so unique to Wagner.

Two accompanying full-length CDs illustrate and trace his growth as a composer. Decoding Wagner appraises the enormously expressive richness that continues to make his art compelling and relevant for contemporary audiences.

J.S. Bach: A Life in Music

Peter Williams

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

For the specialist, not first-timers 3 out of 5 stars.
10 of 12 people found this review helpful.

This book provides a useful different way of looking at Bach's life and music by working almost sentence by sentence through the well-known Obituary of 1750/1754 by C.P.E. Bach and Agricola. Williams doesn't hesitate to grapple with thorny issues, nor to question interpretations/speculations we may have become comfortable with and wrongly begun to treat as if they were fact.

I bought the book because I greatly admire Peter Williams' previous writings on Bach and organ music. I was slightly disappointed with this book, however.

I'm an amateur musician who has read a lot about Bach. For me, core references are Christoph Wolff (2000) 'Johann Sebastian Bach; the learned musician' (scholarly and fascinating to read), and 'The New Bach Reader' (David & Mendel/ Wolff). I'd suggest not bothering with the Williams book unless you are already familiar with such books. You'll only value what Williams questions in a sentence or two if you're familiar with arguments over the same issue in other places.

Editorial Review:

Peter Wiliams approaches afresh the life and music of arguably the most studied of all composers, interpreting both Bach's life by deconstructing his original Obituary in the light of new information, and his music by evaluating his priorities and irrepressible creative energy. How, though belonging to musical families on both his parents' sides, did he come to possess so bewitching a sense of rhythm and melody, and a mastery of harmony that established nothing less than a norm in western culture? In considering that the works of a composer are his biography, the book's title 'A Life in Music' means both a life spent making music and one revealed in the music as we know it. A distinguished scholar and performer, Williams re-examines Bach's life as an orphan and a family man, as an extraordinarily gifted composer and player, and an energetic and ambitious artist who never suffered fools gladly.

Madama Butterfly w/audio cd

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Magnificent! 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

The two CDs that come with the book are very good, and the book tells you the entire story of this wonderful, wonderful Opera.

I recommend it for those who are preparing to see the performance for the first time, or perhaps for those who want to enjoy it as I do, time and again after the performance.

I find the Black Dog opera series of books with CDs a great resource

Editorial Review:

The Black Dog Opera Library is one of the most popular, informative, and budget-friendly ways to enjoy all the great operas. Each book in the series includes a history of the opera, a synopsis of the story, a complete libretto in its original language as well as in English, and dozens of photographs and drawings depicting great scenes, singers, performances, and more. Each book also includes an excellent Angel/EMI recording of the entire opera on two CDs, as well as commentary from experts in the field who guide you through the music as you listen. All of this for less than twenty dollars!

1791: Mozart's Last Year

H. C. Robbins Landon

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Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The last month of the year 1791 witnessed what H.C. Robbins Landon calls "the greatest tragedy in the history of music": the premature death of the thirty-five-year-old Mozart. Surrounded by enigma and intrigue, allegations of poisoning, and sexual scandal, this event continues to grip the popular imagination today--as was demonstrated by the astonishing success of the play and movie Amadeus. Curious and controversial as the circumstances of Mozart's death are, the truth has been obscured by accumulated layers of mythology. Drawing on his unrivaled knowledge of the sources, Professor Landon cuts through fantasy and mystification to present the facts--including a substantial amount of unpublished information--and reconstruct the moving story of the last year of Mozart's life. The composition of such works as the Requiem and the operas The Magic Flute and La clemenza di Tito is discussed in detail, and new light is thrown on Mozart's relations with the Freemasons and with Salieri, among others. One of the world's leading musicologists, H.C. Robbins Landon is justly renowned for his rare ability to communicate the excitement of discovery. This is a major contribution to the literature of Mozart.

Wagner: The Terrible Man and His Truthful Art (General Interest)

M. Owen Lee

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

How is it possible for a seriously flawed human being to produce art that is good, true, and beautiful? Why is the art of Richard Wagner, a very imperfect man, important and even indispensable to us?

In this volume, Father Owen Lee ventures an answer to those questions by way of a figure in Sophocles - the hero Philoctetes. Gifted by his god with a bow that would always shoot true to the mark and indispensable to his fellow Greeks, he was marked by the same god with an odious wound that made him hateful and hated. Sophocles' powerful insight is that those blessed by the gods and indispensable to men are visited as well with great vulnerability and suffering.

Wagner: The Terrible Man and His Truthful Art traces some of Wagner's extraordinary influence for good and ill on a century of art and politics - on Eliot and Proust as well as on Adolf Hitler - and discusses in detail Wagner's Tannhouser, the work in which the composer first dramatised the Faustian struggle of a creative artist in whom 'two souls dwell.' In the course of this penetrating study, Father Lee argues that Wagner's ambivalent art is indispensable to us, life-enhancing and ultimately healing.

Sergei Rachmaninoff: A Lifetime in Music (Russian Music Studies)

Sergei Bertensson, Jay Leyda, Sophia Satina

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

This book is excellent 5 out of 5 stars.
32 of 33 people found this review helpful.

I found this book extremely helpful and a joy to read. I have used it as a resource for a Rachmaninoff class that i am creating and also for my own pleasure. It spans through Rachmaninoff's life, going in-depth to look at glimpses of Rachmaninoff's life with family, and then meticulously explores his music career.It looks into what inspired him, his meetings with other famous composers, his performances, and includes many letters about his personal life that he wrote to his family and friends. Overall, an excellent look into the life of a composer about whom we do not know much.

A must-have for any Rachmaninoff lover. 5 out of 5 stars.
22 of 24 people found this review helpful.

This book is very thouroughly written, drawing on resources of Rachmaninoff's relatives, letters that Rachmaninoff himself wrote, and of personal interactions. It gives a glimpse into Rachmaninoff's private life, which very little is known about, and shows Rachmaninoff for the true musical genius that he is.

Editorial Review:

When Bertensson and Leyda's 1956 biography appeared, it lifted the veil of secrecy from several areas of of the intensely private Sergei Rachmaninoff's (1873-1943) life, especially concerning the genesis of his compositions and how their critical reception affected him. David Cannata's new introduction summarizes what has happened in Rachmaninoff scholarship since the book was first published.