Classical category: 3244 books

Frédéric Chopin’s reputation as one of the Great Romantics endures, but as Benita Eisler reveals in her elegant and elegiac biography, the man was more complicated than his iconic image. A classicist, conservative, and dandy who relished his conquest of Parisian society, the Polish émigré...

Glenn Gould, Universe of a Genius invites the reader to explore the ideas of this authentic creator who chose to regard his oeuvre as beyond the powerful influences of contemporary trends. This compilation of essays offers insight and understanding, through a diversity of approaches and views, of the...

Beethoven’s sixteen string quartets are some of the most extraordinary and challenging pieces of music ever written. Originally composed and performed between 1798 and 1826, they have inspired artists of all kinds—not only musicians—and have been subject to endless reinterpretation. But what...

As soloist, master class teacher, and pianist of the world-renowned Beaux Arts Trio, Menahem Pressler can boast of four Grammy nominations, three honorary doctorates, more than 80 recordings, and lifetime achievement awards presented by France, Germany, and Israel. Former Pressler student William...

Over the past four decades, Richard Taruskin's publications have redefined the field of Russian-music study. This volume gathers thirty-six essays on composers ranging from Bortnyansky in the eighteenth century to Tarnopolsky in the twenty-first, as well as all of the famous names in between. Some...

According to Wikipedia: "Frédéric Chopin (1 March 1810[1] 17 October 1849) was a composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period. He is widely regarded as the greatest Polish composer, and one of music's greatest tone poets."

For this authoritative post-cold-war biography of Shostakovich's illustrious but turbulent career under Soviet rule, Laurel E. Fay has gone back to primary documents: Shostakovich's many letters, concert programs and reviews, newspaper articles, and diaries of his contemporaries. An indefatigable...

Ernest Newman's four-volume Life of Wagner, originally published between 1933 and 1947, remains a classic work of biography. The culmination of forty years' research on the composer and his works (Newman's first Study of Wagner was first published in 1899), these books present a detailed portrait...

The stirring memoir of one of the greatest pianists of the postwar era—an inspiring tale of triumph over crippling incapacity that rivals Shine. The pianist Leon Fleisher—whose student–teacher lineage linked him to Beethoven by way of his instructor, Artur Schnabel—displayed an exceptional...

A series of biographies of the great composers which present the subjects against the social background of their times. This volume focuses on Grieg and draws on personal letters and recollections, engravings, paintings and - where they exist - photographs, to build up a complete picture of the composer’s life.

This edition features a linked Table of Contents CONTENTS Chronology Chapter I Birth and parentage — studies under Zachow at Halle — Hamburg — friendship and duel with Mattheson — Almira — departure for Italy. Chapter II Arrival in Italy — Rodrigo — Rome: Cardinal Ottoboni...

The life and work of the greatest of all Italian composers, Giuseppe Verdi, including the much-loved anecdotes, which the author firmly believes reflect both historical and mythic truths about their subject. Covers all Verdi operas, from the early works in the bel canto tradition to the late masterpieces Otello and Falstaff.

An exuberant, uniquely accessible, beautifully illustrated look inside the enigmatic art and craft of conducting, from a celebrated conductor whose international career has spanned half a century. John Mauceri brings a lifetime of experience to bear in an unprecedented, hugely informative,...

This, the second and final volume of Stephen Walsh’s magisterial biography of Igor Stravinsky, begins in 1934, when Stravinsky is fifty-two and living in France. Already regarded by many as the most important composer of his generation, Stravinsky is nevertheless at this point a fairly unhappy expatriate,...