Classical Opera category: 1804 books

A beautifully written and original biography of one of the greatest and most popular of modern composers--which also deeply investigates his much-loved music. Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was that rare creature, a composer who reinvented the language of music without alienating the majority of...

Jackie Evancho The greatest American Talent Jackie Evancho's star continues to rise Jackie Evancho America's Got Talent Jackie Evancho's star continues to rise The Star-Spangled Banner On January 1, 2011, Evancho performed the American national anthem at the NHL...

This Fascinating biography chronicles Puccini's life and times, with dozens of photographs and illustrations of the period. His Musical heritage, his scandalous elopement with Elvira, his relationship with Caruso and the dramas of his own life and unfolded in loving detail.

Although Gustav Mahler was a famous conductor in Vienna and New York, the music that he wrote was condemned during his lifetime and for many years after his death in 1911. “Pages of dreary emptiness,” sniffed a leading American conductor. Yet today, almost one hundred years later, Mahler has displaced...

"A wonderful collection that gives Mozart a voice as a son, husband, brother and friend." —New York Times Book Review "Mozart's honesty, his awareness of his own genius and his contempt for authority all shine out from these letters."—Sunday Times  (London). "...

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...