Music : Classical

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was a genius so universal that his popularity, extraordinary even during his lifetime, has never ceased to grow. It now encircles the globe: Beethoven's most famous works are as beloved in Beijing as they are in Boston. Edmund Morris, the author of three bestselling presidential biographies and a lifelong devotee of Beethoven, brings the great composer to life as a man of astonishing complexity and overpowering intelligence. A gigantic, compulsively creative personality unable to tolerate constraints, he was not so much a social rebel as an astute manipulator of the most powerful and privileged aristocrats in Germany and Austria, at a time when their world was threatened by the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. But Beethoven's achievement rests in his immortal music. Struggling against progressive, incurable deafness (which he desperately tried to keep secret), he nonetheless produced towering masterpieces, such as his iconic Fifth and Ninth symphonies. With sensitivity and insight, Edmund Morris illuminates Beethoven's life, including his interactions with the women he privately lusted for but held at bay, and his work, whose grandeur and beauty were conceived ''on the other side of silence.'' more...

Price: $16.99

This is the story of the orchestra, from 16th-century string bands to the 'classical' orchestra of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Spitzer and Zaslaw document orchestral organization, instrumentation, social roles, repertories, and performance practices in Europe and the American colonies, concluding around 1800 with the widespread awareness of the orchestra as a central institution in European life. - ;This book traces the emergence of the orchestra from 16th-century string bands to the 'classical' orchestra of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and their contemporaries. Ensembles of bowed stringed instruments, several players per part plus continuo and wind instruments, were organized in France in the mid-17th century and then in Rome at the end of the century. The prestige of these ensembles and of the music and performing styles of their leaders, Jean-Baptiste Lully and Arcangelo. Corelli, caused them to be imitated elsewhere, until by the late 18th century, the orchestra had become a pan-European phenomenon. Spitzer and Zaslaw review previous accounts of these developments, then proceed to a thoroughgoing documentation and discussion of orchestral organization, instrumentation, and social roles in France, Italy, Germany, England, and the American colonies. They also examine the emergence of orchestra musicians, idiomatic music for orchestras, orchestral performance practices, and the awareness of the orchestra as a central institution in European life. - ;This is a most substantial book, with a long detailed text, massive bibliography and references, generous illustrations, copious tables, graphs and backup statistics, interesting music examples in the penultimate chapter, full index, and appendices centering on the second half of the 18th century. It will remain a major work on its subject. - The Musical Times;If you are involved in assembling or conducting period orchestras and can afford this, buy it. It is well written, sensibly arranged and easy to co more...

Price: $275.00

Bringing the most recent scholarship into the public arena, this volume bridges the gap between scholarly and popular images of Mozart. It provides comprehensive coverage of all his important works, the reception of his music since his death, the contexts which inform his work and his significance as a performer. more...

Price: $24.00

This classic in music biography and criticism reflects the intimate, thorough knowledge of Chopin's music Huneker acquired while studying to be a concert pianist and his unusually keen insight into the character of the composer. Part One deals with Chopin's life; the second offers brilliant piece-by-piece analysis of the entire body of his music. more...

Price: $6.99

In his eighteen years in Paris, Chopin was at the center of a group of artists defining the nineteenth century - Hugo, Balzac, Stendhal, Delacroix, Liszt, Berlioz and, of course, George Sand, a rebel feminist and Chopin's lover and protector. Here is the tragic story of the great composer, set in one of the most exciting epochs of European history. more...

Price: $30.00