Synopsis
A new edition of the definitive encyclopedia of the great musical composers of the West. Starting with Monteverdi and continuing up to Philip Glass and John Adams, music critic Harold Schonberg provides thorough and concise studies of their lives and works.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1997-04-01 | | Edition Description: | Subsequent |
| Size | | Length: | 653 pages | | Height: | 9.5 in | | Width: | 7.0 in | | Thickness: | 1.8 in | | Weight: | 38.4 oz |
Publisher's Note
In this new edition, Harold Schonberg offers music lovers a series of fascinating biographical chapters. Music, the author contends, is a continually evolving art, and all geniuses, unique as they are, were influenced by their predecessors. Schonberg discusses the lives and works of the foremost figures in classical music, among them Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, the Schumanns, Copland, and Stravinsky, weaving a fabric rich in detail and anecdote. He also includes the creators of light music, such as Gilbert and Sullivan and the Strausses. Schonberg has extended the volume's coverage to provide informative and clearly written descriptions of the later serialists such as Stockhausen and Carter, the iconoclastic John Cage, the individualistic Messiaen, minimalist composers, the new tonalists, and women composers of all eras, eras, including Mendelssohn Hensel, Chaminade, Smyth, Beach, and Zwilich. Scattered throughout are many changes and additions reflecting musicological findings of the past fifteen years.
This updated and expanded edition of the perennial favorite traces the line of composers from Monteverde to the tonalists of the 1990s. Schonberg discusses the lives and works of the foremost figures in classical music, weaving a fabric rich in detail and anecdote. Photos.
Industry Reviews
"A smooth, closely woven sequence of brief biographies...set in a surrounding continuum of depth and breadth which reflects the author's solid musical culture, his erudition, his command of socio-historic background, and his long experience in every kind and degree of performance."
Adams
"An entertaining and informative book filled with opinions and anecdotes not likely to be found in the pages of the 'Groves Dictionary'..."
Adams
"Certainly this is the sort of book that should appeal to young people just discovering Bach or Chopin or Stravinsky, but also to confirmed classical music listeners who want to learn more about some of the less well known masters (Auber, Glinka, Busoni)."
Washington Post Book World (06/22/1997)
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