Download or read book Music Talks the lives of classical musicians written by Helen Epstein and published by Plunkett Lake Press. This book was released on 2019-07-31 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of profiles of some of the world's most fascinating musicians, including the late Leonard Bernstein, Vladimir Horowitz, and Dorothy DeLay and the very lively James Galway and Yo-Yo Ma. Passed from hand to hand and read by music students as well as music lovers everywhere, Music Talks makes a wonderful gift book. “An illuminating introduction to the trials and triumphs of the classical musician.” — Michael E. Ross, New York Times Sunday Book Review “Informative, perceptive, lively and accurate.” — Gary Graffman, Curtis Institute “For twenty years, I've assigned these profiles to my students as a means of understanding themselves and their art. Epstein has a gift for making the sometimes remote world of classical music seem familiar without sacrificing its majesty and mystery.” — Jonathan Baldo, Eastman School of Music “I use her book as a model for my students in teaching them both the profile form and how to provoke subjects into revealing themselves on the page.” — Megan Marshall, Emerson College, Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing

Download or read book Secret Lives of Great Composers written by Elizabeth Lunday and published by Quirk Books. This book was released on 2014-04-08 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover little-known stories from music history—including murder, riots, and heartbreak—in this entertaining tour through the fascinating (and surprising) lives of classical music masters With outrageous anecdotes about everyone from Gioachino Rossini (draft-dodging womanizer) to Johann Sebastian Bach (jailbird) to Richard Wagner (alleged cross-dresser), Secret Lives of Great Composers recounts the seamy, steamy, and gritty history behind the great masters of international music. Here, you’ll learn that Edward Elgar dabbled with explosives; that John Cage was obsessed with fungus; that Berlioz plotted murder; and that Giacomo Puccini stole his church’s organ pipes and sold them as scrap metal so he could buy cigarettes. This is one music history lesson you’ll never forget!

Download or read book The Lives of the Great Composers written by Harold C. Schonberg and published by W. W. Norton. This book was released on 1981-01-01 with total page 653 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biographies of the important composers from Monteverdi and Bach to Bartok and Webern are designed to show the history of music.

Download or read book The Sound of Beauty written by Michael Kurek and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Music remains something of a mystery to many people—ephemeral sounds floating invisibly through the air—here, and then gone. This book begins with the basic question of what music actually is, scientifically, employing simple, clear explanations of wave theory and the acoustics of sound as part of God's natural creation. It presents accessible and fascinating explanations of some theories of the psychology of perception of music, how music speaks to the mind, emotions, and spirit. Some of these concepts have rarely been addressed outside the ivory tower and even more rarely been seen through the lens of Catholic theology. Moving from music and the individual to music in the culture and the Church, the author addresses numerous issues in the context of Catholic thought, including: immanence and transcendence in music the Real Presence and music Moral Theology, Natural Law and music ordered and disordered understandings of music as it relates to the emotions understanding the authentic meanings of "beauty" and "creativity" the real function of music in Catholic liturgy the role of music in evangelization This is a kind of "layman's handbook," a comprehensive theology of all things music, which anyone can understand, written by an internationally respected classical composer and music professor at a top secular university who is also a faithful Catholic. It sheds light on the mysteries of music and furthers the spiritual formation regarding music for Catholics of many ages and walks of life. It is groundbreaking in its comprehensive and holistic treatment of music from a Catholic perspective, and particularly timely in advocating for the renewal of the norms for music in liturgy found in the documents of Vatican II. It also presents one of the most penetrating critical examinations to be found of contemporary classical music, from an insider.

Download or read book Music Talks written by Helen Epstein and published by Penguin Group. This book was released on 1988 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this diverse and delightful collection of 13 interviews, Epstein introduces some of music's most well known and some lesser known stars, including Vladimir Horowitz, James Galway, and Dorothy DeLay (the first female master violin teacher).

Download or read book Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers written by Patrick Kavanaugh and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 1996 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a compelling and inspiring look at spiritual beliefs that influenced some of the world's greatest composers, now revised and expanded with eight additional composers.

Download or read book The Crisis of Classical Music in America written by Robert Freeman and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2014-08-14 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Crisis of Classical Music in America by Robert Freeman focuses on solutions for the oversupply of classically trained musicians in America, problem that grows ever more chronic as opportunities for classical musicians to gain full-time professional employment diminishes year upon year. An acute observer of the professional music scene, Freeman argues that music schools that train our future instrumentalists, composers, conductors, and singers need to equip their students with the communications and analytical skills they need to succeed in the rapidly changing music scene. This book maps a broad range of reforms required in the field of advanced music education and the organizations responsible for that education. Featuring a foreword by Leonard Slatkin, music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, The Crisis of Classical Music in America speaks to parents, prospective and current music students, music teachers and professors, department deans, university presidents and provosts, and even foundations and public organizations that fund such music programs. This book reaches out to all of these stakeholders and argues for meaningful change though wide-spread collaboration.

Download or read book House of Music written by Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-09-03 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WINNER OF THE ROYAL PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY STORYTELLING AWARD 2021 ‘Riveting, taking in prejudice as well as sacrifice. There are 4.30am starts, lost instruments, fractured wrists, all captured with vivid flourishes. A paean to camaraderie.’ Observer Seven brothers and sisters. All of them classically trained musicians. One was Young Musician of the Year and performed for the royal family. The eldest has released her first album, showcasing the works of Clara Schumann. These siblings don’t come from the rarefied environment of elite music schools, but from a state comprehensive in Nottingham. How did they do it? Their mother, Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason, opens up about what it takes to raise a musical family in a Britain divided by class and race. What comes out is a beautiful and heartrending memoir of the power of determination, camaraderie and a lot of hard work. The Kanneh-Masons are a remarkable family. But what truly sparkles in this eloquent memoir is the joyous affirmation that children are a gift and we must do all we can to nurture them.

Download or read book Joe Papp An American Life written by Helen Epstein and published by Plunkett Lake Press. This book was released on 2019-07-31 with total page 803 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Joseph Papp (1921-1991), theater producer, champion of human rights and of the First Amendment, founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival and Public Theater, changed the American cultural landscape. Born Yussel Papirofsky in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, he discovered Shakespeare in public school and first produced a show on an aircraft carrier during World War II. After a stint at the Actors’ Lab in Hollywood, he moved to New York, where he worked as a CBS stage manager during the golden age of television. He fought Parks Commissioner Robert Moses (as well as Mayors Wagner, Lindsay, Beame and Koch) winning first the right to stage free Shakespeare in New York’s Central Park, then municipal funding to keep it going. He built the Delacorte Theater and later rebuilt the former Astor Library on Lafayette Street, transforming it into the Public Theater. In addition to helping create an "American" style of Shakespeare, Papp pioneered colorblind casting and theater as a not-for-profit institution. He showcased playwrights David Rabe, Elizabeth Swados, Ntozake Shange, David Hare, Wallace Shawn, John Guare, and Vaclav Havel; directors Michael Bennett, Wilford Leach and James Lapine; actors Al Pacino, Colleen Dewhurst, George C. Scott, James Earl Jones, Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Sam Waterston, and Denzel Washington; and produced Hair, Sticks and Bones, for colored girls, The Normal Heart, and A Chorus Line, the longest running musical in Broadway history. "This first biography of the late Joseph Papp will be a hard act to follow." — Booklist "The final portrait that emerges might have been jointly painted by Goya, Whistler and Francis Bacon." — Benedict Nightingale, front-page New York Times Sunday Book Review Playwright Tony Kushner called Papp "one of the very few heroes this tawdry, timid business has produced" and the book, a "nourishing and juicy biography." "Helen Epstein recounts [Papp's] career in [this] definitive, meticulously researched and highly readable biography. [...] It is a tribute to Epstein’s narrative skill that the detailed account of Papp’s decline and eventual defeat by cancer [...] reads as both riveting and horrifying." — Ellen Schiff, All About Jewish Theatre Oklahoma-born Paul Davis created 51 iconic posters for Joseph Papp, starting in 1975 with the New York Shakespeare Festival production of "Hamlet" starring Sam Waterston. "It was inspiring to work with Joe," says Davis. "We would discuss what he wanted to achieve in a production, and he trusted me to find a way to express it. And he respected the poster as its own dramatic form." The artist’s work has been exhibited in the U.S., Europe and Japan. He is a recipient of a special Drama Desk award created for his theater art. Davis was elected to the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame and the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame, and is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome.

Download or read book The Rise and Fall of Prussia written by Sebastian Haffner and published by Plunkett Lake Press. This book was released on 2019-08-16 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sebastian Haffner regarded himself as “a Prussian with a British passport.” In this overview of Prussia’s 170-year history as an independent state, he depicts Prussia’s evolution from a sensational 18th century success story – “a state based on law, one of the first in Europe” – to its absorption into the Third Reich where “the rule of law was the first thing that Hitler abolished.” In this succinct and readable book, Haffner argues that Hitler’s racial and nationality policy was the opposite of Prussia’s and Hitler’s political style, the very opposite of Prussian. “In his short book The Rise and Fall of Prussia Haffner combines a critical examination with a declaration of love for a state which always lived beyond its means ... but which managed to combine material poverty with intellectual grandeur.” — Michael Stürmer,Welt am Sonntag “Haffner sees Prussia’s history as the 'tragedy of a purely rational state'. An agglomeration of arbitrary territories, it made a virtue of its artificiality, adapting to the enlightenment and then to romanticism, but finally also to nationalism, betraying the basis of its statehood and leading to its ultimate destruction.” — Chrisian Roth,Akademische Blätter “Haffner long regarded himself as a 'Prussian with a British passport'. He identified with Prussia and its achievements: general compulsory schooling (1717), the abolition of torture (1740), the establishment of religious toleration (1740), Bismarck’s welfare state (1883), the medical giants Virchow, Koch, von Behring, the intellectual giants Kant, von Humboldt and von Schlegel, and much more. At the end of his book he recounted the (often-ignored) expulsion of millions of Prussians from their homeland in 1945. 'It was an atrocity, the final atrocity of a war which had more than its share in atrocities, admittedly begun by Germany under Hitler.' His message is very relevant today, when he praises those expelled for rejecting revenge and having the courage to say, 'This is enough.'” — David Childs, The Independent

Download or read book The Art of Possibility written by Rosamund Stone Zander and published by Harvard Business Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In their playing you hear not only precision, color and balance, but thunder, lightning and the language of the heart. This is what the Boston Globe said about a performance by conductor Benjamin Zander with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, but it could apply equally to the Zanders' inspirational book, the product of a synthesis of the diverse worlds of the symphony orchestra and cutting-edge psychology. The Art of Possibility offers a set of breakthrough practices for creativity in all human enterprises. Infused with the energy of their dynamic partnership, the book joins together Ben's extraordinary talent as a mover and shaker, teacher, and communicator, with Rosamund Stone Zander's genius for creating innovative paradigms for personal and professional fulfillment. In lively counterpoint, the authors provide us with a deep sense of the powerful role that the notion of possibility can play in every aspect of our lives. The Zanders' deceptively simple practices are based on two premises: that life is composed as a story ("it's all invented") and that, with new definitions, much more is possible than people ordinarily think. The book shifts our perspective with uplifting stories, parables, and anecdotes from the authors' personal experiences as well as from famous and everyday heroes. From "Giving an A," to the mysterious "Rule Number 6," to "Leading from Any Chair"-the account of Ben's stunning realization that the conductor/leader's power is directly linked to how much greatness he is willing to grant to others-each practice offers an opportunity for personal and organizational transformation. The Art of Possibility provides a life-altering approach to fulfilling dreams large and small. The Zanders invite us all to become passionate communicators, leaders, and performers whose lives radiate possibility into the world. Rosamund Stone Zander is a family therapist and a landscape painter. Benjamin Zander is the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and a professor at the New England Conservatory of Music. Based on the principles developed through the authors' unique partnership, Mr. Zander gives presentations to managers and executives around the world and Ms. Zander conducts workshops for organizations on practicing the art of possibility.

Download or read book Homecoming written by Joseph Wechsberg and published by Plunkett Lake Press. This book was released on 2019-08-17 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published by Knopf in 1946 as an expanded version of a two-part New Yorker article. Joseph Wechsberg and his wife left Czechoslovakia for America in 1938. Sent with the US Army to liberate Europe from the Nazis, Wechsberg returns to Ostrava, the town where he grew up. Searching for his wife's parents, he discovers the devastation of World War II, hears first-hand accounts of its atrocities, witnesses the antics of Red Army soldiers, and remembers his childhood — discovering in the end that home is no longer Ostrava, but California. “[…] a moving, brilliantly written account of [Wechsberg's] return to his home-town, Moravia Ostrava (Maehrisch Ostrau) […]. As in his earlier stories in The New Yorker, almost every ounce of sentiment in Homecoming was set off by an equal measure of irony.” — Richard Plant, The New York Times “A short and very personal book, […] a personal footnote to current European history. […] Affecting and convincing impressions of a shattered world.” — Kirkus Reviews

Download or read book Meyer Schapiro Portrait of an Art Historian written by Helen Epstein and published by Plunkett Lake Press. This book was released on 2019-08-18 with total page 7 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the only profile available of art historian Meyer Schapiro (1904-1996). A polymath, revered for his extraordinary scholarship and teaching, he championed medieval studies, modern masters like Matisse and Picasso and artists of his own time. His lectures at Columbia and the New School attracted overflow crowds of students and artists. "Sometimes he was so brilliant that he seemed almost insane to me; he seemed to see more than there actually was — he heard voices," Anatole Broyard recalled in his memoir, Kafka Was the Rage. Some of Schapiro's art history essays are available to students but, for decades, he refused to be interviewed. In 1982, Milton Esterow, editor of ARTnews was able to persuade the reticent art historian to sit for a portrait. The result was this two-part profile that appeared inARTnews.

Download or read book All Authors Are Equal written by Fredric Warburg and published by Plunkett Lake Press. This book was released on 2019-08-17 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fredric Warburg, partner in the London firm of Secker & Warburg from 1936 until 1971, considered publishing an attractive occupation and a way of life. In this personal, often humorous memoir of his life until his retirement, Warburg picks up where he left off in 1939 in An Occupation for Gentlemen. Warburg’s discussion of George Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984 is an important contribution to literary history. Other chapters include Warburg’s landmark 1954 trial for publishing an “obscene” book, his edition of Kafka, the translation of Robert Musil’sThe Man Without Qualities, his visit to the aged Colette, a sketch of Thomas Mann, the strange tale of The Bridge on the River Kwai, the rise of Angus Wilson to stardom. In perhaps the funniest chapter, Warburg describes how he was duped by a plumber from Devonshire who pretended to be a Tibetan lama. A 1952 business deal by Secker & Warburg with Heinemann anticipates more recent consolidations in the publishing industry. Throughout Warburg’s memoir of literary and publishing history, the passionate personality of his wife, Pamela de Bayou, stands out, commenting on, criticizing and sometimes transforming a situation or a policy. All Authors Are Equal is for anyone who enjoys good books and the making of good books, and for all students of publishing. In the author’s own words: “The book as a whole may be seen as the story of my publishing life, the chapters and sections of chapters are in the main stories within the story. So it is that the book is a hybrid not an autobiography, not a history of a publishing house, not a philosophy of publishing, not a series of critical studies, but a bit of all these. [...] The deeper feelings of publishers are not often revealed to their authors while the publishing relationship exists. The publisher tends to be wary, diplomatic, reserved, rather hopeful, slightly pessimistic, laudatory, jolly, critical, or so diverse a mixture of all these as to end up more or less blank. Praise is dangerous — it might give an author ideas. Blame is perilous — the author may stop writing or even seek another publisher. To tell an author the unvarnished truth, as the publisher sees it, is no doubt hazardous, but it is a policy I have always tried to follow as far as possible, and with that policy I have had more successes than failures.” Praise for An Occupation for Gentlemen: “An engaging autobiography... Mr. Warburg writes with a nice light touch and with considerable charm and humor. His remarks about publishing are interesting and pointed.” — Orville Prescott, The New York Times “An entertaining and instructive book about two deep and ancient mysteries, human character and the trade of publishing.” — Jacques Barzun “Fredric Warburg’s autobiography is... wonderfully engaging. Mr. Warburg is that rarity among publishers. He writes extremely well.” — Moss Hart

Download or read book Classical Music In America written by Joseph Horowitz and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2005-03-15 with total page 664 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An award-winning scholar and leading authority on American symphonic culture argues that classical music in the United States is peculiarly performance-driven, and he traces a musical trajectory rising to its peak at the close of the 19th century and receding after World War I.

Download or read book The Vintage Guide to Classical Music written by Jan Swafford and published by Vintage. This book was released on 1992-12-15 with total page 626 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most readable and comprehensive guide to enjoying over five hundred years of classical music -- from Gregorian chants, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to Johannes Brahms, Igor Stravinsky, John Cage, and beyond. The Vintage Guide to Classical Music is a lively -- and opinionated -- musical history and an insider's key to the personalities, epochs, and genres of the Western classical tradition. Among its features: -- chronologically arranged essays on nearly 100 composers, from Guillaume de Machaut (ca. 1300-1377) to Aaron Copland (1900-1990), that combine biography with detailed analyses of the major works while assessing their role in the social, cultural, and political climate of their times; -- informative sidebars that clarify broader topics such as melody, polyphony, atonality, and the impact of the early-music movement; -- a glossary of musical terms, from a cappella to woodwinds; -- a step-by-step guide to building a great classical music library. Written with wit and a clarity that both musical experts and beginners can appreciate, The Vintage Guide to Classical Music is an invaluable source-book for music lovers everywhere.

Download or read book Joseph Fouch Portrait of a Politician written by Stefan Zweig and published by Plunkett Lake Press. This book was released on 2019-08-09 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This biography of the man Stefan Zweig viewed as "the most perfect Machiavelli of modern times" was written in 1929, before the full impact of Nazism and Stalinism was understood. In this gripping case study of ruthlessness, political opportunism, intrigue, and betrayal, Zweig portrays Minister of Police Joseph Fouché (1759-1820), a "thoroughly amoral personality" whose only goal was political survival and the exercise of power. Zweig traces Fouché's career, beginning with his stint as a math and physics teacher in provincial Catholic schools and evolving into a moderate and then radical legislator. Fouché cultivated every political movement du jour, holding no convictions of his own. After preaching clemency for Louis XVI, Fouché voted to send the King to the guillotine. After writing "the first communist manifesto of modern times" he became a multi-millionaire. He led the brutal repression of an anti-revolutionary movement, earning him the nickname "le mitrailleur (butcher) de Lyon". After serving Robespierre, Fouché engineered his overthrow and rose to Minister of Police under the Directory, which he then helped to overthrow before putting his network of informants in Napoleon’s service as his Minister of Police. After turning against the Emperor, Fouché served the new King Louis XVIII – whose brother he had helped send to the guillotine. Thus, Fouché served the Revolution, the Directory, the First Empire and the Restoration.