Zber Séria

Robert Schumann, one of the most beloved composers of the Romantic movement, embodied the passion and imaginative spirit of his age. Drawing on the composer's recently published journals and letters, this important new biography recreates the dynamics of the man and his music with unprecedented range. Includes music examples.

"Johannes Brahms has often been regarded as a conservative composer, his music dismissed as old-fashioned compared with the work of such contemporaries as Liszt and Wagner. In a major reevaluation of his life and artistry, Malcolm MacDonald incorporates twenty-five years of new research to demonstrate convincingly that Brahms combined his understanding of Classical principles with a profound appreciation of Romantic emotions and ideals. Through his study of early music and folk song, Brahms forged links with his predecessors while applying their craft in the service of a new expressiveness. Book jacket."--Jacket

Marking the centenary of Tchaikovsky's death and the upsurge of interest in his music, this study assesses the operas, ballets and other works against the background of the composer's eventful life: his ill-judged marriage, his pen- friendship with his patron Nadezhda von Meck, and his relationship with Balakirev and other Russian composers.

Federico Maria Sardelli, a professional baroque flautist and recorder-player, offers insights into the diverse sizes and tunings of the recorder and transverse flute families in relation to Antonio Vivaldi's compositions. Drawing extensively from primary documents, he analyzes the surprisingly progressive instrumental techniques in Vivaldi's music. The text discusses the debated chronology of Vivaldi's works, utilizing both internal and external evidence. Each piece featuring the flute or recorder is thoroughly evaluated from historical, biographical, technical, and aesthetic perspectives. This work appeals not only to Vivaldi scholars and enthusiasts but also to players of these instruments, organology students, and those interested in late baroque music. Vivaldi's oeuvre continues to reveal surprises, with new pieces being discovered and old ones reinterpreted. The new English edition incorporates recent findings and developments since the original Italian publication, providing a richer understanding of the composer and his era. Readers will gain valuable insights from the detailed examination of his music for these wind instruments, which also hold broader relevance for his overall work. Generous music examples and illustrations enhance the book's arguments, bringing Sardelli's analysis to life.

"This new study of Beethoven and his music is written as a continuous, chronological narrative that sets the works against the musical and biographical background from which they emerged. Such an approach results in close integration of life and works, and is particularly appropriate in the case of Beethoven: firstly because composition was his central preoccupation ('I live entirely in my music', he once wrote), and secondly because recent research on his numerous musical sketches has produced a much clearer picture of his everyday compositional activity, leading to many new insights into the interaction between his life and music. Barry Cooper illuminates Beethoven's artistic achievements both by examining the origins of his works and by commentary on some of their most striking and original features." "Statements in earlier biographies have been scrutinized carefully and are accepted here only if supported by sound evidence. This thorough reassessment extends even to translations of individual German words, and many well-known but fictitious anecdotes have been eliminated. Conversely, numerous details discovered in recent years are for the first time incorporated into a general study of Beethoven - notably information from sketch studies and from a new edition of his correspondence. The many fresh conclusions will be of interest to both specialists and the musical public at large."--Jacket

Synthesizes existing research into a chronologically based narrative. This volume on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) takes the work and the life in parallel; for the vents of Mozart's life cannot be separated from his existence as a musical creator and performer.

Handel was a defining figure of the late Baroque era, perhaps best known for bringing the oratorio form to an English-speaking audience. This insightful study brings to life the glory of his artistry, his elusive personality and the flavour of his time.

Focusing on the intersection of 19th-century music and theater, this book offers an in-depth exploration of Russian musical traditions and their cultural significance. It examines key composers and their works, providing insights into how music influenced and reflected the social and political landscape of the time. Ideal for students and scholars, it combines historical analysis with detailed case studies, making it a valuable resource for those interested in Russian studies and the evolution of theater music during this pivotal era.

Franz Liszt lived as he composed -- on the grand scale -- the quintessential, flamboyant romantic. Born in Hungary in 1811 to poor farm parents, he received his onyl education from his father who was a well-known amateur musician. Although a virtuous at age 13, he was tormented by his lack of formal education. Denied entrance to the Paris Conservatory because of his young age, he surrounded himself with the most celebrated men of letters and music of his time. This impressive volume encompasses Franz Liszt's entire legendary career -- the virtuous tours, the composition of piano works and transcriptions which revolutionized the instrument, the period as conductor at Weimar, and the creation of brilliant new forms of orchestral and choral music. -- From publisher's description

Published in its first edition in 1983, Boyd's treatment of this canonical composer is essential reading for students, scholars, and everyone interested in Baroque music. In this third edition, biographical chapters alternate with commentary on the works, to demonstrate how the circumstances of Bach's life helped to shape the music he wrote at various periods. We follow Bach as he travels from Arnstadt and Muhlhausen to Weimar, Cöthen, and finally Leipzig, these journeys alternating with insightful discussions of the great composer's organ and orchestral compositions. As well as presenting a rounded picture of Bach, his music, and his posthumous reputation and influence, Malcolm Boyd considers the sometimes controversial topics of "parody" and arrangement, number symbolism, and the style and meaning of Bach's late works. Recent theories on the constitution of Bach's performing forces at Leipzig are also present. The text and the appendixes (which include a chronology, personalia,bibliography, and a complete catalogue of Bach's works) were thoroughly revised in this edition to take account of more recent research undertaken by Bach scholars, including the gold mine of new information uncovered in the former USSR.

Drawing on new documentary evidence for this edition, the author is able to give a fuller account of Mahler's childhood and youth, and of his years as an opera conductor in Cassel, Prague, Leipzig, Budapest, Hamburg and Vienna. All Mahler's works are discussed.