The Lives and Times of the Great Composers (paperback)
UK £16.99,Canada $30.00,
UK Publication October 2005
ISBN 9781840466799
Hardback
Buy: | Waterstones| Book Depository
Lavish, colourful and highly acclaimed major history of the giants of classical music:
"A glorious plum-pudding of a book, to be consulted, with pleasure and profit, over and over again" Sir Jeremy Isaacs
"Michael Steen?s beautifully illustrated book packs an astonishing amount of biographical and cultural detail into nearly forty subjects." Independent on Sunday
"Hugely informative and deliciously gossipy" Spectator
"A veritable catalogue of intrigue, provides a rich new dimension to the enjoyment of classical music and opera" Ink
"A fascinating musical tour of 350 years of European history" Eastern Daily Press
Read the story of Bach, the respectable burgher much of whose vast output was composed amidst petty turf disputes in Lutheran Leipzig; or the ugly, argumentative Beethoven in French-occupied Vienna, obsessed by his laundry; or Mozart, the over-exploited infant prodigy whose untimely death was shrouded in rumour.
Read about Verdi, who composed against the background of the Italian Risorgimento; or about the family life of the Wagners; and Brahms, who rose from the slums of Hamburg to become a devotee of beer and coffee in fin-de-siècle Vienna, a cultural capital bent on destroying Mahler ... and much, much more.
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Michael Steen was born in Dublin, studied at the Royal College of Music, was organ scholar at Oriel College, Oxford and is currently chairman of the Royal College of Music Society.
See more books by: Michael Steen
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Other editions / related titles:
The Lives and Times of the Great Composers (paperback)
