Life of a Great Composer (Third Edition)

Author: Harold C. Schonberg (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: In this highly successful new edition, Harold C. Schonberg introduces composers—ranging from Monteverdi to tonal composers of the 1990s—through a series of engaging biographical chapters. The author believes that music is an ever-evolving art, and no genius (no matter how great) has been entirely unaffected by his predecessors. Here, the great composers are presented as individuals who lived and were connected to the real world around them. Schonberg brings readers closer to understanding these composers, thereby deepening their appreciation of their music. For this purpose, the book focuses more on the biographical details of the composers rather than on technical analyses of their works. The book encompasses all the important figures in "serious music"—Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Verdi, Wagner, Mahler, and so on. The author weaves their lives into a rich tapestry of details and anecdotes. Additionally, some chapters discuss the nationalist school and touch on the so-called light music of Vienna's Strauss family, Sir Arthur Sullivan, Offenbach, and others. In this new edition, Schonberg provides clear descriptions of later serial music composers, minimalist abstract composers, and the "newsiness" composers of the 1990s. The book retains its fundamental characteristics—always offering reading pleasure to all music lovers, remaining engaging from start to finish, and allowing readers to begin at any point.