MUHL 3773 - Music History & Literature 3: Composers

This major new study of Beethoven and his music is written as a single,continuous narrative, using a strictly chronological approach that enables each work to be seen against the musical and biographical background from which it emerged. The result is a much closer integration of life and works than is often achieved.

The Cambridge Companion to Mozart paints a rounded yet focused picture of one of the most revered artists of all time. Bringing the most recent scholarship into the public arena, this volume bridges the gap between scholarly and popular images of the composer, enhancing the readers' appreciation of Mozart and his extraordinary output, regardless of their prior knowledge of the music.

Arguing that the familiar romantic image of Frederic Chopin masks the inner turmoil of a man largely out of sympathy with his age, Jeremy Siepmann offers a revealing portrait of this most beloved of all nineteenth-century composers. He draws extensively on the correspondence and diaries of Chopin and his intimate friends, as well as on contemporary accounts, and incorporates into his narrative penetrating discussions of the composer's extraordinary transformation of such genres as the polonaise, mazurka, and waltz.

Christopher Gibbs considers how and what Schubert composed, taking a fresh look at this misunderstood figure, particularly the unfolding of his professional career, his relationship to Beethoven, the growth of his reputation and public image and the darker side of drinking, depression and sexual ambiguity. This searching and sympathetic biography questions the customary sentimental cliches and the recent revisionist views concerning this elusive genius.

In this new biography, John Rosselli traces the life and work of a boldly innovative artist. He investigates Verdi's businesslike running of a landed estate as well as a highly successful career, and looks into his complex relationships - still not quite clear - with two women singers: his second wife Giuseppina Strepponi and his probable lover Teresa Stolz. At the same time he considers the music with clarity and insight, dwelling on the most important operas and showing us why they still fill theatres and rouse enthusiasm today.

Julian Budden, one of the world's foremost scholars of Italian opera and author of a monumental three-volume study of Verdi's works, now offers music lovers a major new biography of one of the giants of Italian opera, Giacomo Puccini. Blending astute musical analysis with a colorful account of Puccini's life, here is an illuminating look at some of the most popular operas in the repertoire, including Manon Lescaut, La Boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot.

This important new biography recreates the dynamics of this man and his music with unprecedented range, offering new insight into his final years and his lasting musical achievements. Drawing on Schumann's recently published journals, letters, and new research, author Eric Jensen renders a balanced portrait of the composer with both scholarly authority and engaging clarity. Biographical chapters alternate with commentary on Schumann's piano, choral, symphonic, and operatic works, demonstrating how the circumstances of his life helped shape the music he wrote at various periods. Chronicling the forbidden romance of Robert and Clara, Jensen offers a nuanced look at the evolution of their relationship.

Tchaikovsky has long intrigued music-lovers as a figure who straddles many borders--between East and West, nationalism and cosmopolitanism, tradition and innovation, tenderness and bombast, masculine and feminine. In this book, through consideration of his music and biography, scholars from several disciplines explore the many sides of Tchaikovsky.