The Lives of the Great Composers
by Harold C. Schonberg
Book Summary Information
Author: Harold C. SchonbergEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1997-04
ISBN: 0393038572
Number of pages: 653
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Book Reviews of The Lives of the Great Composers
Book Review: A must for every Classical music lover!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the perfect introduction to the history of classical music, a fascinating and amusing mixture of biography, anecdote, musical analysis and social history. It gives a real insight into the development of the music, the alliances and rivalries between composers and the reaction of critics and the public to new compositions. The author writes with great authority but also with humour, a lightness of touch and a genuine enthusiasm (not to mention a refreshing lack of bias) for a vast range of music. I've owned a copy since 1985 and I can't remember how many times I've read it, either cover-to-cover, individual chapters or just dipping in from time to time. On Desert Island Discs, the castaway is allowed just one book (as well as the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare). This would be my book.
Entertainment Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Books that should be in every composer's collection
Tristan und Isolde in Full Scoreby Richard Wagner
Dover Publications; Published: 1973-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.40
Price in other shops:
Ludwig van Beethoven Complete String Quartetsby Ludwig van Beethoven
Dover Publications; Published: 1970-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.98
Price in other shops:
Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Symphonies in Full Scoreby Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky
Dover Publications; Published: 1979-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.46
Price in other shops:
The Rite of Spring in Full Scoreby Igor Stravinsky
Dover Publications; Published: 1989-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.77
Price in other shops:
Johannes Brahms Complete Symphonies in full score (Vienna Gesellschaft Der Musikfreunde Edition)by Johannes Brahms
Dover Publications; Published: 1974-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.65
Price in other shops:
Symphonies Nos. 5, 6 and 7 in Full Scoreby Ludwig van Beethoven
Dover Publications; Published: 1989-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.61
Price in other shops:
Poetics of Music in the Form of Six Lessons (The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures)by Igor Stravinsky
Harvard University Press; Published: 1993-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.94
Price in other shops:
Four Musical Minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass (Music in the Twentieth Century)by Keith Potter
Cambridge University Press; Published: 2002-06-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $30.00
Price in other shops:
The Boulez-Cage CorrespondenceCambridge University Press; Published: 1995-01-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $35.79
Price in other shops:
The Unanswered Question: Six Talks at Harvard (The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures)by Leonard Bernstein
Harvard University Press; Published: 2006-12-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $31.47
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
The Vintage Guide to Classical Musicby Jan Swafford
Vintage; Published: 1992-12-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.25
Price in other shops:
The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection : The 350 Essential Worksby Ted Libbey
Workman Publishing Company; Published: 1999-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.12
Price in other shops:
The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Centuryby Alex Ross
Picador; Published: 2008-10-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.80
Price in other shops:
The Symphony: A Listener's Guideby Michael Steinberg
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1998-12-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.75
Price in other shops:
Spiritual Lives of the Great Composersby Patrick Kavanaugh
Zondervan; Published: 1996-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.50
Price in other shops:
Piano Notes: The World of the Pianistby Charles Rosen
Free Press; Published: 2004-02-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.46
Price in other shops:
The Lives and Times of the Great Composersby Michael Steen
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2004-12-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $27.00
Price in other shops:
Pocket Manual of Musical Terms (Schirmer Pronouncing)by Theodore Baker, Laura Kuhn
Schirmer Trade Books; Published: 1995-12-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.58
Price in other shops:
A History of Western Musicby Donald J. Grout, Claude V. Palisca, J. Peter Burkholder
W. W. Norton; Published: 2005-07-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $51.80
Price in other shops:
The Great Pianists: From Mozart to the Presentby Harold C. Schonberg
Simon & Schuster; Published: 1987-06-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.44
Price in other shops: