Ravel's musical achievements as well as his life and times are brilliantly recreated in this masterly biography originally published in 1975.The standard Ravel biography by the world's foremost authority â?? brilliantly detailed and documented filled with quotations from letters interviews with the composer's friends an illuminating analysis of each of his works a study of his musical esthetics and language a complete catalog of his works and a discography.Includes 48 illustrations.

Maria Callas was almost as famous for her personal life - her jet-setting her staggering weight loss her tigress-like temperament - as she was for her singing.Of Greek parentage the New York-born internationally famous Callas was the most influential soprano of the 20th century reviving a school of singing - bel canto - that had been forgotten for 75 years. Unlike most of her generation of sopranos she was a superb actress both vocally and physically: her voice encompassed many colours and she embodied each character she portrayed. After seeing or hearing her in a role it was said it was difficult to imagine another singer attempting it so fierce was herindividual stamp. Her status went beyond cult; her triumphs and failures appeared on the front page of newspapers all over the world.This profusely illustrated musical biography covers Callas's life and career. A final third of the book analyzes the tracks on the two CDs describing what made Callas unique what made Callas Callas. Listen for yourselves to La Divina ('the divine one') as the Italians dubbed her and be amazed.

He lived in the shadow of death painfully aware of the tuberculosis that would kill him prematurely. But Frédéric Chopin attained immortality with his Piano works which endure as pinnacles of the instrument's repertoire. This biography by one of the nineteenth century's foremost pianists--Chopin's friend and fellow artist Franz Liszt--offers a highly informed assessment of the Polish composer's musical legacy. It is further enlivened by the author's personal acquaintance with Chopin's other friends who constituted the very cream of Parisian intellectual and artistic society.Born a year apart Chopin andLiszt came of age in an era favorable to musical change when audiences as well as performers were receptive to Romanticism's innovations. Liszt surveys the technical brilliance as well as the poetry of Chopin's masterpieces including the 'Adagio' from Piano Concerto No. 2 and Polonaise in F-sharp Minor. He also chronicles Chopin's progress from child prodigy to the darling of Parisian salons. A source of rare and unparalleled insights into Chopin's world of private anguish and public triumph this memoir recounts the composer's loneliness as a Polish emigré his tempestuous romance with George Sand and his life among a glittering social set that included Balzac Hugo Berlioz Delacroix and Schumann.Reprint of the Oliver Ditson Company Boston 1880 edition.

Salzburg Mannheim Rome Paris Prague Vienna - Mozart lived and worked in some of Europe's most beautiful cities; this lavishly-illustrated biography brings his world vividly to life. Musical extracts from some of Mozart's best-loved works - in simple keyboard arrangement - complete the picture of this flamboyant personality.Composerâ??s World is a series of books illustrating the life and times of the world's greatest composers. With pictures words and music it places each composer's life and work within the circumstances that shaped their career.

This superbly-illustrated biography traces Schubert's brief but astonishingly fertile career against the colourful background of metternich's Vienna. Included are extracts from some of his most memorable works in simple keyboard arrangements.Composer's World is a new series of picture illustrating the life and times of the world's greatest composers. With full colour pictures words and music it places each composer's life and work within the circumstances that shaped their career.

This superbly-illustrated biography brings the courtly elegant world of the eighteenth-century vividly to life and includes extracts from some of Haydn's best-loved works in simple keyboard arrangements.Composer's World is a series of books illustrating the life and times of the world's greatest composers. With pictures words and music it places each composer's life and work within the circumstances that shaped their career.

Selected Lyrics 1972-2017-Bruce Springsteen Like a Killer in the Sun originally published in Italian is the definitive book on the work of Bruce Springsteen showing his unique narrative talent and offering an accurate critical examination of his poetics. It presents 117 among his best lyrics expounded and annotated with the philological care used for the classics of literature. In his introduction Leonardo Colombati draws the attention to the fact that Springsteen is an author grafted on the line that goes from Whitman to Steinbeck from Flannery O'Connor to Raymond Carver. The book also contains Springsteen's biography and discography plus an exclusive interview with Bruce Springsteen. Withforewords by Academy Award-winner Ennio Morricone and music critic Dave Marsh a committee member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Springsteen's biographer. Like a Killer in the Sun is a book for anyone who wants to listen to a powerful and inspired voice coming from the heart of America.

Written by Brett Morgen with Richard Bienstock, Cobain: Montage Of Heck is a true goldmine of exclusive material collected and created for the acclaimed documentary. Delving further into the interviews, art and photography used in the film, this book is the perfect companion piece to the definitive film on this genuine legend's life.Even if you haven't yet seen the film, or you've loved it and have been left wanting more, Cobain: Montage Of Heck will definitely quench your thirst for all things Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. The legendary singer, songwriter and guitarist has gone down in history as almost a mythically brilliant voice of a generation, turning late 20th century angst into electrifying rock music. Brett Morgen's Montage Of Heck documentary was fully authorised by the Cobain family, after his widow Courtney Love approached him with the idea for the film.Getting exclusive access to Cobain's personal and family archives was an unprecedented achievement, allowing Morgen to delve deeply into home movies, recordings, artwork, photography, demos and journals, presenting an intimate portrait of Cobain's personal life as well as his astonishing artistry. The exclusive interviews in the film have provided fans with incredible insight into Cobain's life, featuring words from all the key figures like Courtney Love, Krist Novoselic, and his parents. Included in this book are extended versions of these interviews, giving unbridled vision into his life and work, told by the people who knew him best.Accompanying these interviews are some incredible and often never-before-seen visuals including animation stills from the films, personal art, candid photography and other treasures from his personal archive. Looking at these visuals, readers will find a true sense of the tortured genius, the artist who achieved enormous success and almost demi-god status yet still struggled with his personal, all-too-human demons. Since Cobain's tragic death, fans have been left with nothing but his music and an overwhelming amount of press rumours and cinema speculation. Now, Cobain: Montage Of Heck and the accompanying documentary provides the most definitive insight into the real man behind the musical legend.For nearly everyone who is interested in popular music, this book is absolutely fascinating. Cobain's boundary-pushing art has almost been overshadowed by rumour, but this book thankfully restores both to their rightful place, setting examples of his boundless creativity alongside authorised truths from the people who knew him intimately. Cobain: Montage Of Heck is sure to be seen as a true classic of rock biography. / Livre

The Beatles' Solo Years 1970-1980-In the years following the 1960s Beatle fans around the world were twice-stunned: in 1970 when their beloved group disbanded and ten years later when the murder of John Lennon ended a decade of hope that somehow the Fab Fourwould reunite. Fab Four FAQ 2.0 picks up the story where the acclaimed Fab Four FAQ left off. Loaded with images of rare period ephemera including periodicals single sleeves and movie stills this is the firstcomprehensive biography of all four ex-Beatles. This book covers everything from their recording careers in the decade after the band's dissolution to the musicians they played with the bands they influenced the manifestationsof latter-day Beatlemania and the constant clamor for reunion expressed by fans and – sometimes – by the four themselves.

This is a story of the renowned musician known internationally as the King of Latin Music an instrumental force in the rise of la musica latina and its spread throughout the world. Here are first-person stories that trace Tito's life starting with the early years in New York City through the war years the emergence of the Palladium nightclub as a center of Latin Music and his development as an arranger and bandleader. Tito provides humour history and insights into the music and its masters and discusses the foundation of Latin jazz and the evolution of Mambo Rumba and Danzon. Includes a special Bonus DVD that features never-before-seen footage ofTito discussing his incredible 50-year career as a band leader.

No composer has ever achieved the amazing artistic progression that Haydn has. He invented the string quartet as we know it became known as 'the Father of the Symphony' and mentored the great Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. His creative life was one of ceaseless experimentation and invention. Author David Hurwitz shows readers how to more fully enjoy Haydn's music acquainting them with the master's innovative melodic creativity revolutionary use of musical form and important characteristics of his personal style such as his genius for writing in minor keys and creating comedy in his music. Hurwitz explores Haydn's vocal music and instrumental masterpieces that fall outsidethe mainstream as well as his principle instrumental works. A special chapter of letters and quotations by the composer himself introduces the reader to Haydn the man. Four appendices list all of his symphonies string quartets Piano sonatas and Piano trios and specify their distinguishing characteristics. Two accompanying Naxos CDs provide more than two and a half hours of beautiful music keyed to pieces described in the book.