The city states of the Lowlands have lived in peace for decades, bastions of civilization, prosperity and sophistication, protected by treaties, trade and a belief in the reasonable nature of their neighbors. But meanwhile, in far-off corners, the Wasp Empire has been devouring city after city with its highly trained armies, its machines, it killing Art . . . And now its hunger for conquest and war has become insatiable. Only the aging Stenwold Maker, spymaster, artificer and statesman, can see that the long days of peace are over. It falls upon his shoulders to open the eyes of his people, before a black-and-gold tide sweeps down over the Lowlands and burns away everything in its path. But first he must stop himself from becoming the Empire's latest victim.

(Music Sales America). A fine selection of the most famous masterpieces by Tchaikovsky arranged for easy piano. An essential addition to your piano library.

Two young companions, Totho and Salma, arrive at Tark to spy on the menacing Wasp army, but are there mistakenly apprehended as enemy agents. By the time they are freed, the city is already under siege. Over in the imperial capital the young emperor, Alvdan, is becoming captivated by a remarkable slave, the vampiric Uctebri, who claims he knows of magic that can grant eternal life. In Collegium, meanwhile, Stenwold is still trying to persuade the city magnates to take seriously the Wasp Empire's imminent threat to their survival. In a colorful drama involving mass warfare and personal combat, a small group of heroes must stand up against what seems like an unstoppable force. This volume continues the story that so brilliantly unfolded in Empire in Black and Gold - and the action is still non-stop.

The war with the Wasp Empire has ended in a bitter stalemate, and Collegium has nothing to show for it but wounded veterans. Cheerwell Maker finds herself crippled in ways no doctor can mend, haunted by ghosts of the past that she cannot appease, seeking for meaning in a city that no longer seems like home. The Empress Seda is regaining control over those imperial cities who refused to bow the knee to her, but she draws her power from something more sinister than mere armies and war machines. Only her consort, the former spymaster Thalric, knows the truth, and now the assassins are coming and he finds his life and his loyalties under threat yet again. Out past the desert of the Nem the ancient city of Khanaphes awaits them both, with a terrible secret entombed beneath its stones...

(Easy Piano Songbook). A fine selection of 21 of the most famous masterpieces by Tchaikovsky arranged for easy piano. An essential addition to your piano library: 1812 Overture * Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy * Romeo and Juliet * Scene from Swan Lake * The Sleeping Beauty Waltz * Waltz in Eb major (from Album for the Young ) * Waltz from Swan Lake * and more. The CD includes full performances of every piece!

This episode of the The Essential Collection series presents Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s most famous masterpieces arranged for intermediate solo piano. This digital edition contains both sheet music and full audio tracks demonstrating how each piece should be performed. The works included are: - 1812 Overture - Dance Of The Cygnets (Swan Lake) - Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy (The Nutcracker Suite Op.71a) - Danse Des Mirlitons (The Nutcracker) - First Movement (Symphony No.6 In B Minor 'Pathetique') - June (Barcarolle) [Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich] - March (The Nutcracker) - Marche Des Soldats De Bois Op.39 No.5 [Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich] - None But The Weary Heart - Piano Concerto No 1 In B Flat Minor (Opening) - Polonaise (Eugene Onegin) - Prince Gremin's Aria (Eugene Onegin) - Romeo And Juliet Fantasy Overture - Scene From Swan Lake - Sentimental Waltz - Slavonic March - Sleeping Beauty Waltz - Song Without Words (Chant Sans Paroles) (Douze Morceaux De Difficulte Moyenne) - Sweet Reverie (Douce Reverie) (Album For The Young) - The New Doll (La Nouvelle Poupee) (Album For The Young) - Waltz From Serenade For Strings In C - Waltz From Swan Lake - Waltz In E Flat Major (Album For The Young) - Waltz In F Sharp Minor (Douze Morceaux De Difficulte Moyenne) - Waltz Of The Flowers (The Nutcracker Op.71) - Winter Morning (Le Matin En Hiver) (Album For The Young)

Once an thief, then an assasin, Erevis Cale must now become a hero.

A thrilling new biography of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky--composer of some of the world's most popular orchestral and theatrical music "A lively, argumentative and thoughtful reflection on one of the 19th century's most important musical figures."--Michael O'Donnell, Wall Street Journal Tchaikovsky is famous for all the wrong reasons. Portrayed as a hopeless romantic, a suffering melancholic, or a morbid obsessive, the Tchaikovsky we think we know is a shadow of the fascinating reality. It is all too easy to forget that he composed an empire's worth of music, and navigated the imperial Russian court to great advantage. In this iconoclastic biography, celebrated author Simon Morrison re-creates Tchaikovsky's complex world. His life and art were framed by Russian national ambition, and his work was the emanation of an imperial subject: kaleidoscopic, capacious, cosmopolitan, decentred. Morrison reexamines the relationship between Tchaikovsky's music, personal life, and politics; his support of Tsars Alexander II and III; and his engagement with the cultures of the imperial margins, in Ukraine, Poland, and the Caucasus. Tchaikovsky's Empire unsettles everything we thought we knew--and gives us a vivid new appreciation of Russia's most popular composer.