Mr. Abell, an American music critic stationed in Berlin from 1890-1918, records his extensive interviews with composers Brahms, Strauss, Puccini, Humperdink, Bruch, and Grieg.

This is a compelling and inspiring look at spiritual beliefs that influenced some of the world's greatest composers, now revised and expanded with eight additional composers.

Contains information on 17 composers who range from the Baroque period to the Contemporary period. Book contains a picture with relevant facts and suggested listening, a brief biography, a study of his music (or time he lived) and a question and answer page for each composer. The accompanying CD includes the suggested listening for each composer; the activity sheets contain the picture with facts and question and answer page for each composer in a reproducible format.

Discover little-known stories from music history—including murder, riots, and heartbreak—in this entertaining tour through the fascinating (and surprising) lives of classical music masters With outrageous anecdotes about everyone from Gioachino Rossini (draft-dodging womanizer) to Johann Sebastian Bach (jailbird) to Richard Wagner (alleged cross-dresser), Secret Lives of Great Composers recounts the seamy, steamy, and gritty history behind the great masters of international music. Here, you’ll learn that Edward Elgar dabbled with explosives; that John Cage was obsessed with fungus; that Berlioz plotted murder; and that Giacomo Puccini stole his church’s organ pipes and sold them as scrap metal so he could buy cigarettes. This is one music history lesson you’ll never forget!

Biographies of the important composers from Monteverdi and Bach to Bartok and Webern are designed to show the history of music.

It is important that young students learn about the lives of the great composers who have enriched our lives with beautiful music. The 12 units in Stories of the Great Composers give elementary students a glimpse into each composer's life, character and music. Includes a CD recording of the suggested listening, featuring one composition by each composer.

'A glorious plum-pudding of a book, to be consulted, with pleasure and profit, over and over again' Sir Jeremy Isaacs Michael Steen's 'Great Composers' was originally published in 2003. A lifetime's work and almost 1000 pages long, it has since become 'the' reference point and key read on the biographical backgrounds to classical music's biggest names. Authoritative and hugely detailed - but nonetheless a joy to read - this new edition will expand its readership further and capitalise on a newfound popular interest in classical music. Steen's book helps you explore the story of Bach, the respectable burgher much of whose vast output was composed amidst petty turf disputes in Lutheran Leipzig; or the ugly, argumentative Beethoven in French-occupied Vienna, obsessed by his laundry; or Mozart, the over-exploited infant prodigy whose untimely death was shrouded in rumour. Read about Verdi, who composed against the background of the Italian Risorgimento; or about the family life of the Wagners; and, Brahms, who rose from the slums of Hamburg to become a devotee of beer and coffee in fin-de-siecle Vienna, a cultural capital bent on destroying Mahler ... and much, much more.

“The only love affair I have ever had was with music.” Maurice Ravel A compelling celebration of more than 90 of the world’s most influential composers from the medieval period to the present day, Composers reveals the fascinating stories of their lives, loves, and works. Biographical entries – introduced with a stunning portrait of each featured composer – trace the friendships, loves, and rivalries that inspired each musical genius. Profiles offer revealing insights into what drove each individual to create the musical masterpieces – symphonies, concertos, and operatic scores – that changed the direction of classical music and are still celebrated and treasured today. Lavishly illustrated with paintings or photographs of each composer, alongside original musical scores and personal correspondence, images of their homes and where they worked, and personal effects and other important artifacts, the book introduces the key influences, themes, and working methods of each individual, setting their works within a wider historical and cultural context. Charting the development of classical music and music movements across the centuries, Composers provides a compelling glimpse into the personal lives, loves, and influences of the giants of the classical music canon.

Who does not ponder what inspires creativity? Why does one person excel as a doctor, another as an artist, and yet a third as a composer? Why do some fortunate people seem overly endowed with an abundance of creativity—this most precious of gifts—and others with little or none at all? Can creative inspiration be nurtured slowly and, suddenly, spring forth to mesmerize and enchant the world? In the words of Emanuel Ax, we are given “fascinating glimpses into the innermost thoughts of some of our greatest composers” in this series of intimate and deeply felt conversations between Arthur Abell and Brahms, Puccini, Strauss, Humperdinck, Bruch, and Grieg. And through these revelations, one can understand with greater clarity the essence of genius. In its entirety, the book is a paean to both the musical world and to those few who achieved greatness during the latter part of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century. We cannot fail to be deeply impressed by the intense outpouring of emotion demanded by great creative endeavor. And here, nothing is spared. We are privy to the highs and lows—the great triumphs and the wrenching failures. Talks with Great Composers brings to life the thoughts, fears, self-doubt, inherent religiosity, and the unparalleled joys that, by the end of the book, we come to appreciate must accompany all of life’s greatest challenges and accomplishments.