Books > Arts & Architecture > Music > Western music, periods & styles > 20th century music
|
Buy Now
Richard Strauss - Man, Musician, Enigma (Book, New ed)
Loot Price: R1,647
Discovery Miles 16 470
|
|
Richard Strauss - Man, Musician, Enigma (Book, New ed)
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
|
Was Richard Strauss the most incandescent composer of the twentieth
century or merely a bourgeoisie artist and Nazi sympathizer? For
the fifty years since his death on September 8, 1949, Richard
Strauss has remained dogmatically elusive in the wider body of
musical and historical criticism. Lauded as nothing less than the
"greatest musical figure" of his time by Canadian musician, Glenn
Gould, in 1962, Strauss also has attracted his share of posthumous
epithets: in summary, an artist who lived off his own fat during
his later years. As recently as 1995, the English critic Rodney
Milnes wrote, "the court of posterity is still reserving judgment."
In Richard Strauss: Man, Musician, Enigma, biographer Michael
Kennedy demonstrates that the many varying shades of criticism that
have painted this figure in the past half century resemble the
similar understandings and misunderstandings held by his
contemporaries--perceptions that touched almost every aspect of
Strauss' life and career. Introducing his detailed work more as a
broad explication than a firm answer to the Straussian riddle,
Kennedy's scope includes the exuberant, extroverted Strauss of
young adulthood as well as the phlegmatic and aloof middle-aged man
who resembled a "prosperous bank manager;" the arch-fiend of
modernism and the composer who redefined the term; a man who
professed to lack all spiritual curiosity and a musician who penned
the touching ballet Der Kometentanz; an at times almost humble
family man and an artist who claimed to be as interesting as
Napoleon and Alexander the Great. Kennedy clearly elucidates his
enigmatic subject by building his analysis around the few constants
in Strauss' life: his profoundadmiration for German culture, his
dependence on his own family for guidance, and his "Nietzschean
total absorption in art." This frame offers everyone from
Straussian scholars to general readers an insightful and
easy-to-follow biographical narrative. Kennedy also deals at length
with Strauss' problematic relationship with Nazi authorities,
detailing his incompatible roles as the father-in-law of a Jewish
woman and as one of the country's leading composers. Michael
Kennedy is the chief music critic of the (London) Sunday Telegraph
and the author of many books about music.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
|
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.