Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Earth's demise may not come from the skies. It most likely will come from within. Not since the infancy of our solar system has Earth undergone such titanic geological upheavals. Rift zones are tearing the world apart, tectonic plates rampage under land masses causing earthquakes of immeasurable magnitude, continents being split into pieces then consumed by half-mile high tsunamis. Earth's lands have ceased to exist except for three insignificant stubs of land; a scant remnant of Montana where vacationing Ross Nielson has joined up with a group of picnicking school children. Another is a 9,000 seamount in the bay of Ecuador housing a team of geologists, and the third an uninhabited dot of Australia. The Montana and Ecuador survivors, a family cruising the Pacific on their yacht, and the remnant crew of a devastated Coast Guard ship bring the Earth's total known population to fifty. Intimate snapshots of an estranged father and son on the verge of a reunion, an airliner's crew, a Hawaiian priest and a revenge-seeking girl sketch the poignancy of their last hours before being claimed by this unprecedented catastrophe.

The astonishing creative genius of Franz Schubert (1797-1828) produced an extraordinary quantity of music: song cycles, symphonies, piano and chamber works - all now recognised as masterpieces. Such acclaim did not exist in the years immediately after his death, and it was only later, when the rediscovery of Schubert's music (led by George Grove) was gathering pace, that this work, the first full-length biography of the composer, appeared in 1865. Written by Heinrich Kreissle von Hellborn (1812-69), a Viennese lawyer and member of the city's Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, the work incorporates reminiscences of Schubert's friends as collected by Ferdinand Luib for his prospective biography. This 1869 English translation by Arthur Duke Coleridge, founder of the Bach Choir, contains an appendix by Grove on Schubert's symphonies and his rediscovery in Vienna of several manuscripts as well as the partbooks for Rosamunde. Volume 2 covers 1824 to 1828, and includes a list of works and Grove's appendix.

The astonishing creative genius of Franz Schubert (1797-1828) produced an extraordinary quantity of music: song cycles, symphonies, piano and chamber works - all now recognised as masterpieces. Such acclaim did not exist in the years immediately after his death, and it was only later, when the rediscovery of Schubert's music (led by George Grove) was gathering pace, that this work, the first full-length biography of the composer, appeared in 1865. Written by Heinrich Kreissle von Hellborn (1812-69), a Viennese lawyer and member of the city's Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, the work incorporates reminiscences of Schubert's friends as collected by Ferdinand Luib for his prospective biography. This 1869 English translation by Arthur Duke Coleridge, founder of the Bach Choir, contains an appendix by Grove on Schubert's symphonies and his rediscovery in Vienna of several manuscripts as well as the partbooks for Rosamunde. Volume 1 charts Schubert's life up to the composition of Rosamunde in 1823.

Beethoven's symphonies captured the public imagination from the outset and remain compelling today. Revolutionary in their time, these life-enhancing works now sit at the centre of the classical music repertoire, retaining their ability to delight and inspire. The career of Sir George Grove (1820 1900) ranged from civil engineering to biblical scholarship, but he is best known for editing his celebrated Dictionary of Music and Musicians. A driving force at the heart of nineteenth-century British musical life, Grove organised important concerts at the rebuilt Crystal Palace in Sydenham, and he served as the first director of the Royal College of Music from 1883 to 1894. First published in 1896, and reissued here in its swiftly corrected and indexed second edition, this work is a classic of musical analysis, exploring the composition, structure, performance and reception of each symphony in turn. Intended for 'the amateurs of this country', it represents the culmination of a lifetime's research."

Sebastian Hensel (1830-98), nephew of the composer, virtuoso pianist and conductor Felix Mendelssohn (1809-47), originally intended this work to be 'not only of the family but for the family', drawing on their letters and diaries. Persuaded by friends to publish his narrative in 1879, Hensel in particular provides a first-hand insight into the lives of his uncle, lionized by the music-loving public of his day, and Felix's beloved sister Fanny (1805-47), herself a talented composer and pianist. Translated from the German revised second edition by Felix's close friend, diplomat Carl Klingemann (1798-1862), this 1881 two-volume collection made available for the first time in English a great deal of valuable source material. Covering the period 1729-1835, Volume 1 charts the family's history from the birth of philosopher Moses Mendelssohn to the death of his son, banker Abraham Mendelssohn Bartholdy, who was the father of Felix.

Sebastian Hensel (1830-98), nephew of the composer, virtuoso pianist and conductor Felix Mendelssohn (1809-47), originally intended this work to be 'not only of the family but for the family', drawing on their letters and diaries. Persuaded by friends to publish his narrative in 1879, Hensel in particular provides a first-hand insight into the lives of his uncle, lionized by the music-loving public of his day, and Felix's beloved sister Fanny (1805-47), herself a talented composer and pianist. Translated from the German revised second edition by Felix's close friend, diplomat Carl Klingemann (1798-1862), this 1881 two-volume collection made available for the first time in English a great deal of valuable source material. Covering the period 1836-47, Volume 2 focuses on the final decade of Fanny and Felix's lives, and includes a delightful description by George Grove of Felix's personal appearance.

In terms of musical composition, all but the first five of his thirty-five years were astoundingly productive for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 91). A stream of glorious symphonies, piano concertos, chamber music, operas and the sublime but unfinished Requiem poured from his pen. German philologist and archaeologist Otto Jahn (1813 69) was inspired to write a scholarly biography of Mozart following a conversation at Mendelssohn's funeral in 1847. He immersed himself in intensive research on the composer and his music, publishing the first edition of this landmark work in four volumes between 1856 and 1859. A second edition followed in 1867, incorporating new material and making use of Kochel's 1862 catalogue of Mozart's works. It is from this edition that Pauline D. Townsend made her three-volume English translation, first published in 1882. Volume 1 covers Mozart's life to 1778, including tours with his father and employment under Archbishop Colloredo."

In terms of musical composition, all but the first five of his thirty-five years were astoundingly productive for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 91). A stream of glorious symphonies, piano concertos, chamber music, operas and the sublime but unfinished Requiem poured from his pen. German philologist and archaeologist Otto Jahn (1813 69) was inspired to write a scholarly biography of Mozart following a conversation at Mendelssohn's funeral in 1847. He immersed himself in intensive research on the composer and his music, publishing the first edition of this landmark work in four volumes between 1856 and 1859. A second edition followed in 1867, incorporating new material and making use of Kochel's 1862 catalogue of Mozart's works. It is from this edition that Pauline D. Townsend made her three-volume English translation, first published in 1882. Volume 2 covers Mozart the man, the break with Colloredo, his move to Vienna, marriage, and Freemasonry."

In terms of musical composition, all but the first five of his thirty-five years were astoundingly productive for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 91). A stream of glorious symphonies, piano concertos, chamber music, operas and the sublime but unfinished Requiem poured from his pen. German philologist and archaeologist Otto Jahn (1813 69) was inspired to write a scholarly biography of Mozart following a conversation at Mendelssohn's funeral in 1847. He immersed himself in intensive research on the composer and his music, publishing the first edition of this landmark work in four volumes between 1856 and 1859. A second edition followed in 1867, incorporating new material and making use of Kochel's 1862 catalogue of Mozart's works. It is from this edition that Pauline D. Townsend made her three-volume English translation, first published in 1882. Volume 3 discusses the Mozart Da Ponte operas and the Requiem, and also includes a list of his works."

Beloved not only in Britain, George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) is admired as a composer the world over. His inventive and sensitive melodic genius and his exuberant brilliance in depicting the spectacular are best displayed in his Messiah and Zadok the Priest. Larger than life, Handel impressed all who met him and was adept at promoting his works, arranging for their publication and even selling them from his home in London's Brook Street. His dogged determination to triumph over the many reverses of his career and the fickle enthusiasms of the Georgian public is the stuff of three-volume novels. This sympathetic and highly readable biography by the composer and author William Smith Rockstro (1823-95) was first published in 1883. Wherever possible, autograph manuscripts have been consulted and the book contains the first detailed catalogue of Handel's output. Among other works, Rockstro's biography of Mendelssohn is also reissued in this series.

The publisher Novello was hugely influential in making music affordable for a wider section of the Victorian public. A Short History of Cheap Music, published in 1887, focuses on Novello's role. It begins with the establishment of the house in 1811, when the founder, Vincent Novello, printed his first book at his own personal expense. Soon afterwards the house made available cheap editions of major musical compositions including Mozart's and Haydn's masses, Purcell's sacred music, and various Italian and English works. It also printed a variety of publications and journals dedicated to music, advocated the reduction of taxes on music, and organised events for the advancement of the musical arts. The author shows how by finding cheaper methods for printing music, organising cheap concerts, and establishing new choral societies, the house of Novello gradually created a taste for music among new audiences, a process paralleled today in the new media.

This is a reissue of the first edition of George Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, which has since evolved to become the largest and most authoritative work of its kind in English. The project grew in the making: the title page of Volume 1 (1879) refers to 'two volumes', but by the time Volume 4 appeared in 1889 there was also a 300-page appendix and a separate index volume. The dictionary was an international undertaking, with contributors from Paris, Leipzig, Berlin, Vienna and Boston alongside those based in Britain. It was 'intended to supply a great and long acknowledged want' arising from the increased interest in all aspects of music, which was 'rapidly becoming an essential branch of education', and to cater for the professional while being accessible to the amateur. It is a fascinating document of musical tastes and values in the late Victorian period.

This is a reissue of the first edition of George Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, which has since evolved to become the largest and most authoritative work of its kind in English. The project grew in the making: the title page of Volume 1 (1879) refers to 'two volumes', but by the time Volume 4 appeared in 1889 there was also a 300-page appendix and a separate index volume. The dictionary was an international undertaking, with contributors from Paris, Leipzig, Berlin, Vienna and Boston alongside those based in Britain. It was 'intended to supply a great and long acknowledged want' arising from the increased interest in all aspects of music, which was 'rapidly becoming an essential branch of education', and to cater for the professional while being accessible to the amateur. It is a fascinating document of musical tastes and values in the late Victorian period.