|
Showing 1 - 1 of
1 matches in All Departments
Here is one of the most enjoyable and illuminating books ever
published for the music lover, a feast of delightful anecdotes that
reveal the all-too-human side of the great composers and
performers.
There are stories of appetites (Handel eating dinner for three),
embarrassments (Brahms falling asleep as Liszt plays), oddities
(Bruckner's dog being trained to howl at Wagner), and devotions (a
lovely admirer disrobing in tribute to Puccini). There are
memorable accounts of Stravinsky telling Proust how much he hates
Beethoven, of Tchaikovsky's first bewildering telephone call, of
Dvorak's strange love of pigeons, and of Verdi's intricate
maneuvering to keep the now-famous melody of "La donna e mobile"
top secret.
There is also wonderful trivia (Beethoven loved to cat "bread soup"
made with ten raw eggs), along with eccentric strategies (Verdi,
disturbed by the sound of street organs playing arias from his
operas, hired them all for a season and kept them locked in a
room). There are examples of musicians munificent generosity (Haydn
called Mozart "the greatest composer known to me, either in person
or by name"), and scathing dismissal ("Have you heard any
Stockhausen?" the conductor Sir Thomas Beecham was asked. "No," he
replied, "but I believe I have trodden in some").
Collected from thousands of books, articles, and unpublished
manuscripts (with historical sources provided in extensive notes),
these anecdotes appear in their original form, throwing fresh light
on familiar figures in the musical hall of fame. For browsing,
reading, research and amusement, this book is a grand entertainment
for concert-goers, record-buyers, operamanes, gossips and music
lovers everywhere.
|
You may like...
Hampstead
Diane Keaton, Brendan Gleeson, …
DVD
R66
Discovery Miles 660
Loot
Nadine Gordimer
Paperback
(2)
R398
R330
Discovery Miles 3 300
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.