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Like present-day New York, early-nineteenth-century London was an
extraordinarily vibrant and creative metropolis to which visitors
-- from scholars to social climbers -- went in search of wealth and
fame. Called "an elegant and erudite introduction to
nineteenth-century studies" (The Times), The Victorian Visitors
lucidly captures the encounters between London and some of its most
famous visitors who left an indelible mark on its culture. Among
others, Christiansen reveals the great French artist Gericault
painting the climax of a public execution and the finish of the
Epsom Derby, Richard Wagner guffawing at anti-Semitic jokes in the
restaurant of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Ralph Waldo
Emerson driving Thomas Carlyle to distraction with his "moonshine"
philosophy. A fascinating illustrated look at the cultural and
social mores of nineteenth-century London, Christiansen's
"delightful and insightful cultural history" (Booklist) challenges
our stereotypes of Victorian England with vividly readable and
often hilarious accounts of how British culture welcomed these
remarkable foreigners. "This eloquent ... book does much to rescue
Victorian Britain from its traditional image as a place of stolid
public rectitude." -- Ben MacIntyre, The New York Times Book Review
"A nimbly written, satisfyingly detailed survey, suggesting new
directions in considering the Victorian era." -- Kirkus Reviews
"Offers a magic lantern of shifting perspectives of the glittering
city ... [A] marvelous book." -- Cristina Monet, Los Angeles Times
This new edition of leading opera critic Rupert Christiansen's
perennially popular Pocket Guide has between extensively revised,
and incorporates many more operas from all periods, including
recent works by Philip Glass, Mark Anthony Turnage, Thomas Adès
and George Benjamin. Whether you are a first-timer at La Boheme or
a seasoned Wagnerian, every opera-goer can benefit from a little
background information, and this book aims to provide just that.
Accessible and easy-to-use, it contains entries for over a hundred
works, both familiar and unfamiliar.
A sparkling account of the nineteenth-century rebuilding of Paris
as the most beautiful city in the world, as part of the stunning
Landmark Library series. 'This really is an impressive book'
Sebastian Faulks. 'Brisk, vivid and unexpectedly stirring ... No
one writes as evocatively and entertainingly about Paris as
Christiansen does' Mail on Sunday. 'Every page is a pleasure, every
building, every gas lamp brought shimmering to life ... Don't board
the Eurostar without a copy' The Times. 'A wonderful book,
amazingly vivid ... But also a truly original work of scholarship'
Theodore Zeldin. In 1853 the French emperor Louis Napoleon
inaugurated a vast and ambitious programme of public works,
directed by Georges-Eugene Haussmann, the prefect of the Seine.
Haussmann's renovation of Paris would transform the old medieval
city of squalid slums and disease-ridden alleyways into a 'City of
Light' - characterised by wide boulevards, apartment blocks, parks,
squares and public monuments, new railway stations and department
stores and a new system of public sanitation. City of Light charts
a fifteen-year project of urban renewal which - despite the
interruptions of war, revolution, corruption and bankruptcy - would
set a template for nineteenth and early twentieth-century urban
planning and create the enduring and globally familiar layout of
modern Paris.
This collection has the words and music of all your favourite hymns
and carols, alongside brief introductions for the traditional
tunes.
Serge Diaghilev was the Russian impresario who is often said to
have invented the modern art form of ballet. Commissioning such
legendary names as Nijinsky, Fokine, Stravinsky, and Picasso, this
intriguingly complex genius produced a series of radically original
art works that had a revolutionary impact throughout the western
world.Off stage and in its wake came scandal and sensation, as the
great artists and mercurial performers involved variously
collaborated, clashed, competed while falling in and out of love
with each other on a wild carousel of sexual intrigue and
temperamental mayhem. The Ballets Russes not only left a matchless
artistic legacy - they changed style and glamour, they changed
taste, and they changed social behaviour. The Ballets Russes came
to an official end after many vicissitudes with Diaghilev's abrupt
death in 1929. But the achievements of its heroic prime had
established a paradigm that would continue to define the terms and
set the standards for the next. Published to mark the hundred and
fiftieth anniversary of Diaghilev's birth, Rupert Christiansen -
leading critic and self-confessed 'incurable balletomane' -
presents this freshly researched and challenging reassessment of a
unique phenomenon, exploring passionate conflicts and outsize
personalities in a story embracing triumph and disaster.
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