Berlioz: Volume One: The Making of an Artist, 1803-1832

Book Description

This biography of composer Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) describes with unprecedented intimacy, affection, and respect the life of one of France's greatest artists. After long being regarded as an oddity and an eccentric figure, Berlioz is now being accepted into the ranks of the great composers. Based on a wealth of previously unpublished sources, and on a profound understanding of the humanity of his subject, David Cairns's book provides a full account of this extraordinary and powerfully attractive man.
Berlioz, Volume I, previously published only in Britain, is now available to American readers in a revised edition, together with the eagerly awaited, new Volume II. These two volumes together comprise a monumental biographical achievement, sure to stand as the definitive Berlioz biography.
In researching Berlioz's life, Cairns has had access to unpublished family papers, and in Volume I he is able to portray all the people close to Berlioz in his boyhood, and to evoke a detailed picture of their lives in and around La Côte St.-André in the foothills of the French Alps. No artist's achievement connects more directly with early experience than that of Berlioz, whose passionate sensibility began to absorb the material of his art long before he had heard any musical ensemble other than the local town band. Volume I also traces the student years in Paris and Italy and discusses Berlioz's three great love affairs, shedding remarkable light on his later character and development. Volume I ends on the afternoon of December 9, 1832, the day of the concert that launched the composer's career.

Customer Reviews:

Brilliant portrait of a complex man, vol. 1.......2004-01-27

An amazing biography. A work such as this will most likely appeal to only 1 out of 100,000 Amazon customers, but those who read it will never forget it, and once having read it will listen to Berlioz's music with a knowing insider's grin.

Cairns has done what is extremely difficult: he has created an easy-to-read, engaging, yet methodical and thorough modern biography in English of a composer who was born 200 years ago and whose paper trail was written entirely in French. The book has good humor but is not fawning or hagiographic.

A little note (pun intended): this is about Berlioz the man, and not about Berlioz as an ethnomusicologist's project. In other words, this is the study of a young man and how he came to know and create music, but not about that music per se.

Bonne lecture!

Great Scholar.......2001-09-20

David Cairns is a great Berlioz scholar. Like to meet him someday. His translation of "Memoirs" is much superior to Newmans.I bought the 1st volume of the biography some years ago when it first came out and the second a couple of years ago when it was first published. I revisit these volumes frequently. Berlioz was one of the really great romantics. At least 50 years before his time. Glad to see SF opera is planning on staging Cellini & B & B over the next few years. Sixtus Beckmesser

Incredible........2000-05-14

This really is one of the best biographies of any subject to come my way.I didn't know a lot of Berlioz's music before approaching this but it didn't actually matter.All the elements of a gripping novel are here only for they're true!-fighting paternal disapproval,living in poverty in Paris,eloping with a virtuoso pianist-it's all here and Cairns paints such an intimate picture that you can't but fail to admire Berlioz and his dogged determination to be a composer and write HIS music only to be continually rebuked in his native homeland.The efforts that the man had to go to just to hear his own music is truly heartbreaking.Biography doesn't get much better than this-especially if you're only even remotely interested in music or art.

A Passionate Man.......2000-04-25

This is a wonderful book both for the lay reader and for the musically knowledgeable. It says a great deal about how well written this book is that someone like me who knows nothing about music could still enjoy the book so much. Mr. Cairns takes the tale from the birth of Berlioz in 1803 up until 1832, when he was in his late 20's. You learn about his relationship with his parents, who were opposed to his choice of composer for a career, and his sisters. We are very fortunate that this was a great age for letter writing. Mr. Cairns makes judicious use of the correspondence between Berlioz and his family and friends to the point where you almost feel yourself to be a friend or family member. You get inside the young composer's mind as he tries to convince his parents that his desire to write music is not just a "whim", but something that he is absolutely passionate about and must do. Berlioz was also extremely sensitive and romantic. After seeing the English actress Harriet Smithson perform on stage in several works by Shakespeare he developed an obsessive love for her, even though he had never met her. He had an apartment across the street from where she lived and would longingly watch her comings and goings. He eventually wrote her several notes expressing his feelings but she rebuffed him, quite understandably one would think! (She had also heard a rumor, which was untrue, that he was an epileptic.) Shortly after coming to the realization that Smithson was unattainable Berlioz met the virtuoso pianist Camille Moke and they fell in love with each other and eventually got engaged. Alas, when poor Hector had to go to Rome to live in order to receive grant money from winning the Prix de Rome, Camille dumped him and opted for security by marrying a wealthy man. This soured Hector on women for awhile but did not diminish his love for music, nature and life. Mr. Cairns has been a professional music critic and is also a scholar, so he understands and ably explains the technical aspects of Berlioz's music. I was totally lost in these sections but my ignorance did not diminish my enjoyment of this sympathetic and wonderfully written book.

Franz Liszt: The Virtuoso Years, 1811-1847, Vol. 1 (Franz Liszt)

Average customer rating:

The definitive Franz Liszt -- all 3 of the volumes!
Superb accomplishment - enlightening
Great Biography Of The World's First Rock Star
10 stars for this phenomenal achievement
Perfection is here!!

Franz Liszt: The Virtuoso Years, 1811-1847, Vol. 1 (Franz Liszt)
Alan Walker
Manufacturer: Cornell University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0801494214

Customer Reviews:

The definitive Franz Liszt -- all 3 of the volumes! .......2007-05-09

This will probably be one of my shorter reviews [A sudden shout: "Yeah, right Doc!"] because I can quickly cut to the chase, to wit, Dr. Alan Walker has produced in this painstakingly researched 3 volume biography [spread out over 25 years during the research] with this 1811-1847 book being the first in that series, the 'definitive' Franz Liszt! This trilogy is a must read for those interested in Liszt and, IMO, is not only the definitive Liszt from "the" acknowledged authority and foremost Franz Liszt scholar but a decided asset to the Liszt biographical literature per se.

Two more comments: Watch the Amazon vendor prices for the 'hardcover' editions! Originally, these were rather pricey books in hardcover [although well worth it! Knopf quality!] but I was able to get 'used' albeit literally mint hardcover editions of the 3 volumes from 3 separate Amazon vendors. What's that? Sure! The original harcover editions were, in order of publication, $25.00, $39.95 and $45.00. I'll generally check out the hardcover offerings over the paperback editions in most of my books and sometimes there are some really exceptional buys out there although if it's a choice between 'good' and 'very good' pay the few dollars extra for the 'very good' or 'like new' grade notations.

Finally, check out among other of Dr. Walker's tomes on Franz Liszt, "The Death of Franz Liszt: Based on the Unpublished Diary of his Pupil Lina Schmalhausen" which is quite an eye-opener with regard to the "treatment" [or lack of same therein] of Liszt prior to his demise. As I said when I reveiewed that book, I trust the source of the diary find as well as the findings and its editing, annotations and examination via Dr. Walker as to the veracity of the Schmalhausen remarks. I quoted the remarks of the conductor, Felix Weingartner, who was 'there' at the time and his own observations [et al] lend credence to the Schmalhausen diary.

So too, and if finances permit and you want Franz Liszt a la mode, get the 3 volumes in one swoop plus the Lina Schmalhausen diary book which was edited and annotated by Dr. Walker in re the death of Liszt and finally, putting it all together, the 2005 published Dr. Alan Walker 'capstone', if you will, "Reflections on Liszt." See my reviews on those two tomes as well.

Doc Tony

What's that? Why not! Doc Walker with a straight white haired wig resurrecting Steve Allen's "Meeting of Minds" and doing the one and only "F. Liszt" as a sort of latter day counter-balance to Victor Borge's 'interpretation' so to speak in that classic Mike Wallace skit! Who better than Doc Walker to play Liszt and concurrently know what he's talking about! Ahhhh! That's the rather cogent difference!

A sudden voice: "What about Doc Walker's Chopin and Schumann tomes?" Fine! They could be played next! ;-) [as I place much trust in Dr. Walker's sense of humor! But the obvious compliment of his research is clearly evident!]

Superb accomplishment - enlightening.......2007-04-11

As a music student in the 70's the subtext when discussing Franz Liszt was that he was a showman who leaned on his empty virtuosity. Chopin, Mendelssohn, and Schumann on the other hand, were the true romantic artists.

It's taken me over 35 years of studying piano and music to get to the point where I would read this wonderful biography of Liszt, and my eyes have been opened even wider about the wonderful artistic character of Liszt and his completely indespensible role in 19th century music.

This book (I have all three) is a wonderful read, at some times it is "laugh out loud" funny, and is filled with musical examples that perfectly illustrate the points that Mr. Walker makes.

If you are a musician interested in the piano, or the Romantic period, you owe it to yourself to let the scales fall from your eyes, and read this enlightening exposition.

Great Biography Of The World's First Rock Star.......2006-08-15

Alan Walker deserves 5 enthusiastic stars for making his life's purpose the writing of Franz Liszt's definitive biography, and succeeding nearly as well as humanly possible considering the availability of the always-emerging Liszt materials throughout the years. For me, I would have liked to have seen an even more musically-oriented life of Liszt. More than a few times, Walker mentions that eyewitness accounts exist of important concerts, only to refer us in a footnote to some person's diary (probably only available in some Transylvanian dialect if you could ever find it) rather than telling us about it himself. Meanwhile we're treated to almost painfully detailed renderings of Franz's love life with Marie D'Agoult and the many domestic dramas which haunted him as his pursued his life on the concert trail... but these are minor quibbles. The book is great, no doubt about it. Poor Liszt, he was the busiest piano virtuoso in history at that time, traveling in various carriages and carts across thousands of miles of potholed roads where he was jolted mercilessly and endured illness, exhaustion, rain, mud, snow and ice while he raced to his next gig. He was literally thrown to the ground violently at least twice, when wheels dipped into ditches or the drivers fell asleep and the whole carriage overturned. (It's sad and sobering to realize that this is exactly how the original bassist for the rock group Metallica, Cliff Burton, was killed more than 150 years later on a lonely road in Sweden. He was sleeping on the band's tour bus when it overturned. In a similar accident, singer Gloria Estefan was lucky to escape with her life.) Somehow, despite these gritty and dangerous travel conditions, Liszt performed a grueling succession of mostly triumphant concerts everywhere from Italy to Scotland to Russia before he decided he had been bounced around quite enough thank you, and settled down to compose and teach in Weimar, where Volume two of this epic biography begins. Towards the end of Volume 1, I began to feel as if author Walker's spark was fading slightly. And lo and behold, as I began reading Volume 2, I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the intervening years in which the author was researching the next installment had allowed him to completely recharge his batteries, and present part 2 to the public with a fully-renewed sense of brilliance, wit, and passion for his subject matter. Highly recommended reading for biography buffs interested in great musicians and composers!

10 stars for this phenomenal achievement.......2006-07-29

This is simply the standard of Liszt biography. The fact that Alan Walker researched enough to fill three volumes is an achievement enough, but you know what else makes this biography so good? It's fun to read. Without a doubt, anyone interested in Liszt will find anecdotes, insights, illuminated facts, and even musical analysis of the most colorful and exciting character in classical music: Franz Liszt.

I've read this book twice, actually, and the second time was even more enjoyable. This owes to many things: Alan Walker's superb writing style, eloquent organization (gives the pedantics many footnotes to absorb at the bottom of the page) and a fine cohesion of thoughts and ideas put into each chapter. Sometimes I can't help but enjoy the biography as I would a novel. Yet Walker does not write it like a novel and clearly sets out to chronicle Liszt's life from his youth all the way to his retiring from the concert stage. In between these pivotal times, Walker manages to debunk myths, explore Liszt's underrated music from his virtuoso days, and examine other characters who interacted with the Hungarian composer. Walker is always focused on Liszt but never detracts by discussing Clara and Robert Schumann's reactions, or Sigismond Thalberg, Chopin and even Alkan. Walker depicts their perspective of Liszt and goes on to explain why there were so many misunderstandings.

Stories of Liszt's true meeting with Beethoven, his exciting romance with Marie D'Agoult, the duel with Thalberg, his generous nature to play for charity, and so many enticing stories of his concert days all help to shed light on what a remarkable man Liszt was, and at such a young age, too. The whole book is an exquisite panorama of Liszt's character, detailed through his letters, his travels, his music, and his legacy as researched by the author. What Walker has done is set the standard for the way Liszt should be viewed in the history books. For so long, musicologists were almost feeding us false information. From the really low ones we were even getting propaganda that he was a womanizer, a cheat, some kind of vulgar pianist, and even a fraud. Walker candidly mauls those old and incorrect views into the dust; he explores and accurately dispels the myths and ignorance that so many people harbored and still harbor for him, and for that I feel thankful.

Never have I read a biography twice like this and found the second reading even more engrossing. There is never a dull moment, never a chapter that slows down. To be fair, the only chapter that was uninteresting was the prologue and biographical information of Liszt's family. Despite that, once you're absorbed into Liszt's young world with Czerny, his move to Paris, and his tours all over Europe, it's like being on a rollercoaster ride during the whole book.

Bottom line: Liszt lovers must read this book; it's the best wealth of knowledge to get on the young Franz Liszt and it is written in a way that doesn't just educate, but also entertains. Highly recommended.

Perfection is here!!.......2003-06-03

I don't need a thousand words to express my admiration for the deepness of this Liszt's biography by Alan Walker. The research evolved unto these should have been formidable. The unique comparison for such a work of 30 years of research is the Work of Liszt itself. We cannot immagine how Alan Walker got all these informations, he seemed to really know what Liszt made all days in his life.
In a word: Incredible !!! Get it!

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Selected Letters of Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner , Stewart Spencer , and Barry Millington
Manufacturer: W W Norton & Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Aspects of Wagner (Oxford Paperbacks)

ASIN: 0393025004

Puccini: His Life and Works (Master Musicians Series)

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An excellent Musical Bio.

Puccini: His Life and Works (Master Musicians Series)
Julian Budden
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0198164688

Book Description

Julian Budden, one of the world's foremost scholars of Italian opera and author of a monumental three-volume study of Verdi's works, now offers music lovers a major new biography of one of the giants of Italian opera, Giacomo Puccini. Blending astute musical analysis with a colorful account of Puccini's life, here is an illuminating look at some of the most popular operas in the repertoire, including Manon Lescaut, La Boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot. Budden provides an illuminating look at the process of putting an opera together, the cut-and-slash of nineteenth-century Italian opera--the struggle to find the right performers for the debut of La Boheme, Puccini's anxiety about completing Turandot (he in fact died of cancer before he did so), his animosity toward his rival Leoncavallo (whom he called Leonasino or "lion-ass"). Budden provides an informative analysis of the operas themselves, examining the music act by act. He highlights, among other things, the influence of Wagner on Puccini--alone among his Italian contemporaries, Puccini followed Wagner's example in bringing the motif into the forefront of his narrative, sometimes voicing the singer's unexpressed thoughts, sometimes sending out a signal to the audience of which the character is unaware. And Budden also paints an intriguing portrait of Puccini the man--talented but modest, a man who had friends from every walk of life: shopkeepers, priests, wealthy landowners, fellow artists. Affable, well mannered, gifted with a broad sense of fun, he rarely failed to charm all who met him. A new volume in the esteemed Master Musicians series, Puccini offers a masterful portrait of this beloved Italian composer.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent Musical Bio........2006-04-01

Having read nearly all of the books on Puccini, I feel at least competent to evaluate them. The one that moved Puccini to the level of "worth a book" was Mosco Carner's 1959 book, Puccini, a Critical Biography. The information given was fairly accurate for what was known then. The main fault was the continuing"character analyisis" of the composer. In the 60's Wm. Ashbrook wrote a book on the operas. It too is accurate in presenting many new and interesting facts as well as fasitnating interpretations.In addition it is very well written. Since then there have been a number of other books on the composer and his operas. Of the latest two; Budden and Matz, I must choose Budden. Before discussing Budden's merits, I should say that Matz's book is an excellent chronicle of Puccini's life and filled with anecdotes and interesting facts.It is an entertaining read. The basic problem,for me, is it pretty well leaves the music alone. While Puccini's life is certainly interesting, his music is what is most important, at least for me. Budden's book does a fine job of combining Puccini's life and discussing the music. He writes most effectively about the operas. Their creation struggles. Their multipule revisions. The facts are accurate and presented clearly. He writes with a clarity about music that is both refreshing and rare. There is one other book on Puccini I would like to mention and that is a very expensive one [why??] published by Chicago University and written by Michael Girardi. It presents a most original view of the operas but it is not easy to read. It is stimulating. I hope this helps you decide.
Thanks;
Paul Zappa

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Notes of an American Original

Notes of a Pianist
Louis Moreau Gottschalk
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0691127166

Book Description

Notes of a Pianist chronicles the life of one of the most remarkable musical minds of the American experience, the great nineteenth-century New Orleans-born composer and pianist Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869). An important cultural and historical work, the book recounts Gottschalk's experiences as he traveled and performed throughout the last decade of his life.

Born to an English-Jewish father and a Haitian mother, Gottschalk is remembered as one of the great New Orleans musicians and composers, his music a combination of the classical tradition in which he was trained, and the New Orleans tradition into which he was born. His art form took him far outside the boundaries of Louisiana, however. While still a child, he studied piano in Paris and gave a concert at the Salle Pleyel, after which Frédéric Chopin is said to have remarked: "Give me your hand, my child; I predict that you will become the king of pianists." Gottschalk returned to the United States in 1853, and later lived in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Panama, and South America, during which time he kept-sometimes sporadically, sometimes daily--the notebooks that formed the basis of Notes of a Pianist.

Published for the first time in 1881, the book continues to resonate with American cultural and musical life. Notes of a Pianist demonstrates Gottschalk's importance not only as a reporter of the musical life and tastes of Americans during the Civil War, but also as a forefather of Louisiana's rich musical culture.

Customer Reviews:

Notes of an American Original.......2006-06-23

Louis Moreau Gottschalk was sometimes called the American Chopin, or the Chopin of the Creoles. He wasn't. His music, mostly piano pieces, is by turns jovial, stormy, sentimental, or lachrymose, and is a surprising blend of European, African-American, and Latin music, with plenty of quotations from American national ballads thrown in. It isn't superficial, but its appeal is frank and obvious, which is perhaps why he isn't heard often these days. If his works are absent from concert performances now, they can easily be found in recordings, and they are worth listening to. His pieces were enormously popular at the time around the Civil War. People bought his sheet music if they could not hear him. To hear him, they often did not have to go far out of their way, because Gottschalk traveled all over to give solo concerts or to organize concerts by others (sometimes Monster Concerts of 650 musicians). He was wildly popular, mostly because he worked hard to be, but he caught on as a matinee idol. It would be wonderful to hear him play; even those who objected to his compositions were amazed by his proficiency at the piano, and caricatures of him playing show hundreds of fingers flying over the keys. We can't hear him play, but we can read what he had to say about playing and about the life of a nineteenth century musical superstar in his collection of notes, diary entries, and articles that was first published eleven years after his death in 1869 and is now back in print. _Notes of a Pianist: The Chronicles of a New Orleans Music Legend_ (Princeton University Press) is a delightful book. Gottschalk was masterful with words as well as with musical notes.

Gottschalk has given a funny and lively account of the travails of being an artist on the road (or rail or sea) even during war years; there are happy and frustrating encounters with the public, and stories of pleasure in performing well or doing good. He is a great complainer, often about people he sees or performs for. Another target is the pianos he has to put up with; in Panama, "The audience appears to be charmed, while I am playing on a cottage piano that I suspect was the product of an illicit union between a jew's-harp and a large kettle." But this is not the account of a peevish man; more than once he says of an annoyance something like "These things are amusing and break the monotony of our existence." He also has many times to report that in a certain concert every piece was encored, that the crowd was enthusiastic, that he has been given jeweled laurels, or a bouquet "not less than four feet in circumference." He is amused by misprints on his own playbills, and by newspaper reports of his death. "I wish to speak of my death. This sad event took place at Santiago three months ago. I was carried off in three days by a frightful attack of black vomit; it is the newspaper _Savana la Grande_ that tells it; but the _Revue de Villa Clara_, without doubt better informed, makes me succumb to an aneurism of the heart, which I much prefer, the aneurism being much more poetical than the black vomit."

A journal is a perfect place for an author to record the foibles of others and of himself, but readers will find here remarkable descriptions of such problems as using the train during a time of war and having to share it with Union soldiers who are wounded or who are boisterously rude. Embarking for Norfolk, he has to pledge an oath of allegiance to the government. He was at sea off Acapulco when the captain of another steamer boarded with news, "... words like thunderbolts: 'Richmond is taken,' 'Lee has surrendered,' 'Lincoln has been assassinated'." He had personally played for the president years before, noting, "Lincoln is remarkably ugly, but has an intelligent air, and his eyes have a remarkable expression of goodness and mildness." He reports from the middle of a battle for Lima in a revolt in 1865. Gottschalk had an amazing life, generously shared here in one amusing and surprising page after another. He possessed enormous talents to entertain, within the concert hall and on the printed page. If you don't know his music, read his book, and then listen to, say, the merry and moving symphonic _A Night in the Tropics_. I think you'll be hooked.

Crossing Paths: Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms

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Great topic, but know your music theory!

Crossing Paths: Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms
John Daverio
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195132963

Book Description

In Crossing Paths, John Daverio explores the connections between art and life in the works of three giants of musical romanticism. Drawing on contemporary critical theory and a wide variety of nineteenth-century sources, he considers topics including Schubert and Schumann's uncanny ability to evoke memory in music, the supposed cryptographic practices of Schumann and Brahms, and the allure of the Hungarian Gypsy style for Brahms and others in the Schumann circle. The book offers a fresh perspective on the music of these composers, including a comprehensive discussion of the 19th century practice of cryptography, a debunking of the myth that Schumann and Brahms planted codes for "Clara Schumann" throughout their works, and attention to the late works of Schumann not as evidence of the composer's descent into madness but as inspiration for his successors. Daverio portrays the book's three key players as musical storytellers, each in his own way simulating the structure of lived experience in works of art. As an intimate study of three composers that combines cultural history and literary criticism with deep musicological understanding, Crossing Paths is a rich exploration of memory, the re-creation of artistic tradition, and the value of artistic influence.

Customer Reviews:

Great topic, but know your music theory!.......2004-08-30

Crossing Paths deals with the confluence of three of the greatest composers of the nineteenth century, and the influence they had on each other. The interactions are absolutely fascinating. I am a decent amateur pianist and know a moderate amount of music theory. In places, this book went past my level of understanding. Nonetheless, I could glean the broad outlines, and was still able to appreciate the combined influences evident in the music of these three composers. The discussion of whether or not Brahms and Robert Schumann used code in the music to honor Clara was interesting. A lot of time was spent on the musical relationship between Brahms and the Hungarian violinist Joachim--not part of the title, but certainly another important "crossing path". However, if one does not have a pretty solid background in musicology and music theory, I would be somewhat hesitant to recommend the book. If you have such a background, and love Romantic music, you will likely enjoy it very much.

Gustav Mahler : Vienna : The Years of Challenge (1897-1904)

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More for reference than reading or understanding.
As close as you canget to getting to know the REAL Mahler

Gustav Mahler : Vienna : The Years of Challenge (1897-1904)
Henry-Louis De La Grange
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0193151596

Book Description

Gustav Mahler was one of the supremely gifted musicians of his generation. His contemporaries came to know him as a composer of startling originality whose greatest successes with the public never failed to provoke controversy among the critics. As a conductor, his relentless pursuit of perfection was sometimes viewed as tyrannical by the singers and musicians who came under his baton. Professor Henry-Louis de La Grange has devoted over thirty years of painstaking resarch to this study of Mahler's life and works. His biography, ultimately to be completed in four volumes, is drawn from a vast archive of documents, autographs, and pictures, assembled by La Grange at the Bibliotheque Musicale Gustav Mahler, Paris. This second volume covers the years 1897-1904, when the focus shifts to Vienna. It opens with Mahler's triumphant debut as director of the Vienna Court Opera, and follows with the revolution he wrought there in standards of performance and, with the Secession painter Alfred Roller, in scenic representation. An account is also given of Mahler's story and brief engagement as conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic Concerts, following Richter's resignation in 1989. La Grange depicts the brilliant society of pre-war Vienna, then the centre of the intellectual and artistic world; the extraordinary range of artists among whom Mahler lived and worked included the composers Dvorak, Gustave Charpentier, Richard Strauss, Zemlinsky, and Schoenberg and his two disciples, Berg and Webern; the painters architects and decorators of the Secession with Klmit at their head; the writers Hauptmann, Dehmel, Hofmannsthal, and Schnitzler. There he also met Alma Schindler, 'the most beautiful woman in Vienna', and La Grange tells the story of their engagement and marriage in 1902 and the early years of their tempestuous relationship. As his fame spread throughout Europe, Mahler travelled with his music to Germany, Russia, Holland, Poland, and Belguim, meeting many other leading musicians of his day, including Pfitzner, Mengelberg, Diepenbrock, Oskar Fried, and many others. During this period Mahler wrote some of his best-loved works, including the fourth and Fifth Symphonies, and the three orchestral song-cyles and collections - the Wunderhorn -, Ruckert-, and Kindertotenlieder. For each of these works La Grange provides full notes and analytical descriptions. Scrupulously researched, richly documented, this is a study worthy of the extraordinary artistic achievement of Gustav Mahler's Vienna years.

Customer Reviews:

More for reference than reading or understanding........2001-10-11

.
This is not biography in its best form.

De La Grange has done us a service by compiling a very detailed but largely chronological history of the events of Mahler's life. You'll find a largely blow-by-blow description of his life: compositional struggles; arguments with cast members, managers, and officials; correspondence with friends and colleagues; listings of cast members in the opera performances he conducted; reviews of his performances by the various publications; health problems, etc. The detail is extremely valuable.

However, De La Grange falls short because he rarely steps back from the detail in order to find the larger themes in Mahler's life, and he leaves that effort to the reader. This is asking too much: this is a projected four volume biography, and it will probably be well over 3,500 pages before it's done.

I imagine it will take a later biographer to come along and sift through all that De La Grange has delivered in order to write a more informative biography.

I have an additional issue with an editorial decision that's been made here. The first volume was published in the 1970's, by another publisher. Oxford has not re-published it, but will publish a second edition of the first volume when the fourth volume is published. They have styarted with the 2nd volume rather than the 1st, out of deference to those who might still have the 1st volume. Fair enough. But the footnotes that refer to content in the 1st volume only refer to chapters, not specific pages, and are thus incomplete. Perhaps the reasoning behind this is because the original 1st volume will be superceded by the 2nd edition 1st volume, and they don't want to be specific to something they imagine will be obsolete. However, at the current rate it could well be 5-10 years before that 2nd edition 1st volume is out. Will Oxford then ask readers to buy a 2nd edition 2nd volume that has page numbers in the footnotes? (The whole idea sounds like very little deference to those who might have the original 1st volume.)

As close as you canget to getting to know the REAL Mahler.......1997-09-08

This is the Classic Mahler biography by the major Mahler scholar, Henry ouis de La Grange. Though this only covers the middle years, de La Grange's excellent use of primary sources let us learn first hand what Mahler was like as a musician, conductor, and human being. No other Mahler biography is so erudite and completely non-judgemental

Franz Liszt: The Weimar Years, 1848-1861

Average customer rating:

Attention all Lisztians
Attention all Lisztians
Fantastic Source about a Fantastic Man.

Franz Liszt: The Weimar Years, 1848-1861
Alan Walker
Manufacturer: Cornell University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0801497213

Customer Reviews:

Attention all Lisztians.......2002-11-27

If you are a Lisztomaniac, this is for you. It is a book that is very difficult to put down. Liszt's life reads better than a novel, and Walker's narrative flows superbly. He has investigated every biographical avenue and brings the Weimar of the 1800's to life.

On the negative side: There are copious footnotes, which often stray off the subject, whilst others belong to the main text from which they divert. As the book is meant to be a work of scholarship, the amount of opinion and speculation which peppers the book is also rather annoying. One has to be very cautious in separating Walker's own views from the first-class academic research that he has done.

Nonetheless as this book covers the most prolific period of the composer's life, you can do no better than read Walker's account to dicover just who Liszt was, his importance to musical history and the enigma of the man himself.

Attention all Lisztians.......2002-11-27

Fantastic Source about a Fantastic Man........2000-01-04

I have been a great fan of Franz Liszt for quite some time, and Alan Walker brought the composer to life in his trilogy of books about the famed musician.

This volume goes into great detail about Liszt's life after he decided to end his life as a virtuoso, and become a composer. His love for Princess Carolyne became apparent in his music, and in his interactions with others.

Book Description

The popularity of Mahler's symphonic works is unremitting. More recordings have been made during the past ten years than in the previous six decades. This work is a companion to the first volume, published in 1986; together, the two review virtually every recording commercially released (as well as some private issues). The intention of both works is to provide a comprehensive analysis of all recordings. A general overview is combined with details of particular importance. Recordings of special merit are noted. The objective critical discussions will appeal to the newcomer as well as the knowledgeable devotee and the work will serve as a valuable addition to university, music school, and public libraries, as well as any music lover's library. This guide provides a symphony-by-symphony commentary, including the unfinished Tenth Symphony, Das Lied von der Erde, and piano and chamber music reductions of the works. It includes all new recordings issued worldwide as well as compact disc reissues of previously released recordings and all performances on videocassette. Listings are arranged alphabetically by conductor, and headings for each recording contain specific information about the performers, record label, catalog number, and timing. Helpful indexes by conductor, orchestra, vocal and instrumental soloists, chorus, and record label are included.

Average customer rating:

Too Concise, Dry and Dull
too short for such a major musical figure
Depressed Composer

The Life of Debussy (Musical Lives)
Roger Nichols
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521578876

Book Description

The early music of Claude Debussy was influenced by the work of Wagner, for whom he had great admiration. However, soon Debussy's music became more experimental and individualistic, as is clear in his first mature work Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. Debussy quickly moved away from traditional techniques and produced the pictures in sound that led his work to be described as "musical Impressionism." This new biography--the first in English in 30 years--offers new insights into the life of this enigmatic composer, revealing a figure more seminal and revolutionary than previously thought.

Customer Reviews:

Too Concise, Dry and Dull.......2003-10-20

This is unfortunately, a 'too' concise biography of Debussy which never really gives a sense of what the man was like, or the impact of his music on the twentieth century. A disappointment after a good experience with another book in the Cambridge music series.

too short for such a major musical figure.......2001-01-14

It is unfortunate that there is not more available on Debussy in English. This book, at only 167 pages (including pictures) hardly does him justice. Because it is so short, the book jumps from topic to topic at an alarming pace, hardly giving any details. The author's convoluted writing style does not help matters either. Unlike many other musical (or otherwise) biographies I've read, this one did not leave me satisfied. Hopefully the out-of-print book department will have something more complete on Debussy.

Depressed Composer.......2000-06-30

C. Debussy seems to have led a tortured and beleaguered life. His ideas regarding music were in conflict with the French music establishment. This created problems for him both professionally and personally. Financially, he struggled all of his life. Coming from rather humble beginnings, C. Debussy had a particular vision of music early in his career. He was blunt and identified with the impressionistic painters as well as the symbolist poets. These artists were to become popular much later. Debussy died young at the age of 55 of cancer. This biography is a little choppy in it writing style, but it does offer many examples of his ideas on many subjects.

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