by Françoise Tillard (1996)
Fanny Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1805-1847), like her younger brother Felix, demonstrated prodigious musical talent as a child. In their youth, Fanny and Felix were inseparable friends; they encouraged each other, collaborated in musical endeavors, and received the same education and training from distinguished tutors. But as an adolescent, Fanny was told by her father that her role as a woman was to concern herself with her home and that music could be only secondary, even though she had become a remarkable pianist and composer. She married Wilhelm Hensel, a respected portrait painter who encouraged her musical talents. Fulfilling her domestic role as wife and as mother of their son, Sebastian, she continued to compose - principally lieder - and to organize concerts in her home that became an integral part of the Berlin musical scene. Her talents were warmly received during a journey to Italy, particularly by Gounod, who heard her play from memory the music of Bach, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn. At forty years of age Fanny finally went against the orders of her father and of Felix and published her compositions. She had just begun to receive critical praise when she died suddenly at the age of forty-two. Her death was a devastating blow to Felix, who survived her by barely six months. This book, originally published in French in 1992, is the first and only authoritative biography of Fanny Mendelssohn and contains a complete list of her published compositions. Set against the backdrop of a privileged life in Berlin in the early nineteenth century, Francoise Tillard's vivid portrait describes an exceptional artist - she left behind four hundred works - who could have held her own among the greatest if she had not been prohibited from venturing into the professional world.
Harrison Gradwell Slater
"Stranded in Milan by a train strike, a down-on-his-luck music scholar finds a mysterious document. Could it be the diary Mozart kept when he was an adolescent, traveling through Europe with his father? If authentic, the diary could catapult Matthew Pierce into wealth and fame."--Jacket.
Dominique Dreyfus
"Biographical study based on the author's personal contact with composer and performer Luiz Gonzaga (1912-89), as well as on testimonies from the composer himself. While focusing on Gonzaga's career, the book also offers valuable information for the student interested in the history of Brazilian popular music (see also item #bi 97015188#). Includes no bibliography or index, but provides an excellent discography and a list of Gonzaga's compositions"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.
H. C. Robbins Landon
A biography of the eighteenth-century Austrian composer responsible for the creation of the modern orchestra and numerous advances in musical techniques.
Carolyn Gianturco
Alessandro Stradella was one of the most important composers of seventeenth-century Italy, contributing significant works to almost every contemporary genre. However, his precise position within the Italian musical baroque has never been properly evaluated, while his biography has long been enshrouded in myth and legend, following his murder in Genoa in 1682. This book is the definitive life and works study of this crucially important composer. The biographical section is the result of extensive documentary research over many years, and presents a clear account of Stradella's career and colorful personal life in all the cities where he lived--Rome, Venice, Turin, and Genoa--as well as information on his patrons and the poets whose words he set. The musical discussion offers a clear exposition of Stradella's 308 extant compositions, illustrated with nearly fifty music examples.