Piano Forum
Piano Board => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: piglet on October 24, 2003, 03:58:05 PM
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It's somewhat difficult to purchase books through internet for you can't have a look inside. Of course even that wouldn't always help.
So which biographies (of composers) you know are the most reliable and well written? What would you recommend?
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Mozart, by Jean and Brigitte Massin is fantastic, though I'm not sure it's available in english
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hmmm.. chopin biographies...
By James Huneker https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=4939
By Frederic Niecks.
https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=4973
By Franz Liszt
https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=4386
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It's somewhat difficult to purchase books through internet for you can't have a look inside. Of course even that wouldn't always help.
So which biographies (of composers) you know are the most reliable and well written? What would you recommend?
Two of my favorite writers are Maynard Solomon and Alan Walker. The former writes on Mozart, Beethoven and Schuber, and the latter entirely on Liszt.
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Two of my favorite writers are Maynard Solomon and Alan Walker. The former writes on Mozart, Beethoven and Schuber, and the latter entirely on Liszt.
Alan Walker's three volume biography of Liszt (published in the late '80s) is the most comprehensive.
No one has yet improved on Thayer's Life of Beethoven.
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Alan Walker's three volume biography of Liszt (published in the late '80s) is the most comprehensive.
No one has yet improved on Thayer's Life of Beethoven.
The Thayer is indeed, wonderful, but I enjoy reading the psychological aspects that Solomon brings to the table. And he cracked the Immortal Beloved mystery. Both writers, incidentally, are consumate gentleman, passionately devoted to their pursuits, and just all around nice people.
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I did not enjoy liszt's book on chopin. But the rubinstein autobiographies are the best.
boliver
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Biographies of the great composers:
In addition to what has already been suggested.
Harold Schoenberg (who wrote “The Great Pianists”) also wrote “The Great Composers”, which is every bit as interesting and entertaining. It is a good general introduction.
J. S. Bach: The true life of J. S. Bach by Klaus Eidam (if you like controversial books this is for you. I really enjoyed it! ;))
Bach: The learned musician by Christoph Wolff (Probably the most up to date biography of Bach).
Scarlatti, by Ralph Kirkpatrick. (The essential book on Scarlatti, but may be difficult to find – I think it may be out of print. Kirkpatrick is a well known harpsichordist and it is a result of his research that Scarllati sonatas have a “K” number).
Chopin, by Jim Samson. (Jim Samson has written extensively on Chopin and his works).
Robert Schumann: Herald of a new poetic age, by John Daverio.
Edvard Grieg, The Man and the Artist, by Finn Benestad and Dag Schjelderup-Ebbe (Considered the definitive work on Grieg).
Best wishes,
Bernhard ;D