The Lives Of The Great Composers

The author of this work traces the consecutive line of composers from Monteverdi to the tonalists of the 1990s through a series of biographical chapters. Music is shown as a continually evolving art, with no geniuses, however great, escaping the influence of their predecessors. The great composers are presented as human beings who lived in and related to the real world. Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Verdi, Wagner, Mahler and others are included, their lives woven together in detail and anecdote. This new edition extends the book's coverage to later composers.