The Chronicle of Classical Music: An Intimate Diary of the Lives and Music of the Great Composers Book

Listening to great music--its seemingly effortless flight, its emotional power--you might imagine that musicians are somehow beyond the fears and banalities of ordinary life. The truth is that the music is often painfully wrought from lives full of worldly ambitions and anxieties, friendships and rivalries, employers and families, acclaim and failure. The Chronicle of Classical Music takes the form of a chronological diary from 1600 to the present. It leads the reader through the centuries, year by year, following the musicians' overlapping and interweaving lives. The composers' own worlds, public and private, spring to life in extracts from contemporary letters and journals, and in hundreds of illustrations, many in full color: paintings and drawings, cartoons, posters, photographs, scores, and documents. An informative introduction traces the history of music before 1600. Carefully cross-referenced with the chronological data is a series of special features that discuss in fascinating detail the key works, influences on musical form and performance, centers of musical energy, the changing working conditions and status of musicians, and the development of instruments. A companion chronology introduces the wider context of important historical and artistic events. The reference section includes biographies, a glossary of technical words, charts summarizing the history of music and the development of instruments, and a guide to the top CDs and performers. Here is the history of classical music presented in an entirely new way that is accessible, vivid, and multidimensional--an essential book for all those who are interested in classical music and its composers. 388 illustrations, 160 in color.