Author: Howard Jay Smith
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780692087053
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 382
Book Description
Second Edition. A daring, compelling, and impeccably researched historical novel that offers dramatic new insight into the life of the greatest composer the world has ever known. Its fresh perspective and deeply felt understanding of Beethoven's motivations, passions, and challenges speak eloquently to us today, connecting us to our own successes, failures, and dreams, and ultimately to the true consequence of our lives. At the moment of his death on a snowy afternoon in March, 1827, Ludwig van Beethoven pleads with Providence to grant him a final wish¿one day, just a single day of pure joy. But first he must confront the many failings in his life, so the great composer and exceedingly complex man begins an odyssey into the netherworld of his past life. As he struggles to confront its ugliness, we encounter the women who loved and inspired him. In their own voices, we discover their Beethoven¿a lover with whom they savor the profound beauty and passion of his creations. And it¿s in the arms of his beloveds that he comes to terms with the meaning of his life and experiences the moment of true joy he has always sought.
Beethoven in Love; Opus 139
Author: Howard Jay Smith
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780692087053
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 382
Book Description
Second Edition. A daring, compelling, and impeccably researched historical novel that offers dramatic new insight into the life of the greatest composer the world has ever known. Its fresh perspective and deeply felt understanding of Beethoven's motivations, passions, and challenges speak eloquently to us today, connecting us to our own successes, failures, and dreams, and ultimately to the true consequence of our lives. At the moment of his death on a snowy afternoon in March, 1827, Ludwig van Beethoven pleads with Providence to grant him a final wish¿one day, just a single day of pure joy. But first he must confront the many failings in his life, so the great composer and exceedingly complex man begins an odyssey into the netherworld of his past life. As he struggles to confront its ugliness, we encounter the women who loved and inspired him. In their own voices, we discover their Beethoven¿a lover with whom they savor the profound beauty and passion of his creations. And it¿s in the arms of his beloveds that he comes to terms with the meaning of his life and experiences the moment of true joy he has always sought.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780692087053
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 382
Book Description
Second Edition. A daring, compelling, and impeccably researched historical novel that offers dramatic new insight into the life of the greatest composer the world has ever known. Its fresh perspective and deeply felt understanding of Beethoven's motivations, passions, and challenges speak eloquently to us today, connecting us to our own successes, failures, and dreams, and ultimately to the true consequence of our lives. At the moment of his death on a snowy afternoon in March, 1827, Ludwig van Beethoven pleads with Providence to grant him a final wish¿one day, just a single day of pure joy. But first he must confront the many failings in his life, so the great composer and exceedingly complex man begins an odyssey into the netherworld of his past life. As he struggles to confront its ugliness, we encounter the women who loved and inspired him. In their own voices, we discover their Beethoven¿a lover with whom they savor the profound beauty and passion of his creations. And it¿s in the arms of his beloveds that he comes to terms with the meaning of his life and experiences the moment of true joy he has always sought.
Street Corner Dreams
Author: Florence Reiss Kraut
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1647425921
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 240
Book Description
A suspenseful family saga, love story, and gangster tale, wrapped into one great book club read . . . Just before WWI, Golda comes to America yearning for independence, but she tosses aside her dreams of freedom and marries her widowed brother-in-law after her sister dies giving birth to their son, Morty. In the crowded streets of Brooklyn where Jewish and Italian gangs demand protection money from local storekeepers and entice youngsters with the promise of wealth, Golda, Ben, and Morty thrive as a family. But in the Depression, Ben, faced with financial ruin, makes a dangerous, life-altering choice. Morty tries to save his father by getting help from a gangster friend but the situation only worsens. Forced to desert his family and the woman he loves in order to survive, Morty is desperate to go home. Will he ever find a safe way back? Or has his involvement with the gang sealed his fate? Another stunning work of historical fiction by Florence Reiss Kraut, Street Corner Dreams is an exploration of a timeless question: how much do we owe the families that have sacrificed for and shaped us—and does that debt outweigh what we owe ourselves and our own hopes and dreams for a better life?
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1647425921
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 240
Book Description
A suspenseful family saga, love story, and gangster tale, wrapped into one great book club read . . . Just before WWI, Golda comes to America yearning for independence, but she tosses aside her dreams of freedom and marries her widowed brother-in-law after her sister dies giving birth to their son, Morty. In the crowded streets of Brooklyn where Jewish and Italian gangs demand protection money from local storekeepers and entice youngsters with the promise of wealth, Golda, Ben, and Morty thrive as a family. But in the Depression, Ben, faced with financial ruin, makes a dangerous, life-altering choice. Morty tries to save his father by getting help from a gangster friend but the situation only worsens. Forced to desert his family and the woman he loves in order to survive, Morty is desperate to go home. Will he ever find a safe way back? Or has his involvement with the gang sealed his fate? Another stunning work of historical fiction by Florence Reiss Kraut, Street Corner Dreams is an exploration of a timeless question: how much do we owe the families that have sacrificed for and shaped us—and does that debt outweigh what we owe ourselves and our own hopes and dreams for a better life?
Beethoven: The Music and the Life
Author: Lewis Lockwood
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393326381
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 621
Book Description
Written for the general reader, this book reveals how Beethoven's great works reflect both his artistic individuality and the deepest philosophical and political currents of his age.
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393326381
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 621
Book Description
Written for the general reader, this book reveals how Beethoven's great works reflect both his artistic individuality and the deepest philosophical and political currents of his age.
Meeting Mozart
Author: Howard Jay Smith
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781950154388
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 432
Book Description
Meeting Mozart is a rich historical novel that spans generations and brings to light the incredible life story of Mozart's librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, a Jewish-born priest.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781950154388
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 432
Book Description
Meeting Mozart is a rich historical novel that spans generations and brings to light the incredible life story of Mozart's librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, a Jewish-born priest.
The Rest Is Noise
Author: Alex Ross
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 1429932880
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 706
Book Description
Winner of the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism A New York Times Book Review Top Ten Book of the Year Time magazine Top Ten Nonfiction Book of 2007 Newsweek Favorite Books of 2007 A Washington Post Book World Best Book of 2007 In this sweeping and dramatic narrative, Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker, weaves together the histories of the twentieth century and its music, from Vienna before the First World War to Paris in the twenties; from Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia to downtown New York in the sixties and seventies up to the present. Taking readers into the labyrinth of modern style, Ross draws revelatory connections between the century's most influential composers and the wider culture. The Rest Is Noise is an astonishing history of the twentieth century as told through its music.
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 1429932880
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 706
Book Description
Winner of the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism A New York Times Book Review Top Ten Book of the Year Time magazine Top Ten Nonfiction Book of 2007 Newsweek Favorite Books of 2007 A Washington Post Book World Best Book of 2007 In this sweeping and dramatic narrative, Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker, weaves together the histories of the twentieth century and its music, from Vienna before the First World War to Paris in the twenties; from Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia to downtown New York in the sixties and seventies up to the present. Taking readers into the labyrinth of modern style, Ross draws revelatory connections between the century's most influential composers and the wider culture. The Rest Is Noise is an astonishing history of the twentieth century as told through its music.
Night in Jerusalem
Author: Gaelle Lehrer Kennedy
Publisher: Pkz Incorporated
ISBN: 9780996559218
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 246
Book Description
A compelling story of forbidden love set against the backdrop of Israel's 1967 Six Day War. Tormented by his feeling of isolation, young British aristocrat David Bennett arrives in Jerusalem in 1967. His cousin Jonathan introduces him to his mentor, the chief rabbi of Jerusalem who presides over the orthodox community. Despite his resistance to engaging with "Reb Eli," David becomes captivated by the rebbe's charm and wisdom. When David discloses a sexual problem that he believes is ruining his life, Reb Eli arranges for him to visit a bordello run by Madame Aziza, a Jewess from Egypt with vast knowledge of what arouses the senses. Tamar, an enchanting and mysterious prostitute whom Madame Aziza introduces to David, creates shock waves through David's life and many others, in a reprise of an ancient biblical story. As passions rise, so does the Six Day War, one that alters the whole of the Middle East and the lives of everyone caught up in it.
Publisher: Pkz Incorporated
ISBN: 9780996559218
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 246
Book Description
A compelling story of forbidden love set against the backdrop of Israel's 1967 Six Day War. Tormented by his feeling of isolation, young British aristocrat David Bennett arrives in Jerusalem in 1967. His cousin Jonathan introduces him to his mentor, the chief rabbi of Jerusalem who presides over the orthodox community. Despite his resistance to engaging with "Reb Eli," David becomes captivated by the rebbe's charm and wisdom. When David discloses a sexual problem that he believes is ruining his life, Reb Eli arranges for him to visit a bordello run by Madame Aziza, a Jewess from Egypt with vast knowledge of what arouses the senses. Tamar, an enchanting and mysterious prostitute whom Madame Aziza introduces to David, creates shock waves through David's life and many others, in a reprise of an ancient biblical story. As passions rise, so does the Six Day War, one that alters the whole of the Middle East and the lives of everyone caught up in it.
Beethoven's Hair
Author: Russell Martin
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0767910818
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 290
Book Description
The basis for the movie of the same name, an astonishing tale of one lock of hair and its amazing travels--from nineteenth-century Vienna to twenty-first-century America. When Ludwig van Beethoven lay dying in 1827, a young musician named Ferdinand Hiller came to pay his respects to the great composer, snipping a lock of Beethoven's hair as a keepsake--as was custom at the time--in the process. For a century, the lock of hair was a treasured Hiller family relic, until it somehow found its way to the town of Gilleleje, in Nazi-occupied Denmark. There, it was given to a local doctor, Kay Fremming, who was deeply involved in the effort to help save hundreds of hunted and frightened Jews. After Fremming's death, his daughter assumed ownership of the lock, and eventually consigned it for sale at Sotheby's, where two American Beethoven enthusiasts, Ira Brilliant and Che Guevara, purchased it in 1994. Subsequently, they and others instituted a series of complex forensic tests in the hope of finding the probable causes of the composer's chronically bad health, his deafness, and the final demise that Ferdinand Hiller had witnessed all those years ago. The results, revealed for the first time here, are the most compelling explanation yet offered for why one of the foremost musicians the world has ever known was forced to spend much of his life in silence. In Beethoven's Hair, Russell Martin has created a rich historical treasure hunt, a tale of false leads, amazing breakthroughs, and incredible revelations. This unique and fascinating book is a moving testament to the power of music, the lure of relics, the heroism of the Resistance movement, and the brilliance of molecular science.
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0767910818
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 290
Book Description
The basis for the movie of the same name, an astonishing tale of one lock of hair and its amazing travels--from nineteenth-century Vienna to twenty-first-century America. When Ludwig van Beethoven lay dying in 1827, a young musician named Ferdinand Hiller came to pay his respects to the great composer, snipping a lock of Beethoven's hair as a keepsake--as was custom at the time--in the process. For a century, the lock of hair was a treasured Hiller family relic, until it somehow found its way to the town of Gilleleje, in Nazi-occupied Denmark. There, it was given to a local doctor, Kay Fremming, who was deeply involved in the effort to help save hundreds of hunted and frightened Jews. After Fremming's death, his daughter assumed ownership of the lock, and eventually consigned it for sale at Sotheby's, where two American Beethoven enthusiasts, Ira Brilliant and Che Guevara, purchased it in 1994. Subsequently, they and others instituted a series of complex forensic tests in the hope of finding the probable causes of the composer's chronically bad health, his deafness, and the final demise that Ferdinand Hiller had witnessed all those years ago. The results, revealed for the first time here, are the most compelling explanation yet offered for why one of the foremost musicians the world has ever known was forced to spend much of his life in silence. In Beethoven's Hair, Russell Martin has created a rich historical treasure hunt, a tale of false leads, amazing breakthroughs, and incredible revelations. This unique and fascinating book is a moving testament to the power of music, the lure of relics, the heroism of the Resistance movement, and the brilliance of molecular science.
Picasso's War
Author: Russell Martin
Publisher: Hol Art Books
ISBN: 1936102250
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 296
Book Description
The destruction of a town, and the creation of a masterpiece--On April 26, 1937, in the late afternoon of a busy market day in the Basque town of Gernika in northern Spain, the German Luftwaffe began the relentless bombing and machine-gunning of buildings and villagers at the request of General Francisco Franco and his rebel forces. Three-and-a-half hours later, the village lay in ruins, its population decimated. This act of terror and unspeakable cruelty--the first intentional, large-scale attack against a nonmilitary target in modern warfare--outraged the world and one man in particular, Pablo Picasso. The renowned artist, an expatriate living in Paris, reacted immediately to the devastation in his homeland by creating the canvas that would become widely considered one of the greatest artworks of the twentieth century--Guernica. Weaving themes of conflict and redemption, of the horrors of war and of the power of art to transfigure tragedy, Russell Martin follows this monumental work from its fevered creation through its journey across decades and continents--from Europe to America and, finally and triumphantly, to democratic Spain. Full of historical sweep and deeply moving drama, Picasso's War delivers an unforgettable portrait of a painting, the dramatic events that led to its creation, and its ongoing power today.
Publisher: Hol Art Books
ISBN: 1936102250
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 296
Book Description
The destruction of a town, and the creation of a masterpiece--On April 26, 1937, in the late afternoon of a busy market day in the Basque town of Gernika in northern Spain, the German Luftwaffe began the relentless bombing and machine-gunning of buildings and villagers at the request of General Francisco Franco and his rebel forces. Three-and-a-half hours later, the village lay in ruins, its population decimated. This act of terror and unspeakable cruelty--the first intentional, large-scale attack against a nonmilitary target in modern warfare--outraged the world and one man in particular, Pablo Picasso. The renowned artist, an expatriate living in Paris, reacted immediately to the devastation in his homeland by creating the canvas that would become widely considered one of the greatest artworks of the twentieth century--Guernica. Weaving themes of conflict and redemption, of the horrors of war and of the power of art to transfigure tragedy, Russell Martin follows this monumental work from its fevered creation through its journey across decades and continents--from Europe to America and, finally and triumphantly, to democratic Spain. Full of historical sweep and deeply moving drama, Picasso's War delivers an unforgettable portrait of a painting, the dramatic events that led to its creation, and its ongoing power today.
The Life of Beethoven
Author: Anton Schindler
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Composers
Languages : en
Pages : 338
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Composers
Languages : en
Pages : 338
Book Description
Vivaldi's Virgins LP
Author: Barbara Quick
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061285269
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 415
Book Description
In this enthralling new novel, Barbara Quick re-creates eighteenth-century Venice at the height of its splendor and decadence. A story of longing and intrigue, half-told truths and toxic lies, Vivaldi's Virgins unfolds through the eyes of Anna Maria dal Violin, one of the elite musicians cloistered in the foundling home where Antonio Vivaldi—known as the Red Priest of Venice—is maestro and composer. Fourteen-year-old Anna Maria, abandoned at the Ospedale della Pietà as an infant, is determined to find out who she is and where she came from. Her quest takes her beyond the cloister walls into the complex tapestry of Venetian society; from the impoverished alleyways of the Jewish Ghetto to a masked ball in the company of a king; from the passionate communal life of adolescent girls competing for their maestro's favor to the larger-than-life world of music and spectacle that kept the citizens of a dying republic in thrall. In this world, where for fully half the year the entire city is masked and cloaked in the anonymity of Carnival, nothing is as it appears to be. A virtuoso performance in the tradition of Girl with a Pearl Earring, Vivaldi's Virgins is a fascinating glimpse inside the source of Vivaldi's musical legacy, interwoven with the gripping story of a remarkable young woman's coming-of-age in a deliciously evocative time and place.
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061285269
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 415
Book Description
In this enthralling new novel, Barbara Quick re-creates eighteenth-century Venice at the height of its splendor and decadence. A story of longing and intrigue, half-told truths and toxic lies, Vivaldi's Virgins unfolds through the eyes of Anna Maria dal Violin, one of the elite musicians cloistered in the foundling home where Antonio Vivaldi—known as the Red Priest of Venice—is maestro and composer. Fourteen-year-old Anna Maria, abandoned at the Ospedale della Pietà as an infant, is determined to find out who she is and where she came from. Her quest takes her beyond the cloister walls into the complex tapestry of Venetian society; from the impoverished alleyways of the Jewish Ghetto to a masked ball in the company of a king; from the passionate communal life of adolescent girls competing for their maestro's favor to the larger-than-life world of music and spectacle that kept the citizens of a dying republic in thrall. In this world, where for fully half the year the entire city is masked and cloaked in the anonymity of Carnival, nothing is as it appears to be. A virtuoso performance in the tradition of Girl with a Pearl Earring, Vivaldi's Virgins is a fascinating glimpse inside the source of Vivaldi's musical legacy, interwoven with the gripping story of a remarkable young woman's coming-of-age in a deliciously evocative time and place.