Reference

His exceptional good looks made him a matinee idol, and Franco Corelli - the Prince of Tenors - was dubbed Mr. Soldout for 20 consecutive years. In 1958, just seven years after beginning his career, he was already the highest-paid tenor in Italy. Following his Met debut in 1961, he was celebrated as the greatest tenor in the world, a position that he retained until his departure from the Met in 1975. His charismatic performances in such operas as La Vestale and Fedora (both in collaboration with Maria Callas), coupled with a formidable mystique, as well as a number of notorious and colorful incidents, including his real-life sword fight with Boris Christoff in Rome, the Callas walkout there, the beating up of a spectator in Naples, and the alleged biting of Birgit Nilsson on a Boston tour of Turandot, created a mania for Corelli. Nearly a decade in the making, this definitive biography is based on the author's extensive research of theater archives and interviews with the opera star's numerous friends, family members, colleagues (Nilsson, Pavarotti, and many others), as well as the management of some of the world's leading opera houses.

The official book supporting 'Karajan 2008,' a worldwide campaign to celebrate Karajan's centenary. Herbert von Karajan, arguably the greatest and most flamboyant conductor and musical director of his time, remains today as one of the giants of 20th-century classical music. His contribution to classical music, his legacy, and his celebrity status are unchallenged. Karajan's exceptional charisma makes him the perfect subject for the pictorial journey this book presents. It is the ultimate visual testimony and photographic homage to this great and extravagant classical music personality. Its features include: 12,000-word bio essay by Jrgen Otten and introduction by Anne-Sophie Mutter Over 150 photos in black-and-white and color, with dozens of quotations Edited by Pierre-Henri Verlhac, publisher of high-end French photo books and more!

This thorough revision of a classic handbook is designed primarily as a guide for students writing papers or theses on musical subjects, but is useful for anyone writing about music for publication. It deals with the mechanics of scholarly writing, citation and documentation, as well as the nuts and bolts of punctuation and abbreviation. But it is also a sensible guide to good writing. In this edition, Mark A. Radice has taken into account all the technological changes that have transformed writing and publishing while preserving Irvine's voice. He has also added a new section on incorporating music examples in a written text.

On January 18, 1958, the Columbia Broadcasting Corporation aired the first of Leonard Bernstein's 53 Young People's Concerts with the New York Philharmonic. So successful were these performance lessons that they ran for over a decade on television. This book brings back into print a classic collection of the best of the best of these Emmy and Peabody Award-winning lectures. A total of 15 lectures are presented here in full. Here is the century's most unique musician and teacher, explaining beautifully and clearly the joy of music in a way that grasps the attention of all. Every aspect of music is so cleverly presented that everyone, regardless of age, culture, or educational background, will enjoy and understand it.

This first, authorized biography of one of the 20th century's greatest violinists chronicles the life of Michael Rabin from his young boyhood to his premature death at the age of 35. By his teen years in the 1950s, he had already joined the ranks of violin greats and he was being compared to Heifetz, Milstein, Stern, and Francescatti. Lovingly detailed, rich in music history and drama, this biography documents the many forces that shaped Rabin's extraordinary life and career, from his meteoric rise to his surprising decline. Feinstein charts Rabin's many artistic successes, as well as his struggles to make the transition from wunderkind to adult virtuoso, and sheds light on the true reasons for his fall from grace, debunking the many rumors that surrounded him during that time. Feinstein also clarifies the facts relating to Rabin's sudden death. What emerges is a unique profile of a prodiginous talent and a tragic life.

What must it be like to start composing music at age two and create an opera at age ten as Samuel Barber did? Or to go deaf at age eight and yet become a world-renowned percussionist as Evelyn Glennie has? This book is a celebration of the remarkable lives of 44 musical prodigies from the 18th century to the present, including the amazing stories of Mozart and Paganini, Andres Segovia and Samuel Barber, Van Cliburn and Ruggiero Ricci and Jacqueline du Pre and Yo-Yo Ma, to name only a few. The author explores early family life, first teachers, the importance of peers and the inevitable struggles for independence and acceptance as an adult musician.

This is the story of how the Steinway piano came to be the instrument of choice for the world's greatest pianists. In 1953, Theodore Steinway wrote this narrative in longhand on yellow legal pads as a tribute to his father and to commemorate the first 100 years of Steinway & Sons. The book was a memento for employees and was never released to the public. This revised edition brings the history of this remarkable company to the present day through recollections of Henry E. Steinway, the last family member to remain involved with the company, and Peter Goodrich, vice president of concert and artist relations, who has been with the company for 30 years. In 1850, Henry Engelhard Steinway left Germany for New York City and established what was to become the standard of excellence in the piano world. Using photographs and anecdotes, this book chronicles the business from its beginnings through the Depression, when many piano manufacturers went out of business, through World War II, when the company was forbidden to make pianos, and through the advent of modern technology. Through it all the Steinway piano has prevailed as a symbol of quality. The Steinway artist roster is a living tribute to the company and its pianos. More than 1300 performers have publicly endorsed the Steinway because they believe in the quality of the instrument and will only play and perform on a Steinway.

Acclaimed pianist Robert Taub offers the insights of a passionate musician who performs all 32 of Beethoven's well-loved piano sonatas in concert worldwide, bringing a fresh perspective on Beethoven, as the New York Times put it. In this book, he shares his intimate understanding of these works with listeners and players alike.

The second title in the Amadeus Press Parallel Lives series, this volume examines the lives and work of two giants of 20th century music. Both composers influenced countless others, and their works are performed often in today's concert and opera houses. Felsenfeld gives us a penetrating look into the lives of these two extraordinary men, helping us get to know them and therefore better understand their music. In clear, concise language he examines their major works, helping us to understand their genius and power, which is illustrated by the accompanying full-length CD. The author points out parallel developments in Britten and Barber's lives and careers. Both came of age in a time of war, a time of political and artistic unrest and upheaval, and both were celebrities in their own time. Both wrote primarily - and most successfully - for the voice, but neither became ghettoized as a strictly vocal composer, and both were possessed of a flawless compositional technique, with a fluency that bordered on wizardry. Finally, both were prolific, involved musical presences on the world stage. The accompanying full-length CD from Naxos Records includes six complete pieces.

Available for the first time in English, this biography, published in Prague only a few months after the composer's death, provides a contemporary view of the man and musician. Eminent Beethoven scholar Barry Cooper puts this curious work into perspective, clarifying inaccuracies in the original 19th-century text. HARDCOVER.