Ten masterpieces of music / Harvey Sachs.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sachs, Harvey, 1946- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Music--History and criticism.

Music.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xvi, 366 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

10 masterpieces of music

Masterpieces of music

Place of Publication:

New York : Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W. W. Norton & Company, [2021]

Summary:

"Some pieces of music survive; most fall into oblivion. What gives the ten masterpieces selected for this book their extraordinary vitality? In this magisterial volume, Harvey Sachs, author of the highly acclaimed biography Toscanini, takes readers into the heart of ten great works of classical music--works that have endured because they were created by composers who had a genius for drawing music out of their deepest wellsprings. These masters--Mozart and Beethoven; Schubert, Schumann, Berlioz, Verdi, and Brahms; Sibelius, Prokofiev, and Stravinsky--communicated their life experiences through music, and through music they universalized the intimate. By expanding our perceptions of these ten pieces--composed in the years between 1784 and 1966--Sachs, in lush, exquisite prose, invites us to consider why music stimulates, disturbs, exalts, and consoles us. He has lived with these masterpieces for a lifetime, and his descriptions of them and the dramatic lives of the composers who wrote them bring a heightened dimension to the musical perceptions of readers who may be casual listeners, students, professional musicians, or anyone in between"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: pt. I 1789: BEFORE AND AFTER

1. "II catalogo e questo"

Concerto No. 17 in G Major for Piano and Orchestra, K. 453 (1784) / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

2. His Imperial Highness's Sore Finger

Trio in B-flat Major for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 97, "Archduke" (1811) / Ludwig van Beethoven

pt. II THE ROMANTIC CENTURY

3. A Quartet That's About Nothing

String Quartet No. 15 in G Major, Op. posth. 161, D. 887 (1826) / Franz Schubert

4. In the Wondrously Disturbing Month of May

Dichterliebe (Poet's Love), Op. 48 (1840) / Robert Schumann

5. A Monument Reimagined

La Damnation de Faust: Legende dramatique, Op. 24 (1846) / Hector Berlioz

6. The Crown, the Cross, and the Cruelty of Love

Don Carlo (1867) / Giuseppe Verdi

7. Almost a Tale of Joy

String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 111 (1890) / Johannes Brahms

pt. III THE AGE OF UNCERTAINTY

8. Europe, a Prophecy?

Symphony No. 4 in A Minor, Op. 63 (1911) / Jean Sibelius

9. Creative Suffering

Piano Sonata No. 8 in B-flat Major, Op. 84 (1944) / Sergei Prokofiev

10. An Ice-Cold Question Mark

Requiem Canticles for Contralto and Bass Soli, Chorus, and Orchestra (1966) / Igor Stravinsky.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781631495182

1631495186

OCLC:

1233266276