Classical Music The 50 Greatest Composers and Their 1,000 Greatest Works

by GOULDING, PHIL G.

• ISBN13: 9780449910429
• ISBN10: 0449910423
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-10-17
• Publisher: Ballantine Books

Summary

MAKE A SOUND INVESTMENT IN CLASSICAL MUSIC Who are the ten most important classical composers? Who in the world was Palestrina? Why did Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" cause a riot? Which five of each important composer's works should you buy? What is a concerto and how does it differ from a sonata? Maybe you don't know the answers to these questions; author Phil Goulding certainly didn't. When Goulding first tried to learn about classical music, he found himself buried in an avalanche of technical terms and complicated jargon--so he decided to write the book he couldn't find. The result is a complete classical music education in one volume. Comprehensive, discriminating, and delightfully irreverent, Classical Music provides such essential information as: * Rankings of the top 50 composers (Bach is #1. Borodin is #50) * A detailed and anecdotal look at each composer's life and work * The five primary works of each composer and specific recommended CDs for each. * Further great works of each composer--if you really like him * Concise explanations of musical terminology, forms, and periods * A guide to the parts and history of the symphony orchestra "This book uses every conceivable gimmick to immerse readers in the richness of classical music: lists, rankings, sidebars devoted to lively anecdotes, and catchy leads." --The Washington Post "One terrific music appreciation book...The information is surprisingly detailed but concisely presented. Goulding's writing style is breezy yet mature....[He] has raised music appreciation from a racket to a service." --The Arizona Daily Star

Author Biography

Phil G. Goulding was born in San Francisco in 1921, grew up in Cleveland, attended Hamilton College in upstate New York, and spent World War II in the Navy. He has lived in Washington, D.C., since 1950 as a newspaper reporter, an assistant secretary of defense, and a petroleum industry executive. He wrote Confirm or Deny, a book about the Pentagon, the press, and the public. With his wife, Miriam, he now divides his time between Washington and a Chateaugay Lake cabin in the Adirondacks.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	xi
The 50 Composers and the Also-Rans	1	(25)
The Organization of Sound	26	(16)
Setting the Stage	42	(54)
The Lives and the Works	96	(446)
Johann Sebastian Bach	96	(19)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	115	(16)
Ludwig van Beethoven	131	(14)
Richard Wagner	145	(12)
Franz Joseph Haydn	157	(11)
Johannes Brahms	168	(11)
Franz Schubert	179	(10)
Robert Schumann	189	(11)
George Frideric Handel	200	(10)
Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky	210	(10)
Felix Mendelssohn	220	(11)
Antonin Dvorak	231	(10)
Franz Liszt	241	(9)
Frederic Chopin	250	(9)
Igor Stravinsky	259	(10)
Giuseppe Verdi	269	(9)
Gustav Mahler	278	(10)
Sergei Prokofiev	288	(10)
Dmitri Shostakovich	298	(10)
Richard Strauss	308	(10)
Hector Berlioz	318	(12)
Claude Debussy	330	(9)
Giacomo Puccini	339	(6)
Giovanni da Palestrina	345	(7)
Anton Bruckner	352	(9)
Georg Telemann	361	(7)
Camille Saint-Saens	368	(7)
Jean Sibelius	375	(8)
Maurice Ravel	383	(7)
Gioacchino Rossini	390	(8)
Edvard Grieg	398	(8)
Christoph Gluck	406	(7)
Paul Hindemith	413	(8)
Claudio Monteverdi	421	(6)
Bela Bartok	427	(7)
Cesar Franck	434	(7)
Antonio Vivaldi	441	(8)
Georges Bizet	449	(7)
Modest Mussorgsky	456	(9)
Jean-Philippe Rameau	465	(7)
Gabriel Faure	472	(7)
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov	479	(8)
Gaetano Donizetti	487	(6)
Ralph Vaughan Williams	493	(8)
Bedrich Smetana	501	(7)
Johann Strauss	508	(7)
Karl Maria Von Weber	515	(7)
Leos Janacek	522	(7)
Francois Couperin	529	(6)
Alexander Borodin	535	(7)
The Orchestra	542	(37)
Compact-Disc Discography	579	(42)
Index	621