Composers
Their Lives and Works
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Composers
Buy for $20.25
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Richard Trinder
-
By:
-
DK
About this listen
Introduced with more than 90 biographical entries that trace the friendships, loves, and rivalries that inspired each musical genius and their work.
Profiles offer revealing insights into what drove each individual to create the musical masterpieces - symphonies, concertos, and operatic scores - that changed the direction of classical music and are still celebrated as masterpieces today.
The audiobook introduces the key influences, themes, and working methods of each individual, setting their works within a wider historical and cultural context.
Charting the development of classical music and music movements across the centuries, Composers provides a compelling glimpse into the personal lives, loves, and influences of the giants of the classical music canon.
©2020 Dorling Kindersley Ltd (P)2020 DK AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
The History of Classical Music
- By: Richard Fawkes
- Narrated by: Robert Powell
- Length: 5 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 350
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 195
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 196
From Gregorian Chant to Henryk Gorecki, the first living classical composer to get into the pop album charts, here is the fascinating story of over a thousand years of Western classical music and the composers who have sought to express in music the deepest of human feelings and emotions. Also available: The History of Opera.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
soothing
- By Anne on 10-29-03
By: Richard Fawkes
-
Mozart
- The Reign of Love
- By: Jan Swafford
- Narrated by: Tim Campbell
- Length: 30 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 153
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 124
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 124
Like Jan Swafford’s biographies Beethoven and Johannes Brahms, Mozart is the complete exhumation of a genius in his life and ours: A man who would enrich the world with his talent for centuries to come and who would immeasurably shape classical music. As Swafford reveals, it’s nearly impossible to understand classical music’s origins and indeed its evolutions, as well as the Baroque period, without studying the man himself.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Comprehensive Bio
- By Judy on 01-07-21
By: Jan Swafford
-
Johann Sebastian Bach
- The Learned Musician
- By: Christoph Wolff
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 21 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
Although we have heard the music of J. S. Bach in countless performances and recordings, the composer himself still comes across only as an enigmatic figure in a single familiar portrait. As we mark the 250th anniversary of Bach's death, author Christoph Wolff presents a new picture that brings to life this towering figure of the Baroque era. This engaging new biography portrays Bach as the living, breathing, and sometimes imperfect human being that he was, while bringing to bear all the advances of the last half-century of Bach scholarship.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Has all the boring details...
- By L. Jensen on 05-14-19
By: Christoph Wolff
-
Beethoven
- Anguish and Triumph
- By: Jan Swafford
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 39 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 214
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 186
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 182
Jan Swafford's biographies have established him as a revered music historian, capable of bringing his subjects vibrantly to life. His magnificent new biography of Ludwig van Beethoven peels away layers of legend to get to the living, breathing human being who composed some of the world's most iconic music.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Huge book - musical reader appreciates best
- By DMgraphicGlass on 01-20-15
By: Jan Swafford
-
For the Love of Music
- A Conductor's Guide to the Art of Listening
- By: John Mauceri
- Narrated by: John Mauceri
- Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
With a lifetime of experience, profound knowledge and understanding, and heartwarming appreciation, an internationally celebrated conductor and teacher answers the questions: Why should I listen to classical music? How can I get the most from the listening experience? Unpretentious, graceful, instructive, this is a book for the aficionado, the novice, and anyone looking to have the love of music fired within them.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Divine Time with a Maestro
- By Meg on 12-18-19
By: John Mauceri
-
The Indispensable Composers
- A Personal Guide
- By: Anthony Tommasini
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 20 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 26
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 21
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 21
In The Indispensable Composers, Tommasini offers his own personal guide to the canon - and what greatness really means in classical music. What does it mean to be canonical now? Who gets to say? And do we have enough perspective on the 20th century to even begin assessing it? To make his case, Tommasini draws on elements of biography, the anxiety of influence, the composer's relationships with colleagues, and shifting attitudes toward a composer's work over time.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
A little disappointed.
- By Sher from Provo on 10-19-19
-
The History of Classical Music
- By: Richard Fawkes
- Narrated by: Robert Powell
- Length: 5 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 350
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 195
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 196
From Gregorian Chant to Henryk Gorecki, the first living classical composer to get into the pop album charts, here is the fascinating story of over a thousand years of Western classical music and the composers who have sought to express in music the deepest of human feelings and emotions. Also available: The History of Opera.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
soothing
- By Anne on 10-29-03
By: Richard Fawkes
-
Mozart
- The Reign of Love
- By: Jan Swafford
- Narrated by: Tim Campbell
- Length: 30 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 153
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 124
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 124
Like Jan Swafford’s biographies Beethoven and Johannes Brahms, Mozart is the complete exhumation of a genius in his life and ours: A man who would enrich the world with his talent for centuries to come and who would immeasurably shape classical music. As Swafford reveals, it’s nearly impossible to understand classical music’s origins and indeed its evolutions, as well as the Baroque period, without studying the man himself.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Comprehensive Bio
- By Judy on 01-07-21
By: Jan Swafford
-
Johann Sebastian Bach
- The Learned Musician
- By: Christoph Wolff
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 21 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
Although we have heard the music of J. S. Bach in countless performances and recordings, the composer himself still comes across only as an enigmatic figure in a single familiar portrait. As we mark the 250th anniversary of Bach's death, author Christoph Wolff presents a new picture that brings to life this towering figure of the Baroque era. This engaging new biography portrays Bach as the living, breathing, and sometimes imperfect human being that he was, while bringing to bear all the advances of the last half-century of Bach scholarship.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Has all the boring details...
- By L. Jensen on 05-14-19
By: Christoph Wolff
-
Beethoven
- Anguish and Triumph
- By: Jan Swafford
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 39 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 214
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 186
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 182
Jan Swafford's biographies have established him as a revered music historian, capable of bringing his subjects vibrantly to life. His magnificent new biography of Ludwig van Beethoven peels away layers of legend to get to the living, breathing human being who composed some of the world's most iconic music.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Huge book - musical reader appreciates best
- By DMgraphicGlass on 01-20-15
By: Jan Swafford
-
For the Love of Music
- A Conductor's Guide to the Art of Listening
- By: John Mauceri
- Narrated by: John Mauceri
- Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
With a lifetime of experience, profound knowledge and understanding, and heartwarming appreciation, an internationally celebrated conductor and teacher answers the questions: Why should I listen to classical music? How can I get the most from the listening experience? Unpretentious, graceful, instructive, this is a book for the aficionado, the novice, and anyone looking to have the love of music fired within them.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Divine Time with a Maestro
- By Meg on 12-18-19
By: John Mauceri
-
The Indispensable Composers
- A Personal Guide
- By: Anthony Tommasini
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 20 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 26
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 21
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 21
In The Indispensable Composers, Tommasini offers his own personal guide to the canon - and what greatness really means in classical music. What does it mean to be canonical now? Who gets to say? And do we have enough perspective on the 20th century to even begin assessing it? To make his case, Tommasini draws on elements of biography, the anxiety of influence, the composer's relationships with colleagues, and shifting attitudes toward a composer's work over time.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
A little disappointed.
- By Sher from Provo on 10-19-19
-
How Music and Mathematics Relate
- By: David Kung, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: David Kung
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 124
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 99
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 97
Great minds have long sought to understand the relationship between music and mathematics. Both involve patterns, structures, and relationships. Both generate ideas of great beauty and elegance. Music is a fertile testing ground for mathematical principles, while mathematics explains the sounds instruments make and how composers put those sounds together. Understanding the connections between music and mathematics helps you appreciate both, even if you have no special ability in either field....
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
No visuals provided! Very hard to follow without.
- By Anonymous User on 03-23-20
By: David Kung, and others
-
Fryderyk Chopin
- A Life and Times
- By: Dr. Alan Walker
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 23 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 86
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 75
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 76
Based on 10 years of research and a vast cache of primary sources located in archives in Warsaw, Paris, London, New York, and Washington, D.C., Alan Walker's monumental Fryderyk Chopin: A Life and Times is the most comprehensive biography of the great Polish composer to appear in English in more than a century. Walker's work is a corrective biography, intended to dispel the many myths and legends that continue to surround Chopin.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
This book is a masterpiece
- By Carpe Diem on 02-09-19
By: Dr. Alan Walker
-
Les Misérables: Translated by Julie Rose
- By: Victor Hugo, Julie Rose - translator
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 60 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,591
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3,199
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,212
One of the great classics of world literature and the inspiration for the most beloved stage musical of all time, Les Misérables is legendary author Victor Hugo’s masterpiece. This extraordinary English version by renowned translator Julie Rose captures all the majesty and brilliance of Hugo’s work. Here is the timeless story of the quintessential hunted man—Jean Valjean—and the injustices, violence, and social inequalities that torment him.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Book that Made Me a Better Person
- By Jeff Diamond on 03-29-13
By: Victor Hugo, and others
-
Language of the Spirit
- An Introduction to Classical Music
- By: Jan Swafford
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 24
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 23
In Language of the Spirit, renowned music scholar Jan Swafford argues that we have it all wrong: classical music has something for everyone and is accessible to all. Ranging from Gregorian chant to Handel's Messiah, from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons to the postmodern work of Philip Glass, Swafford is an affable and expert guide to the genre. He traces the history of Western music, introduces listeners to the most important composers and compositions, and explains the underlying structure and logic of their music.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great intro to various important composers & works
- By Jay G on 06-14-18
By: Jan Swafford
-
Every Good Boy Does Fine
- A Love Story, in Music Lessons
- By: Jeremy Denk
- Narrated by: Jeremy Denk
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 201
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 176
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 177
In Every Good Boy Does Fine, renowned pianist Jeremy Denk traces an implausible journey. His life is already a little tough as a precocious, temperamental six-year-old piano prodigy in New Jersey, and then a family meltdown forces a move to New Mexico.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Read by Denk, with music to illustrate examples
- By VT on 04-02-22
By: Jeremy Denk
-
Wagnerism
- Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music
- By: Alex Ross
- Narrated by: Alex Ross
- Length: 28 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 144
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 123
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 120
Alex Ross, renowned New Yorker music critic and author of the international best seller and Pulitzer Prize finalist The Rest Is Noise, reveals how Richard Wagner became the proving ground for modern art and politics - an aesthetic war zone where the Western world wrestled with its capacity for beauty and violence.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Not Just for Wagner Experts!
- By Rupert Pupkin on 09-26-20
By: Alex Ross
-
Life & Works - Johannes Brahms
- By: Jeremy Siepmann
- Narrated by: Jeremy Siepmann, Jasper Britton, Karen Archer, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
Brahms is one of the best loved yet most controversial of all the Romantics. Almost uniquely, his works have never suffered the slightest period of eclipse. Profoundly emotional yet governed by an iron discipline, the music, like the man, is a fascinating, entertaining, often deeply moving blend of opposites. He had a gift for friendship and a capacity for love far beyond the ordinary, yet no man could be ruder or more hurtful.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wonderful
- By Yvonne Angel on 11-03-21
By: Jeremy Siepmann
-
The Life and Works of Tchaikovsky
- By: Jeremy Siepmann
- Narrated by: Jeremy Siepmann, Malcolm Sinclair, Karen Archer, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 37
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 36
Tchaikovsky is one of the most popular composers of all time. His melodies are known to many people who may never have heard his name. They crop up on mobile telephones, alarm clocks and answering machines as often as on records and concert programs. Like his music, the man himself was widely loved, but his inner life was fraught with sufferings, confusions and a deep vein of self-doubt. The drama of his emotional life is vividly reflected in his music, letters and diaries, all of which play a major part in this intimate portrait-in-sound.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Comprehensive and Concise
- By Cristina on 01-05-14
By: Jeremy Siepmann
-
Elements of Jazz: From Cakewalks to Fusion
- By: Bill Messenger, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Bill Messenger
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 715
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 623
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 618
Jazz is a uniquely American art form, one of America's great contributions to not only musical culture, but world culture, with each generation of musicians applying new levels of creativity that take the music in unexpected directions that defy definition, category, and stagnation. Now you can learn the basics and history of this intoxicating genre in an eight-lecture series that is as free-flowing and original as the art form itself.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
A Disappointingly Distorted, Myopic View Of Jazz
- By Parallax View on 08-18-13
By: Bill Messenger, and others
-
The Rest Is Noise
- Listening to the 20th Century
- By: Alex Ross
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 23 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 487
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 305
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 301
The Rest Is Noise takes the listener inside the labyrinth of modern music, from turn-of-the-century Vienna to downtown New York in the '60s and '70s. We meet the maverick personalities and follow the rise of mass culture on this sweeping tour of 20th-century history through its music.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Learned so much!
- By Paula on 02-18-08
By: Alex Ross
-
Life & Works - Franz Schubert
- By: Jeremy Siepmann
- Narrated by: Jeremy Siepmann, Tom George, Peter Yapp, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 67
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 54
The life of Franz Schubert has been a gift to romantically inclined biographers: the beautiful, brilliant, modest boy who sprang to fully fledged genius at the age of sixteen; the quintessential ‘artist in a garret’, entirely consumed by his art and living a hand-to-mouth existence in Vienna (home of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven); the gentle, cheerful, convivial young man who prized friendship almost as highly as music itself; the unworldly poet from whom great music poured like water from a fountain; the unrecognized master who died almost penniless at the age of 31.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very well done
- By Jeffrey Keimer on 09-16-14
By: Jeremy Siepmann
-
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart & Ludwig van Beethoven
- Masters of Classical Music
- By: The History Hour
- Narrated by: Jerry Beebe
- Length: 4 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 20
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 19
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 19
Probably the most naturally gifted musician the world has ever known, Mozart began his career early as a child prodigy. By the age of five, he was already proficient in the violin, the harpsichord, and piano keyboard. He had also begun composing music that had integrity. Ludwig van Beethoven is a crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in classical music. Beethoven displayed his musical talents at an early age. Listen to the full biographies of these two musicians, from the beginning to the end!
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Decent biographies but not narrated well
- By Robert on 02-26-20
By: The History Hour
Related to this topic
-
Beethoven
- A Life in Nine Pieces
- By: Laura Tunbridge
- Narrated by: Laura Tunbridge
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 23
The iconic image of Beethoven is of him as a lone genius: hair wild, fists clenched, and brow furrowed. Beethoven may well have shaped the music of the future, but he was also a product of his time, influenced by the people, politics, and culture around him. Oxford scholar Laura Tunbridge offers an alternative history of Beethoven's career, placing his music in contexts that shed light on why particular pieces are valued more than others, and what this tells us about his larger-than-life reputation.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Laura Turnbridge is an excellent author & narrator
- By Alex Scriabin on 04-25-23
By: Laura Tunbridge
-
The Europeans
- Three Lives and the Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture
- By: Orlando Figes
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 21 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 29
At the center of the book is a poignant love triangle: the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev; the Spanish prima donna Pauline Viardot, with whom Turgenev had a long and intimate relationship; and her husband Louis Viardot, an art critic, theater manager, and republican activist. Together, Turgenev and the Viardots acted as a kind of European cultural exchange - they either knew or crossed paths with Delacroix, Berlioz, Chopin, Brahms, Liszt, the Schumanns, Hugo, Flaubert, Dickens, and Dostoyevsky, among many other towering figures.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
DO LISTEN TO THIS BOOK!!!
- By JK on 10-28-21
By: Orlando Figes
-
Botticelli's Secret
- The Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance
- By: Joseph Luzzi
- Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 134
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 101
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 101
Some 500 years ago, Sandro Botticelli, a painter of humble origin, created work of unearthly beauty. An intimate associate of Florence’s unofficial rulers, the Medici, he was commissioned by a member of their family to execute a near-impossible project: to illustrate all 100 cantos of The Divine Comedy by the city’s greatest poet, Dante Alighieri. A powerful encounter between poet and artist, sacred and secular, earthly and evanescent, these drawings produced a wealth of stunning images but were never finished.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great story
- By Chris M on 12-09-22
By: Joseph Luzzi
-
Wagnerism
- Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music
- By: Alex Ross
- Narrated by: Alex Ross
- Length: 28 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 144
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 123
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 120
Alex Ross, renowned New Yorker music critic and author of the international best seller and Pulitzer Prize finalist The Rest Is Noise, reveals how Richard Wagner became the proving ground for modern art and politics - an aesthetic war zone where the Western world wrestled with its capacity for beauty and violence.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Not Just for Wagner Experts!
- By Rupert Pupkin on 09-26-20
By: Alex Ross
-
The Rest Is Noise
- Listening to the 20th Century
- By: Alex Ross
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 23 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 487
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 305
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 301
The Rest Is Noise takes the listener inside the labyrinth of modern music, from turn-of-the-century Vienna to downtown New York in the '60s and '70s. We meet the maverick personalities and follow the rise of mass culture on this sweeping tour of 20th-century history through its music.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Learned so much!
- By Paula on 02-18-08
By: Alex Ross
-
Apollo's Angels
- A History of Ballet
- By: Jennifer Homans
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 23 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 134
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 113
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 114
For more than 400 years, the art of ballet has stood at the center of Western civilization. Its traditions serve as a record of our past. A ballerina dancing The Sleeping Beauty today is a link in a long chain of dancers stretching back to 16th-century Italy and France: Her graceful movements recall a lost world of courts, kings, and aristocracy, but her steps and gestures are also marked by the dramatic changes in dance and culture that followed.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
a great book poorly read
- By Anonymous User on 04-14-11
By: Jennifer Homans
-
Beethoven
- A Life in Nine Pieces
- By: Laura Tunbridge
- Narrated by: Laura Tunbridge
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 23
The iconic image of Beethoven is of him as a lone genius: hair wild, fists clenched, and brow furrowed. Beethoven may well have shaped the music of the future, but he was also a product of his time, influenced by the people, politics, and culture around him. Oxford scholar Laura Tunbridge offers an alternative history of Beethoven's career, placing his music in contexts that shed light on why particular pieces are valued more than others, and what this tells us about his larger-than-life reputation.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Laura Turnbridge is an excellent author & narrator
- By Alex Scriabin on 04-25-23
By: Laura Tunbridge
-
The Europeans
- Three Lives and the Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture
- By: Orlando Figes
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 21 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 29
At the center of the book is a poignant love triangle: the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev; the Spanish prima donna Pauline Viardot, with whom Turgenev had a long and intimate relationship; and her husband Louis Viardot, an art critic, theater manager, and republican activist. Together, Turgenev and the Viardots acted as a kind of European cultural exchange - they either knew or crossed paths with Delacroix, Berlioz, Chopin, Brahms, Liszt, the Schumanns, Hugo, Flaubert, Dickens, and Dostoyevsky, among many other towering figures.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
DO LISTEN TO THIS BOOK!!!
- By JK on 10-28-21
By: Orlando Figes
-
Botticelli's Secret
- The Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance
- By: Joseph Luzzi
- Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 134
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 101
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 101
Some 500 years ago, Sandro Botticelli, a painter of humble origin, created work of unearthly beauty. An intimate associate of Florence’s unofficial rulers, the Medici, he was commissioned by a member of their family to execute a near-impossible project: to illustrate all 100 cantos of The Divine Comedy by the city’s greatest poet, Dante Alighieri. A powerful encounter between poet and artist, sacred and secular, earthly and evanescent, these drawings produced a wealth of stunning images but were never finished.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great story
- By Chris M on 12-09-22
By: Joseph Luzzi
-
Wagnerism
- Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music
- By: Alex Ross
- Narrated by: Alex Ross
- Length: 28 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 144
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 123
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 120
Alex Ross, renowned New Yorker music critic and author of the international best seller and Pulitzer Prize finalist The Rest Is Noise, reveals how Richard Wagner became the proving ground for modern art and politics - an aesthetic war zone where the Western world wrestled with its capacity for beauty and violence.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Not Just for Wagner Experts!
- By Rupert Pupkin on 09-26-20
By: Alex Ross
-
The Rest Is Noise
- Listening to the 20th Century
- By: Alex Ross
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 23 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 487
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 305
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 301
The Rest Is Noise takes the listener inside the labyrinth of modern music, from turn-of-the-century Vienna to downtown New York in the '60s and '70s. We meet the maverick personalities and follow the rise of mass culture on this sweeping tour of 20th-century history through its music.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Learned so much!
- By Paula on 02-18-08
By: Alex Ross
-
Apollo's Angels
- A History of Ballet
- By: Jennifer Homans
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 23 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 134
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 113
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 114
For more than 400 years, the art of ballet has stood at the center of Western civilization. Its traditions serve as a record of our past. A ballerina dancing The Sleeping Beauty today is a link in a long chain of dancers stretching back to 16th-century Italy and France: Her graceful movements recall a lost world of courts, kings, and aristocracy, but her steps and gestures are also marked by the dramatic changes in dance and culture that followed.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
a great book poorly read
- By Anonymous User on 04-14-11
By: Jennifer Homans
-
Natasha's Dance
- A Cultural History of Russia
- By: Orlando Figes
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Length: 29 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 141
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 124
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 122
Beginning in the 18th century with the building of St. Petersburg - a 'window on the West' - and culminating with the challenges posed to Russian identity by the Soviet regime, Figes examines how writers, artists, and musicians grappled with the idea of Russia itself - its character, spiritual essence and destiny. He skillfully interweaves the great works - by Dostoevsky, Stravinsky, and Chagall - with folk embroidery, peasant songs, religious icons and all the customs of daily life, from food and drink to bathing habits to beliefs about the spirit world.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Kaleidescopic panorama of an enigmatic culture.
- By Tarquin on 02-13-19
By: Orlando Figes
-
The Florentines
- From Dante to Galileo: The Transformation of Western Civilization
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 14 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 94
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 85
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 85
Between the birth of Dante in 1265 and the death of Galileo in 1642, something happened that transformed the entire culture of Western civilization. Painting, sculpture, and architecture would all visibly change in such a striking fashion that there could be no going back on what had taken place. Likewise, the thought and self-conception of humanity would take on a completely new aspect. Sciences would be born - or emerge in an entirely new guise.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Narrator ruins the narrative
- By amavita on 03-24-22
By: Paul Strathern
-
Music
- A Subversive History
- By: Ted Gioia
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 128
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 109
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 109
Histories of music overwhelmingly suppress stories of the outsiders and rebels who created musical revolutions and instead celebrate the mainstream assimilators who borrowed innovations, diluted their impact, and disguised their sources. In Music: A Subversive History, Ted Gioia reclaims the story of music for the riffraff, insurgents, and provocateurs. Gioia tells a 4,000-year history of music as a global source of power, change, and upheaval.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Squeezing cherry-picked facts into a simplistic narrative
- By Erik A. Ritland on 11-24-20
By: Ted Gioia
-
Genius & Anxiety
- How Jews Changed the World, 1847-1947
- By: Norman Lebrecht
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 18 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 79
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 68
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 67
Norman Lebrecht has devoted half of his life to pondering and researching the mindset of the Jewish intellectuals, writers, scientists, and thinkers who turned the tides of history and shaped the world today as we know it. In Genius & Anxiety, Lebrecht begins with the Communist Manifesto in 1847 and ends in 1947, when Israel was founded. This robust, magnificent volume, beautifully designed, is an urgent and necessary celebration of Jewish genius and contribution.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Post-anxiety
- By Amaze on 03-27-20
By: Norman Lebrecht
-
Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely
- By: Andrew S. Curran
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 48
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 39
Denis Diderot is often associated with the decades-long battle to bring the world's first comprehensive Encyclopedie into existence. But his most daring writing took place in the shadows. Thrown into prison for his atheism in 1749, Diderot decided to reserve his best books for posterity - for us, in fact. In the astonishing cache of unpublished writings left behind after his death, Diderot challenged virtually all of his century's accepted truths, from the sanctity of monarchy, to the racial justification of the slave trade, to the norms of human sexuality.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
lifelong coverage of his life.
- By Michael Daly on 03-22-21
By: Andrew S. Curran
-
Paris, City of Dreams
- Napoleon III, Baron Haussmann, and the Creation of Paris
- By: Mary McAuliffe
- Narrated by: Tim H. Dixon
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 29
Acclaimed historian Mary McAuliffe vividly recaptures the Paris of Napoleon III, Claude Monet, and Victor Hugo as Georges Haussmann tore down and rebuilt Paris into the beautiful City of Light we know today. Paris, City of Dreams traces the transformation of the City of Light during Napoleon III’s Second Empire into the beloved city of today.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding! Entertaining and informative
- By SF Insider on 11-03-22
By: Mary McAuliffe
-
Les Misérables: Translated by Julie Rose
- By: Victor Hugo, Julie Rose - translator
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 60 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,591
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3,199
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,212
One of the great classics of world literature and the inspiration for the most beloved stage musical of all time, Les Misérables is legendary author Victor Hugo’s masterpiece. This extraordinary English version by renowned translator Julie Rose captures all the majesty and brilliance of Hugo’s work. Here is the timeless story of the quintessential hunted man—Jean Valjean—and the injustices, violence, and social inequalities that torment him.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Book that Made Me a Better Person
- By Jeff Diamond on 03-29-13
By: Victor Hugo, and others
-
Our Oriental Heritage
- The Story of Civilization, Volume 1
- By: Will Durant
- Narrated by: Robin Field
- Length: 50 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,317
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,173
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,165
The first volume of Will Durant's Pulitzer Prize-winning series, Our Oriental Heritage: The Story of Civilization, Volume I chronicles the early history of Egypt, the Middle East, and Asia.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wonderful
- By Michael on 11-30-13
By: Will Durant
-
Prince Albert
- The Man Who Saved the Monarchy
- By: A. N. Wilson
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 37
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 36
Drawn from the Royal archives, including Prince Albert’s voluminous correspondence, this brilliant and ambitious book offers fascinating never-before-known details about the man and his time. A superb match of biographer and subject, Prince Albert, at last, gives this important historical figure the reverence and recognition that is long overdue.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent Bio!
- By Nancy on 04-24-24
By: A. N. Wilson
-
When Paris Sizzled
- The 1920s Paris of Hemingway, Chanel, Cocteau, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, and Their Friends
- By: Mary McAuliffe
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 97
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 88
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 89
When Paris Sizzled vividly portrays the City of Light during the fabulous 1920s, les Annees folles, when Parisians emerged from the horrors of war to find that a new world greeted them - one that reverberated with the hard metallic clang of the assembly line, the roar of automobiles, and the beat of jazz. Mary McAuliffe traces a decade that saw seismic change on almost every front, from art and architecture to music, literature, fashion, entertainment, transportation, and, most notably, behavior.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Informative, but no sizzle
- By OzEnigma on 06-01-17
By: Mary McAuliffe
-
Shakespeare's Library
- Unlocking the Greatest Mystery in Literature
- By: Stuart Kells
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 85
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 76
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 76
Millions of words of scholarship have been expended on the world's most famous author and his work. And yet a critical part of the puzzle, Shakespeare's library, is a mystery. For four centuries people have searched for it: in mansions, palaces, and libraries; in riverbeds, sheep pens, and partridge coops; and in the corridors of the mind. Yet no trace of the Bard's manuscripts, books, or letters has ever been found.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Dismissed Mary Sidney Herbert without explanation
- By Lisa on 07-30-19
By: Stuart Kells
-
J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Making of a Legend
- By: Colin Duriez
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 38
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 36
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 36
J.R.R. Tolkien's creations, imagination, and characters captured the attention of millions of readers. But who was the man who dreamt up the intricate languages and perfectly crafted world of Middle-earth? Tolkien had a difficult life, for many years: orphaned and poor, his guardian forbade him to communicate with the woman he had fallen in love with, and he went through the horrors of the First World War. An intensely private and brilliant scholar, he spent over 50 years working on the languages, history, peoples, and geography of Middle-earth,
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very insightful
- By Luke B. on 10-27-20
By: Colin Duriez
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The History of Classical Music
- By: Richard Fawkes
- Narrated by: Robert Powell
- Length: 5 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 350
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 195
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 196
From Gregorian Chant to Henryk Gorecki, the first living classical composer to get into the pop album charts, here is the fascinating story of over a thousand years of Western classical music and the composers who have sought to express in music the deepest of human feelings and emotions. Also available: The History of Opera.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
soothing
- By Anne on 10-29-03
By: Richard Fawkes
-
The Indispensable Composers
- A Personal Guide
- By: Anthony Tommasini
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 20 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 26
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 21
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 21
In The Indispensable Composers, Tommasini offers his own personal guide to the canon - and what greatness really means in classical music. What does it mean to be canonical now? Who gets to say? And do we have enough perspective on the 20th century to even begin assessing it? To make his case, Tommasini draws on elements of biography, the anxiety of influence, the composer's relationships with colleagues, and shifting attitudes toward a composer's work over time.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
A little disappointed.
- By Sher from Provo on 10-19-19
-
Maestros and Their Music
- The Art and Alchemy of Conducting
- By: John Mauceri
- Narrated by: John Mauceri
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 50
John Mauceri brings a lifetime of experience to bear in an unprecedented, hugely informative, consistently entertaining exploration of his profession, rich with anecdotes from decades of working alongside the greatest names of the music world. With candor and humor, Mauceri makes clear that conducting is itself a composition: of legacy and tradition, techniques handed down from master to apprentice - and more than a trace of ineffable magic.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Disappointing. Dry.
- By Jane on 12-30-17
By: John Mauceri
-
Opera
- The Definitive Story
- By: Alan Riding, Leslie Dunton-Downer
- Narrated by: Charles Armstrong
- Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
Immerse yourself in more than 400 years of the world's most celebrated operas and discover the fascinating stories behind them. Explore the lives of singers such as Maria Callas, Luciano Pavarotti, and Jonas Kaufmann. Meet composers like Mozart, Wagner, and Britten, and the librettists with whom they collaborated to create the magical blend of words and music that make up opera.
By: Alan Riding, and others
-
Johann Sebastian Bach
- The Learned Musician
- By: Christoph Wolff
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 21 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
Although we have heard the music of J. S. Bach in countless performances and recordings, the composer himself still comes across only as an enigmatic figure in a single familiar portrait. As we mark the 250th anniversary of Bach's death, author Christoph Wolff presents a new picture that brings to life this towering figure of the Baroque era. This engaging new biography portrays Bach as the living, breathing, and sometimes imperfect human being that he was, while bringing to bear all the advances of the last half-century of Bach scholarship.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Has all the boring details...
- By L. Jensen on 05-14-19
By: Christoph Wolff
-
Great Piano Works Explained
- By: Catherine Kautsky, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Catherine Kautsky
- Length: 13 hrs and 14 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 16
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 12
The glorious repertoire for solo piano includes many of classical music’s most beloved masterpieces. In these 24 musically rich lectures, you’ll dig deeply into this magnificent tradition, in an in-depth exploration of the art of listening. With Professor Kautsky’s inspired guidance and expert playing, you’ll highlight key works of each composer, and unpack their structure, the musical materials that drive them, and the specific features that affect listeners so strongly, giving you a clear grounding in how to approach and hear this great music.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Highly recommended!!
- By Meichiko on 10-27-22
By: Catherine Kautsky, and others
-
The History of Classical Music
- By: Richard Fawkes
- Narrated by: Robert Powell
- Length: 5 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 350
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 195
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 196
From Gregorian Chant to Henryk Gorecki, the first living classical composer to get into the pop album charts, here is the fascinating story of over a thousand years of Western classical music and the composers who have sought to express in music the deepest of human feelings and emotions. Also available: The History of Opera.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
soothing
- By Anne on 10-29-03
By: Richard Fawkes
-
The Indispensable Composers
- A Personal Guide
- By: Anthony Tommasini
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 20 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 26
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 21
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 21
In The Indispensable Composers, Tommasini offers his own personal guide to the canon - and what greatness really means in classical music. What does it mean to be canonical now? Who gets to say? And do we have enough perspective on the 20th century to even begin assessing it? To make his case, Tommasini draws on elements of biography, the anxiety of influence, the composer's relationships with colleagues, and shifting attitudes toward a composer's work over time.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
A little disappointed.
- By Sher from Provo on 10-19-19
-
Maestros and Their Music
- The Art and Alchemy of Conducting
- By: John Mauceri
- Narrated by: John Mauceri
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 50
John Mauceri brings a lifetime of experience to bear in an unprecedented, hugely informative, consistently entertaining exploration of his profession, rich with anecdotes from decades of working alongside the greatest names of the music world. With candor and humor, Mauceri makes clear that conducting is itself a composition: of legacy and tradition, techniques handed down from master to apprentice - and more than a trace of ineffable magic.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Disappointing. Dry.
- By Jane on 12-30-17
By: John Mauceri
-
Opera
- The Definitive Story
- By: Alan Riding, Leslie Dunton-Downer
- Narrated by: Charles Armstrong
- Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
Immerse yourself in more than 400 years of the world's most celebrated operas and discover the fascinating stories behind them. Explore the lives of singers such as Maria Callas, Luciano Pavarotti, and Jonas Kaufmann. Meet composers like Mozart, Wagner, and Britten, and the librettists with whom they collaborated to create the magical blend of words and music that make up opera.
By: Alan Riding, and others
-
Johann Sebastian Bach
- The Learned Musician
- By: Christoph Wolff
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 21 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
Although we have heard the music of J. S. Bach in countless performances and recordings, the composer himself still comes across only as an enigmatic figure in a single familiar portrait. As we mark the 250th anniversary of Bach's death, author Christoph Wolff presents a new picture that brings to life this towering figure of the Baroque era. This engaging new biography portrays Bach as the living, breathing, and sometimes imperfect human being that he was, while bringing to bear all the advances of the last half-century of Bach scholarship.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Has all the boring details...
- By L. Jensen on 05-14-19
By: Christoph Wolff
-
Great Piano Works Explained
- By: Catherine Kautsky, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Catherine Kautsky
- Length: 13 hrs and 14 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 16
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 12
The glorious repertoire for solo piano includes many of classical music’s most beloved masterpieces. In these 24 musically rich lectures, you’ll dig deeply into this magnificent tradition, in an in-depth exploration of the art of listening. With Professor Kautsky’s inspired guidance and expert playing, you’ll highlight key works of each composer, and unpack their structure, the musical materials that drive them, and the specific features that affect listeners so strongly, giving you a clear grounding in how to approach and hear this great music.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Highly recommended!!
- By Meichiko on 10-27-22
By: Catherine Kautsky, and others
-
Schubert
- A Musical Wayfarer
- By: Lorraine Byrne Bodley
- Narrated by: Christa Lewis
- Length: 20 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2
Brilliant, short-lived, incredibly prolific—Schubert is one of the most intriguing figures in music history. While his music attracts a wide audience, much of his private life remains shrouded in mystery, and significant portions of his work have been overlooked. In this major new biography, Lorraine Byrne Bodley takes a detailed look into Schubert's life, from his early years at the Stadtkonvikt to the harrowing battle with syphilis that led to his death at the age of thirty-one.
-
Classical Music 101
- By: Fred Plotkin
- Narrated by: Fred Plotkin
- Length: 19 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall2.5 out of 5 stars 66
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars 19
-
Story3 out of 5 stars 20
In clear and entertaining prose, Plotkin explores a thousand years of music, introduces listeners to more than 100 great works, and profiles in depth many significant composers, including Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Berlioz, Tchaikovsky, Dvoxak, and Mahler. He describes all the musical instruments in the orchestra, defines major musical terms, and makes music theory comprehensible for the uninitiated. There are also conversations with important musicians who offer fascinating insights about their art.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Only for true beginners
- By Charles on 07-25-04
By: Fred Plotkin
-
Classical Music for Dummies, 2nd Edition
- By: David Pogue, Scott Speck
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 15
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 13
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 13
Classical Music for Dummies is a friendly, funny, easy-to-understand guide to composers, instruments, orchestras, concerts, recordings, and more. Classical music is widely considered one of the pinnacles of human achievement, and this informative guide will shows you just how beautiful and rewarding it can be. You'll learn how Bach is different from Beethoven, how Mozart is different still, and why not all "classical" music is actually Classical if it's really Baroque or Romantic.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
It's Fine
- By I. Donovan on 03-31-23
By: David Pogue, and others
-
Elements of Jazz: From Cakewalks to Fusion
- By: Bill Messenger, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Bill Messenger
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 715
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 623
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 618
Jazz is a uniquely American art form, one of America's great contributions to not only musical culture, but world culture, with each generation of musicians applying new levels of creativity that take the music in unexpected directions that defy definition, category, and stagnation. Now you can learn the basics and history of this intoxicating genre in an eight-lecture series that is as free-flowing and original as the art form itself.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
A Disappointingly Distorted, Myopic View Of Jazz
- By Parallax View on 08-18-13
By: Bill Messenger, and others
-
Writers
- Their Lives and Works
- By: DK, James Naughtie
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 17 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 2
From William Shakespeare and Jane Austen to Gabriel García Márquez and Toni Morrison, Writers explores more than 100 biographies of the world’s greatest writers. Writers introduces key ideas, themes, and literary techniques of each figure, revealing the imaginations, and personalities behind some of the world's greatest novels, short stories, poems, and plays. A diverse variety of authors are covered, from the Middle Ages to present day, providing a compelling glimpse into the lives of the people behind the page.
By: DK, and others
-
Language of the Spirit
- An Introduction to Classical Music
- By: Jan Swafford
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 24
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 23
In Language of the Spirit, renowned music scholar Jan Swafford argues that we have it all wrong: classical music has something for everyone and is accessible to all. Ranging from Gregorian chant to Handel's Messiah, from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons to the postmodern work of Philip Glass, Swafford is an affable and expert guide to the genre. He traces the history of Western music, introduces listeners to the most important composers and compositions, and explains the underlying structure and logic of their music.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great intro to various important composers & works
- By Jay G on 06-14-18
By: Jan Swafford
-
Beethoven
- Anguish and Triumph
- By: Jan Swafford
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 39 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 214
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 186
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 182
Jan Swafford's biographies have established him as a revered music historian, capable of bringing his subjects vibrantly to life. His magnificent new biography of Ludwig van Beethoven peels away layers of legend to get to the living, breathing human being who composed some of the world's most iconic music.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Huge book - musical reader appreciates best
- By DMgraphicGlass on 01-20-15
By: Jan Swafford
-
Philosophers
- Their Lives and Works
- By: DK
- Narrated by: Chris Dyer
- Length: 18 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall1 out of 5 stars 1
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
This audiobook introduces the key ideas, themes, and working methods of each featured individual, setting their ideas within a wider historical and cultural context. Charting the development of ideas across the centuries in both the East and West, from ancient Chinese philosophy to the work of contemporary thinkers, Philosophers provides a compelling glimpse into the personal lives, loves, and influences of the great philosophers as they probed into life's "big ideas".
By: DK
-
Time's Echo
- The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance
- By: Jeremy Eichler
- Narrated by: Jeremy Eichler, Sherrill Milnes
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
In 1785, when the great German poet Friedrich Schiller penned his immortal “Ode to Joy,” he crystallized the deepest hopes and dreams of the European Enlightenment for a new era of peace and freedom, a time when millions would be embraced as equals. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony then gave wing to Schiller’s words, but barely a century later these same words were claimed by Nazi propagandists and twisted by a barbarism so complete that it ruptured, as one philosopher put it, “the deep layer of solidarity among all who wear a human face.”
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Beautiful
- By Chuck Millar, PhD on 05-18-24
By: Jeremy Eichler
-
Remarkable Diaries
- The World's Greatest Diaries, Notebooks, and Letters Explored and Explained
- By: DK
- Narrated by: Dugald Bruce Lockhart
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 8
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 8
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 8
Remarkable Diaries traces the history of the diary in all its forms, from ancient times to the present day. It brings together historical and literary diaries, artists' sketchbooks, explorers' journals, and scientists' notebooks. Discover what is was life to build a pyramid, sail the seas with Magellan, travel into the heart of Africa, or serve on the Western Front. Find out how writers and artists planned their masterpieces and how scientists developed their groundbreaking theories.
By: DK
-
How Music and Mathematics Relate
- By: David Kung, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: David Kung
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 124
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 99
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 97
Great minds have long sought to understand the relationship between music and mathematics. Both involve patterns, structures, and relationships. Both generate ideas of great beauty and elegance. Music is a fertile testing ground for mathematical principles, while mathematics explains the sounds instruments make and how composers put those sounds together. Understanding the connections between music and mathematics helps you appreciate both, even if you have no special ability in either field....
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
No visuals provided! Very hard to follow without.
- By Anonymous User on 03-23-20
By: David Kung, and others
-
A History of Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult
- By: DK
- Narrated by: Susie Riddell
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 223
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 188
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 185
A History of Magic, Witchcraft and the Occult charts the extraordinary narrative of one of the most interesting and often controversial subjects in the world - from ancient animal worship and shamanism, through alchemy and divination to modern Wicca and the resurgence of the occult in 21st-century literature, cinema, and television.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Decent Primer on Magical Traditions
- By Albert Williams on 04-28-21
By: DK
What listeners say about Composers
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- PavFan
- 02-21-22
Exceeded my expectations
When I select a book, if the narrator is not good, it ruins the book for me and I often need to return it or painstakingly muddle through if the content is something I really want to hear. In the case of Composers, I am quite convinced that there is nothing Richard Trinder cannot pronounce! He spoke as one who is fluent in many languages - names of composers, title of their pieces, names of cities across the globe, etc. His contribution made it feel like you were exported to that place and time during the composer's life. It added a great deal to my enjoyment of the book.
This book gave wonderful insight into the composers - many things I did not know about my favorites. It also prompted me to listen to works of composers I'd never heard of.
This would be a "perfect" book, if there was a piece of music played after each composer - I would pay double for that!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful