Christina Guillaumier The first book in the English language to engage with Prokofiev's operatic output in its entirety.The operas of Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) mark a significant contribution to twentieth-century music...

Alan BlackwoodA colorfully illustrated guide for children to classical music features sections explaining the history of the orchestra, presenting the individual instruments, and showing a day in the life of...

Inge van Rij Berlioz frequently explored other worlds in his writings, from the imagined exotic enchantments of New Zealand to the rings of Saturn where Beethoven's spirit was said to...

TE Carhart At first glance, The Piano Shop on the Left Bank is simply an autobiography covering the author's blissful years in Paris. This is actually something much rarer and more original:...

Mitchell Cohen A wide-ranging look at the interplay of opera and political ideas through the centuriesThe Politics of Opera takes readers on a fascinating journey into the entwined development of...

Alex Ross The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century is a voyage into the labyrinth of modern music, which remains an obscure world for most people. While paintings of...

Richard Wagner A superb new translation of the libretto to Wagner's Ring cycle'Smiling in sorrowI sing of love'The Ring of the Nibelung, Wagner's epic cycle of four musical dramas about primal envy,...

Norman Lebrecht Two boys are growing up in wartime London. Martin is an only child, imprisoned in swottish loneliness. Then Dovidl enters his home, a refugee violinist from Warsaw. 'I...

Willa CatherPerhaps Willa Cather's most autobiographical work, The Song of the Lark charts the story of a young woman's awakening as an artist against the backdrop of the western landscape....

William Kinderman ”We do not understand music—it understands us.” This aphorism by Theodor W. Adorno expresses the quandary and the fascination many listeners have felt in approaching Beethoven's late quartets....

Bryan Magee Richard Wagner's devotees have ranged from the subtlest minds (Proust) to the most brutal (Hitler). The enduring fascination with his works arises not only from his singular fusion...

EL KonigsburgMEET THE SOULS-- Noah, who quite by accident was best man at the wedding of Ethan's grandmother and Nadia's grandfather-- Nadia, a hybrid with a halo of red hair,...