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The Lives and Times of the Great Composers Hardcover – December 9, 2004

by Michael Steen (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 173 ratings
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A grand and panoramic biograhical history of the giants of classical music, The Lives and Times of Great Composers is a new, unique, and lovingly constructed modern reference--and a beguiling read which you will return to again and again.

Interlinked yet self-contained, each chapter distills the life of one or more composers, set against the social, political, musical, and cultural background of the time. Read the story of Bach, the respectable burgher, much of whose vast output was composed amidst petty turf disputes in Luteran Leipzig; or the ugly, argumentative Beethoven, obsessed by his laundry; or Mozart, the over-exploited infant prodigy whose untimely death was shrouded in rumor; or the ghastly death of Donizetti and Smetana. Read about Verdi, who composed against the background of the Italian Risorgimento, or about the family life of the Wagners; and Brahms, who rose from the slums of Hamburg to become a devotee of beer and coffee in fin-de-siecle Vienna, a cultural capital bent on destroying Mahler.

Michael Steen paints a vivid portrait of the tumultuous times in which these brilliant, yet flawed, human beings labored--a tour of 350 years of European history. From Handel's London and the speculative financial frenzy of the "South Sea bubble"; to the courts of petty German princelings and the ornate and sleazy Dresden; to the astonishingly creative Vienna of Beethoven and Schubert; to the opera in 19th-century Paris and Bizet in the Franco-Prussian War and the Commune; to the Majorca of Chopin, to the Russia of Tchaikovsky and the Siege of Leningrad, just one of the many horrors which Shostakovich had to survive. We encounter, too, painters such as Renoir and Manet, literary figures like Zola, Proust, and Dostoyevsky, and religious leaders such as Pope Pius IX and Cardinal Newman. Great Composers paints in broad brushstrokes the culture of a continent far wider than music.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    992 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  4. Publication date
    December 9, 2004
  5. Dimensions
    6.68 x 2.24 x 9.52 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0195222180
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0195222180
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Well written, fascinating, and extremely useful, this volume serves as both a sociological study and a reference work. Highly recommended. "--Library Journal starred review

Book Description

An enticing biography of the giants of European music and the societies in which they lived

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; 1st edition (December 9, 2004)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 992 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0195222180
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0195222180
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.58 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.68 x 2.24 x 9.52 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 173 ratings

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Michael Steen

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
173 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Beachbum 904
5.0 out of 5 stars A non fiction history book
Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2015
Verified Purchase
A big book filled with information. It was entertaining and very interesting. I first read Schubert’s life. After all, I like his inpromptus. It was a mistake: girls, parties, wine, night life, venereal disease…, but I discovered later that the whole book did not treat only of sex.
Composers have always been good at finding the most beautiful, romantic, and lush places in Europe: Austrian forests, Russian villages, lake Como and Bellagio, islands in the Mediterranean Sea - the nicest in Italy, and even Vatican - all were frequented by composers.
Politics: they did not have Internet, but they were well aware of the political movements: invasion by the French armies, fall of Napoleon, revolutions in France every 20 years, invasions of Poland and of France, iron hand of Bismark, fall of various dynasties, and later dictators of communist Russia, etc. In fact, they were often directly impacted by politics. They had their own opinions which sometimes did not match the newly established government, and at all times, they needed sponsors, publishers, money, and concert halls. Some of them had to hide in order not to be arrested.

I wonder if contemporary composers are confronted to the same problems.
6 people found this helpful
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Stanley Hauer
5.0 out of 5 stars Any lover of classical music might want to buy this book.
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2005
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I am not a professional musicologist, just a passionate amateur. I read a lot of musical biography and such, so I was pleasantly surprised to see just how much I learned from this book. It is a real joy to read, the sort of book one doesn't want to end. In my view, it is generally balanced and fair (though the chapters on Wagner and R. Strauss come close to assassination at times). Rather like Edward Gibbon, Steen lives out his sex life in his footnotes, which are often hilarious. The book is elaborately, even tediously, documented; but the source notes are in the back, so as not to distract from the text notes. This is not a book on music; it is a book on composers: biography not musicology. (As Steen explains in a humorous introduction, music is about cellos, biography about fellows.)

I really enjoyed this book and recommend it highly. At the risk of sounding petty, I wish that so distinguished publisher as Oxford could have employed an editor to rid this otherwise fine work of numerous grammatical errors. But put down your red pen for a while and just have a good time with Steen's exploration of Western music.
25 people found this helpful
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Celina Corak
4.0 out of 5 stars Concise, general biography of history's most celebrated composers
Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2019
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I've grown up loving classical music and though I knew the biographies of some composers, the backgrounds of others were vague. This is a very short introduction of a collection of history's most celebrated composers. entertaining reading.
2 people found this helpful
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Nicholas Sagos
5.0 out of 5 stars Book in Great Condition - Like New
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2023
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The quality and condition of this book was pristine. It really was way better than I expected and just what I needed.
One person found this helpful
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Zaki Ansari
5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific: Scholarly and entertaining
Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2013
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I live in India and my music teachers expect me to play ancient music from the West. Though the music is wonderful, I always had the strange feeling of watching myself learn and play as though I was another person I was observing. I was never with the music because I lacked the cultural context.

This book by Michael Steen has fixed that problem. It is not just a concise history of Western music of the previous few centuries but also a window into the everyday lives of the people to whom the music belongs.

The book provides an essential cultural context for truly enjoying the musical heritage of places like Italy, Germany, France, England and other such parts of Europe.
3 people found this helpful
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Peter
3.0 out of 5 stars A LITTLE DISAPPOINTED - TOO MUCH HISTORY AND NOT ENOUGH ABOUT THE ...
Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2014
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A LITTLE DISAPPOINTED - TOO MUCH HISTORY AND NOT ENOUGH ABOUT THE COMPOSERS. HOWEVER I AM LEARNING A LOT SO NO WORRIES.
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Susana Malnati
5.0 out of 5 stars Useful education for my students.
Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2018
Verified Purchase
The book on the composer's lives is a good handy reference that I use on education on Music History in my piano studio.
When adding composers to my student's repertoire it is vey important that students can
read about the life of the composer they play. So by having Great Composers in Kindle format I have a more close approach on introducing them to new details of the composers lives.
One person found this helpful
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Doug
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Read
Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2021
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Great history and background included to give context to each composer’s life and times. I also like that the author was never biased.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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E. Jay
5.0 out of 5 stars Livraison très rapide.
Reviewed in France on November 23, 2021
Verified Purchase
Livre fascinant,bien écrit. Biographies détaillées permettant d'insérer les compositeurs célèbres dans leur contexte. Je le recommande aux mélomanes tout comme aux non mélomanes.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Informative
Reviewed in Canada on July 17, 2019
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A comprehensive review of the magnificent world of music.
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philkim
5.0 out of 5 stars not too high-brow and an excellent primer if you want to gain a broad overview ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 4, 2017
Verified Purchase
Absorbing pen-picture life stories of myriad leading composers from the 18th-20th century. Focuses on their personal lives and the events of their era, rather than on the music. The book is a little light on detail for some of the early famous composers, but really hits its stride in the post-Beethoven era. Very enjoyable, not too high-brow and an excellent primer if you want to gain a broad overview of developments in classical music and European history over the last 300 years.
6 people found this helpful
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M DSouza
5.0 out of 5 stars Super!
Reviewed in Germany on August 18, 2014
Verified Purchase
Sehr gut und lustig geschrieben. Man lernt viel von Musik und Geschichte! So lernt man auch beide am besten. Gruß
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Rubinstein
3.0 out of 5 stars Interessante, ma qualità ebook un po' scarsa
Reviewed in Italy on March 19, 2014
Verified Purchase
Allora, facciamo subito una distinzione: il contenuto dell'ebook è interessantissimo: tante biografie raccontate con piglio insolito e taglio affascinante (tantissimi dati sulle vite dei compositori, comprese le loro storie personali meno conosciute). Per questo motivo, mi sento di consigliarlo a tutti gli appassionati. E gli avrei anche dato quattro o cinque stelle, perché davvero il lavoro di Michael Steen le meriterebbe.

Ma. Ecco il "ma". Non penso sia ormai più giustificabile che un ebook pubblicato da professionisti presenti tutti questi difetti di impaginazione. Le note (numerose) sono praticamente impossibili da leggere, perché non sono linkate. Alcuni caratteri risultano incompatibili, evidentemente, perché vengono sostituiti dai quadratini o da differenti font. Non è tollerabile, sinceramente. Per questo, alla fine, abbasso il giudizio a tre stelle.
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