Description
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewPublished in the ‘Listener's Companion’ series, which is intended to ‘give readers a deeper understanding of pivotal musical genres and ... iconic composers and performers,’ this volume offers historical background and somewhat sentimental, literary-styled stories. On the plus side, the book is comprehensive. All the genres are covered, and major violin composers are well represented. The book's organization is logical, as are the subsections within the chapters. . . .Summing Up: Recommended. . . . .Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; general readers. * CHOICE *
Violinist and scholar, Professor Sciannameo invites readers into the world of the violin concerto, tracing its history from The Four Seasons tothe pillars of modernism such as the Berg and Bartók, Stravinsky, Shostakovich and Prokofiev, Szymanowski and Martinu concertos. He also explores the stories of the composers who wrote these celebrated masterpieces, and the virtuosi who performed them. Sciannameo allows the reader to truly experience these fabled works by evoking the era and circumstances surrounding their genesis. * Stringendo *
Table of ContentsChapter 1: In the Baroque: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Bach’s Four Harpsichords Chapter 2: Mozart – Haydn – Brunetti – Tomasini Chapter 3: Viotti and Beethoven Chapter 4: The Meteoric Paganini and His Epigones Chapter 5: At the Heart of German Romanticism: Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Bruch Chapter 6: Brahms’ Violin Concerto and the End of an Era Chapter 7: In the After-Brahms: Monsters and Leprechauns Chapter 8: Pillars of Modernism: Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Berg, and Bartôk Chapter 9: Barber and Korngold, Shostakovich and…Schoenberg Chapter 10: Music without Anxieties
