Composers Books

If you are a fan of musicials or even just a fan of music then I recommend this book. With over 700 songs listed there is something in here for everyone. I originally bought it as I wanted to find the lyrics for some of Betty Hutton's songs, but I will also look into more of Frank Loesser's musicials in the future.

Any serious fan of popular songwriting should buy this book. Frank Loesser is frequently overlooked when discussing the great songwriters of the 20th century. Hopefully, this book will correct that. I just got the book a few days ago, and skimming through it I've laughed out loud and have been moved by Loesser's facility with language. There are dozens of unpublished songs in here, and I yearn to hear the melodies, especially Loesser's own.
Meticulously researched and bountifully exuberant, I will treasure this book for many years. Thanks to all who assembled it.

This collection kicks some butt! Robert Kimball does it again!

All I can say about this book is: 'Swonderful, 'smarvelous that such a book exists.

Every Gershwin fan in the world should have this book.

Lorenz Hart is one of the finest lyricists in the history of American musical theater. He is largely responsible for elevating the process of writing lyrics into an art form. Before Hart, lyrics were usually trite and predictable with simplistic rhymes such as "I am blue, and so are you."

Hart wrote lyrics that are cerebral and sophisticated. His compositions are infused with wit and wisdom. He used complex rhymes. An example from "My Funny Valentine": "Your looks are laughable, unphotographable. Yet you're my favorite work of art. Is your figure less than Greek? Is your mouth a little weak? When you open it to speak, are you smart?"

Another example from "Bewitched": "I'm wild again, beguiled again, a whimpering simpering child again...." And yet another example from "Lady is a Tramp": "She gets too hungry for dinner at eight. She likes the theater but never comes late. She never bothers with people she hates. That's why the lady is a tramp."

Hart could be wistful and romantic as in "My Romance": "My romance doesn't need to have a moon in the sky. My romance doesn't need a blue lagoon standing by. No month of May. No twinkling star. No hideaway. No soft guitar."

Hart's lyrics are consistently observant and very often ingenious. They are the perfect match for the variety and intricacy of Richard Rodgers' superb music.

When you read through this collection of Hart's compositions, you will realize why this diminutive, gifted and endearing artist is a true giant of the musical theater.

Very few collections of lyrics are worth reading as literature. First there was W.S. Gilbert, who showed the way that intelligent lyrics need not be anathema to a light-hearted musical; and whose lyrics can stand as independent poems. Afterwards we had P.G. Wodehouse, Cole Porter, Noel Coward, Ira Gershwin--and the best of 'em all, Lorenz Hart.

Not only is what he says witty but how he says it is even wittier. There is no room here to give examples of his incredible rhymes. But turn to the single example of "To Keep My Love Alive" which might be the very last set of lyrics he wrote before a lifetime of alcohol finally took its toll; and then compare it with any Gilbert's "list" songs to see the genius of this artist.

On an other level, any student of psychology will pounce upon the self-lacerating images conjured up in his "love" songs. Because of his own physical problems, we have "My Funny Valentine" in which the love object is "less than Greek" with a chin that's a little weak. And being in love is little more than "broken dates" and "flying plates."

His out and out parodies rival Cole Porter's, as witness "Way Out West on West End Avenue" with its kitchen range and so on. And all this is helped by his "signature" trick of breaking up words in the middle to get rhymes like "Summer journeys to Niagra/ And to other places aggra-/ Vate, all our cares."

On the level of Broadway musical history, the value of this collection speaks for itself, especially with the fine photographs and annotations about every show and then every song within the show. A scholarly masterpiece.

So how come you don't have a copy?

This book is for me, being a Verdi fan ever since, that important that I am translating it from the English into Dutch language, in the first place for myself, and also to be able to give some more information to my fellowmembers of our amateur operasinging company.

I came to this site as the result of the last Texaco Metropolitan Opera broadcast. A listener had submitted a three-part question based on her study of Charles Osborne's Complete Operas of Verdi. She referred to it as a three volume work. I immediately became excited as the edition that I own is a single work. I therefore imagined that there was a new edition. It did occur to me, however, that as this listener is in England, she might just be in posession of a different version of the same book (which I now presume to be the case).

I have owned a copy of this work for over ten years. Having read the work from cover to cover several times, I cannot begin to guess how many times I have referred to individual chapters for reference. Mr. Osborne writes in a style which is easy to read for the Opera fanatic, as well as the scholar. The work contains chapters on each of Verdi's operas (including those which are relatively obscure in The United States). He gives background on the original sources as well as the contemporary historic events of the time.

I reccommend this book without reservation.

The Composers Fandex® Family Field Guide is a great overview and introduction to great composers. Covering 47 composers, it offers a portrait and short biography of each individual. Date and place of birth, date and place of death, and the composer's most popular works today are listed and many interesting facts are given.

Even after years of music lessons and a fair level of familiarity with classical music, I was surprised by what I learned through reading this guide. I was unfamiliar with a number of composers that it covered. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to get an overview of the lives and work of the world's great composers.

Finally my family is able to put a face, and a short biograhy, to the music they love. I used this fandex to supplement my homeschool curriculum. We were able to listen to various recordings of classical music and then look up the composer in our fandex.It worked out beautifully! It was also great listening to the classical station in the car and having our incredibly portable fandex there to answer any questions we had about the composer. As a feild guide it has been both fun and educational.

Despite a couple of glaring erros (Liszt had 2 daughters and a son, not three daughters) or the mispelling of the given name of Poulenc's 'aunt', it is easy to overlook all of this for what lies ahead in this beautiful volume. It is well worth owning and makes one want to go to the dwelling place where so much great music was created.

it's not clear to me why this book has not been released as I just saw it in a bookstore in downtown San Francisco. The book is a gem. There is enormous satisfaction in seeing the milieu in which a great work of musical composition took place. The quality of the photographs have nothing banal or boring about them and enhance the very message they so succesfully convey. A gorgeous book and more than a volume to grace a coffee table. The text is also very worthwhile.

The late Norman Del Mar wrote a series of guides on conducting works in the orchestral repertoire. They are not aimed only at conductors but are of great interest to music lovers generally. You will however need to have copies of the orchestra scores he discusses, and be able to read them. But there is no complex musical or philosophical analysis - these are practical guides which go straight to the music itself.

Del Mar wrote with a refreshingly direct, no-nonsense style. Even if you think you know the Beethoven symphonies very well, Del Mar will alert you to many new details and insights. I heartily recommend this book.

English Conductor and teacher Norman Del Mar provides a detailed and enlightening approach to to the conducting student of Beethoven Symphonies. Modelled on Felix Weingartner's book of the same title, Del Mar provides through his countless experience insights and pointers to any hopeful would be conductors. All the traps concerning the performance of these symphonies, including structure, tempi, balance, orchestration, phrasing and articulation are all discussed. Humorous anecdotes are also included. Any student of conducting, or student of Beethoven must have this book, in as much as a guide to how Beethoven Symphonies were performed in the 1940's.

This was the first of what turned out to be six of the "conversation" books between Robert Craft and Igor Stravinsky. They were quite popular for many reasons and deservedly so. When this book came out in 1958, Stravinsky was the great living master of Music. His "Canticum Sacrum" had been premiered at the St. Mark's cathedral in Venice with Stravinsky on the podium to both acclaim and opprobrium in 1956. Time magazine's review was entitled "Murder in the Cathedral" (a title borrowed from T.S. Eliot which caused the poet some embarrassment when he and Stravinsky met some time later). No one knew how much more the 76 year old composer had in him, but he was still considered a revolutionary.

This book clarifies a great deal about his attitudes toward music and many of his compositions. Some of his more doctrinaire statements in the autobiography and the poetics about performance, performers (executants), and interpretation versus execution are given more nuance and a better context. Several fine pictures of the composer with his friends and other notables are also included.

He also discusses his thoughts about Debussy, Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Ravel, and others. Several letters from notable composers are provided, as well.

While it is true these books were constructed conversations rather than transcripts of an interview between Craft and Stravinsky, they are most informative and most interesting. Think of the conversation as a compositional device and all will be well.

Most strongly recommended for any lover of Stravinsky's music and / or interested in the music of the 20th century. There is also a great deal of information on the artistic culture of Europe before, during, and after the world wars.

This book is wonderful. It really allows one to get into the head of a musical genius, Igor Stravinsky. Through question and answer format between Robert Craft and Stravinsky, one learns how a man of Stravinsky's caliber survives all the pressure and attention. This book is perfect for anyone wanting to understand the mind of a musician.

Though some of the topics in these interviews are repeated, overall they provide entertaining reading about Bowles, Tangier and his world. If you are not familiar with Bowles, I'd read Michelle Green's "The Dream at the End of the World" first, as it gives a fascinating and very well-written account of the expatriote community in Tangier, of which Bowles seems to have been the unelected president, or should we say sultan.

I don't regard Bowles as much of a fiction writer. (Apparently, he never got de-kiffed enough to see how sophomoric much of it is.) However, he is a very good conversationalist, as well as travel, or adventure, writer. (See "Without Stopping" and "Their Heads are Green and Their Hands are Blue.")

Edith Wharton's "In Morocco" is a great primer for the cultural backdrop in which Bowles lived and thrived and, like Bowles, she documents people, places and things very well. (If you like Bowles, you'll love her.)

Especially considering the current crisis between Islam and the West, it is important to read about the other guys without having to demonize them all the time. Bowles has an affinity for "the other guys" that is very refreshing. Yes, the North Africans are somewhat unreasonable, but then who isn't? And, is there a connection between Spain having the lowest confidence in President Bush's abilities (7%) and its proximity to, and long, troubled relations with, North Africa? Did you know that 90% of Morocco's Moslems were, at the time of Bowles' writing, not really Arabs, but Berbers, with a very different (and, from other Islamic pov's, unacceptable) approach to the religion? No?! Then read the book. (I had no idea.) If you want schisms, you got schisms. So the subjects discussed with Bowles are often more interesting than the man himself, who is a bit of a pervert and stuffed-shirt. But, he is also a sorcerer and magician, especially if you're stoned out of your mind on kif or majoun. He cultivated a following that was all too open to suggestion.

O.K., now, if you can put up with a lot of name-dropping and self-aggrandisement, then you'll enjoy this book, as much of the interesting "dialogue" between Islam and the West has occurred in Morocco. From Tangier, Bowles could actually see the coast of Spain, and, with his cigarette holder fully extended, flick an ash or two toward Europe. But he could also venture south into the mysterious countryside, with its Atlas Mountains, unnerving desert, oases and towns.

While the man himself might have been a sometimes irritating exercise in stoned-out tweed, many of his observations regarding the onslaught of civilization reflect this bizarre combination of aristocratic teahead, ethnologist, and sadistic dandy.

Caponi's collection of interviews, spanning several decades up to the early 1990's is a must for all real fans of Paul Bowles work, and an intriguing introduction to his life, work and influences for those who know little about him. As with any such collection of interviews, there is bound to be much repetition - different interviewers ask often essentially the same questions, while Bowles gives (more or less) the same answers. However, even for someone like myself, who thinks they know quite a bit about the man and his work (and maintains one of the Paul Bowles pages on the Web -

Many of the interviews touch on many of the other literary figures Bowles has known - Tennessee Williams is a frequent topic of conversation, as are William Burroughs and the other beat writers, and their time spent in Tangiers. It becomes very evident from the few interviews that dwell on the subject that Bowles is not going to talk much about his late wife, Jane. His hatred for the biography 'An invisible spectator' comes through clearly in several places, but I found it intriguing that his preferred biographer (if he had to make a reluctant choice) would be Millicent Dillon, author of the biography of Jane Bowles.

Altogether a very worthwhile read for anyone with any interest in Paul Bowles.

My cousin Craig is 45 years old this year and he has spent many of his years as a huge fan. I still have the books to give to him, but I know he will enjoy them.

This is probably the single best book I've ever read about the Dead. It's so much more immediate and satisfying to hear how things went down from the Dead themselves than from a faceless biographer. David Gans asks the questions *I* would have asked Jerry & Bob & Phil & Mickey & Billy. You'll feel like you're there hanging out in their living room with them. A wonderful insight into what made that magical machine run for over 30 years... --Mike Dobbs