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Biographies

C.P.E. Bach | J.C. Bach | J.S. Bach | Balakirev | Barber | Bartók | Beach | Beethoven | Bellini | Berg | Berlioz | Bernstein | Bizet | Borodin | Boulanger | Boulez | Brahms | Britten | Bruch | Bruckner | Busoni | Butterworth | Buxtehude

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

C.P.E. Bach, Hans-Günter Ottenberg. Oxford University Press. 1991. ISBN 0198162456 (paperback)

Johann Christian Bach

John Christian Bach: Mozart's Friend and Mentor, Heinz Gartner, Reinhard G. Pauly (Translator). Amadeus Press. 1995. ISBN 0931340799 (hardcover)

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach: His Work and Influence on the Music of Germany, 1685-1750, Philipp Spitta, Clara Bell, J.A. Fuller-Maitland (Translator). Dover Publications, Inc. 1993. ISBN Volume 1 0486274128 (paperback), Volume 2 0486274136 (paperback), Volume 3 0486274144 (paperback)

J. S. Bach, by Albert Schweitzer, translated by Ernest Newman. Dover Publications. 1966 ISBN Volume 1 0486216314 (paperback), Volume 2 0486216322 (paperback): Volume One Historical account of Protestant church music before Bach, church music in Germany, the life of Bach, discussion of all of Bach's instrumental music. Musical examples. The second volume of this two volume work, an unabridged republication of the 1911 edition, is concerned with Bach's choral music. Musical examples.

Bach: Essays on His Life and Music, Christoph Wolff. Harvard University Press. 1994. ISBN 0674059263 (paperback)

Bach and the Patterns of Invention, Laurence Dreyfus. Harvard University Press. 1997. ISBN 0674060059 (hardcover)

J.S. Bach As Organist: His Instruments, Music, and Performance Practices, George Stauffer, Ernest May (Editor). Indiana University Press. 1986. ISBN 0253331811 (hardcover)

Basically Bach: A 300^th Birthday Celebration, Herbert Kupferberg. McGraw-Hill. 1985. ISBN 0070356467 (paperback)

The New Grove Bach Family, Christoph Wollf, et al. W.W. Norton & Company. 1997. ISBN 0393303543 (paperback): An expanded and updated version of the biographical, musical, and bibliographical information found in the New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians. Contains biographies and works lists for the following Bach family members (in chronological order): Johann, Johann Christoph, Johann Michael, Johann Nicolaus, Johann Bernard, Johann Ludwig, Johann Sebastian, Wilhelm Friedemann, Carl Philipp, Johan Ernst, Johann Christoph Friedrich, Johann Christian, Johann Michael, and Wilhelm Friedemann Ernst.

Bach Reader, Hans T. David, Arthur Mendel. W.W. Norton & Company. 1966. ISBN 0393002594 (paperback)

Johann Sebastian Bach: the Culmination of an Era, Karl Geiringer. Oxford University Press. 1966. ISBN 0195005546 (hardcover)

Mili Alexeyevich Balakirev

The New Grove Russian Masters, I, David Brown, et al. W.W. Norton & Company. 1997. ISBN 0393315851 (paperback): Comprehensive biographical articles taken from the New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians. Included are: Mikhail Glinka, Alexander Borodin, Mili Alexeyevich Balakirev, Modest Musorgsky, and Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Samuel Barber

Samuel Barber: The Composer and His Music, Barbara B. Heyman. Oxford University Press. 1994. ISBN 0195090586 (paperback)

Béla Bartók

Bartók and His World, Peter Laki (Editor). Princeton University Press. 1995. ISBN 0691006334 (paperback)

The Life and Music of Béla Bartók. Oxford University Press. 1993. ISBN 0195007549 (paperback)

The Life and Music of Béla Bartók, Halsey Stevens, Malcolm Gillies (Editor). Oxford University Press. 1993. ISBN 0198163495 (paperback)

Béla Bartók, Serge Moreaux, translated by G. S. Fraser and Erik De Mauny. Vienna House. 1974 ISBN 0844301051 (paperback): Chronicles in good style the scholarly folk-song collecting, piano performance, and composing of this twentieth century musical giant.

Béla Bartók, Kenneth Chalmers. Phaidon Press. 1995. ISBN 0714831646 (paperback)

Szekely and Bartók: The Story of a Friendship, Claude Kenneson. Amadeus Press. 1994. ISBN 0931340705 (hardcover)

Bartók Companion, Malcolm Gilles. Amadeus Press. 1994. ISBN 0931340756 (paperback)

Béla Bartók: Composition, Concepts, and Autograph Sources (Ernest Bloch Lectures in Music, 9), Laszlo Somfai. University of California Press. 1996. ISBN 0520084853 (hardcover)

Béla Bartók and Turn-Of-The-Century Budapest, Judit Frigyesi. University of California Press. 1998. ISBN 0520207408 (hardcover)

Amy Beach

Amy Beach, Passionate Victorian: The Life and Works of the American Composer, 1867-1944, Adrienne Fried Block, Fred L. Block. Oxford University Press. 1998. ISBN 0195074084 (hardcover)

Ludwig Van Beethoven

The Beethoven Sketchbooks: History, Reconstruction, Inventory (California Studies in 19^th-Century Music, 4), Douglas Johnson, et al. University of California Press. 1985. ISBN 0520048350 (hardcover)

Ludwig van Beethoven Epistolario vol. 1-7. Ludwig van Beethoven, with Italian trans. by Luigi Della Croce. Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. 1999-2003. (hardcover).

Beethoven, William Kinderman. University of California Press. 1995. ISBN 0520087968 (hardcover), 0520212266 (paperback)

Beethoven: A Critical Biography, Vincent D. Indy. Da Capo Press. 1970. ISBN 0306700190 (hardcover)

Beethoven in France: The Growth of an Idea, Leo Schrade. Da Capo Press. 1978. ISBN 0306775387 (hardcover)

Thayer's Life of Beethoven, Elliot Forbes (Editor). Princeton University Press. 1991. ISBN 0691027196 (paperback), 0691027021 (paperback): The huge classic treatment of Beethoven's life and work, originally written by Alexander Wheelock Thayer. The convoluted story of how this work came to be completed is related in the preface.

Beethoven: His Life, Work and World, H.C. Robbins Landon, H. C. Robbins Landom. Thames & Hudson. 1993. ISBN 0500015406 (hardcover)

The Beethoven Compendium: A Guide to Beethoven's Life and Music, Barry Cooper (Editor), et al. Thames & Hudson. 1996. ISBN 0500278717 (paperback)

Beethoven Letters Journals and Conversations, Michael Hamburger (Editor), Ludwig Van Beethoven. Thames & Hudson. 1992. ISBN 0500273243 (paperback)

The Letters of Beethoven. Macmillan Publishers. 1985. ISBN 0333398335 (hardcover): Includes virtually all the letters of Beethoven and other relevant documents covering a period of forty years, from 1787 to 1827. The three volumes contain nearly 1,600 fully annotated letters.

The New Grove Beethoven (The New Grove), Joseph Kerman, Alan Tyson. W.W. Norton & Company. 1997. ISBN 0393303551 (paperback)

Beethoven and the Creative Process, Barry Cooper. Oxford University Press. 1992. ISBN 0198163533 (paperback)

Beethoven and the Creative Process. Oxford University Press. 1992. ISBN 0198161638 (paperback)

Ludwig Van Beethoven: Approaches to His Music, Carl Dahlhaus, et al. Oxford University Press. 1991. ISBN 0198161484 (hardcover), 0198163991 (paperback)

Beethoven a Documentary Study, compiled and edited by H. C. Robbins Landon, translated by R. Wadleigh. E. Hartzell. Macmillan. 1974 ISBN 002004500X (paperback): Abridged edition documentary records, letters and other papers written about Beethoven in his lifetime. Well illustrated.

Vincenzo Bellini

Giovanni Bellini. Rona Goffen. Yale University Press. 1989. ISBN 0300043341 (hardcover).

Giovanni Bellini. Roger Eliot Fry. Ursus Press. 1995. ISBN 1883145031 (hardcover).

Alban Berg

Alban Berg: Master of the Smallest Link, Theodor W. Adorno, Christopher Hailey & Juliane Brand (translators). 1994. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521330165 (hardcover), 0521338840 (paperback): This unique study of Austrian composer Alban Berg (1885-1935) is now a part of music history. It is a personal account by Theodor Adorno (1903-1969), a preeminent philosopher and aesthetician, of the life and musical works of his mentor, friend, and composition teacher. In addition to analyses of individual pieces, the book explores the historical and cultural significance of Berg's music, its relationship to that of other nineteenth- and twentieth-century composers, and to the larger issues of contemporary life. This classic study provides a key to understanding Adorno himself as well as offering an individual perspective on one of the major composers of this century.

The Music of Alban Berg, Douglas Jarman. University of California Press. 1985. ISBN 0520049543 (paperback)

Alban Berg The Man and the Work, Mosco Carner. Holmes and Meier. 1988. ISBN 0841908419 (paperback): Thorough discussion and analysis of Berg's compositions. Includes previously unpublished correspondence between Schoenberg and Berg.

New Grove Second Viennesse School, Oliver Neighbour, et al. W.W. Norton & Company. 1998. ISBN 0393315878 (paperback): Comprehensive biographical articles taken from the New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians. Included are: Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, and Anton Webern.

Luciano Berio

Berio (Oxford Studies of Composers, No. 20), David Osmond-Smith. Oxford University Press. 1991. ISBN 0193154781 (hardcover)

Hector Berlioz

Berlioz, D. Kern Holoman. Harvard University Press. 1989. ISBN 0674067789 (hardcover)

The Memoirs of Hector Berlioz, David Cairns (translator & editor). Victor Gollancz. 1969. ISBN (paperback): Witty and appealing to musician and general reader alike. Highly entertaining and amusing literary side to this great composer.

The Memoirs of Hector Berlioz from 1803 to 1865, Ernest Newman (translator & editor). Dover Publications. 1990. ISBN 0486215636 (paperback): Paperback version of this witty composer's delightful memoirs.

The New Grove Early Romantic Masters, II, John Warrack, Hugh MacDonald, Karl-Heinz Kohler. W.W. Norton & Company. 1985. ISBN 039330096X (paperback): Comprehensive biographical articles taken from the New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians. Included are: Carl Maria von Weber, Hector Berlioz, and Felix Mendelssohn.

Five Great French Composers: Hector Berlioz, César Franck, Camille Saint-Saëns, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel - Their Lives and Works. Donald Brook. Books for Libraries. 1977. ISBN 0836980794 (hardcover).

Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein: A Life, Meryle Secrest. Alfred A. Knopf/Vintage Books. 1995. ISBN 0679407316 (hardcover), 067973757X (paperback)

Leonard Bernstein, Paul Myers. Phaidon Press. 1998. ISBN 0714837016 (paperback)

Bernstein A Biography, Joan Peyser. Ballantine Books. 1988. ISBN 0345352963 (paperback): An unbuttoned biography of Leonard Bernstein, pianist, composer and conductor with emphasis on his personal life.

George Bizet

Georges Bizet, His Life And Works. Douglas C. Parker. Reprint Services. 1926. ISBN 0781290503 (hardcover).

Georges Bizet. Martin Cooper. Reprint Services. 1938. ISBN 0781294908 (hardcover).

Alexander Borodin

The New Grove Russian Masters, I, David Brown, et al. W.W. Norton & Company. 1997. ISBN 0393315851 (paperback): Comprehensive biographical articles taken from the New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians. Included are: Mikhail Glinka, Alexander Borodin, Mili Alexeyevich Balakirev, Modest Musorgsky, and Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Nadia Boulanger

Nadia Boulanger: A Life in Music, Leonie Rosenstiel. W.W. Norton & Company. 1998. ISBN 0393317137 (paperback)

Pierre Boulez

Pierre Boulez, Dominique Jameux. Harvard University Press. 1991. ISBN 0674667409 (hardcover)

Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms: Life and Letters. Styra Avins, with Josef Eisinger (co-translator of letters). Oxford University Press. 1997. ISBN 0198162340 (hardcover), 0199247730 (paperback).: Considered by many professionals the best and most authoritative Brahms biography in English (see reviews in London Times, NY Times, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Music and Letters, New Republic, BBC Music Magazine, Library Review, among many others). An autobiography/biography in correspondence and commentary.

This book is the first comprehensive collection of the letters of Johannes Brahms ever to appear in English. Over 550 are included, virtually all uncut, and there are over a dozen published here for the first time in any language. Although he corresponded throughout his life with some of the great performers, composers, musicologists, writers, scientists, and artists of the day, and although thousands of his letters have survived, English readers have until now had scant opportunity to meet Brahms in person, through his words, and in his own voice.

The letters in this volume range from 1848 to just before his death. They include all Brahm's letters to Robert Schumann, over a hundred letters to Clara Schumann, and the complete Brahms-Wagner correspondence. They are joined by a running commentary to form an absorbing narrative, documented with scholarly care, provided with comprehensive notes, but written for the general music lover--the result is a lively biography. The work is generously illustrated, and contains several detailed appendices and an index.

Brahms, His Life and Work. Karl Geiringer, with Irene Geiringer. Da Capo Press. 1984. ISBN 0306802236 (paperback): Third revision of this classic Brahms biography. Especially valuable non-technical and vivid descriptions of Brahms's compositions.

Johannes Brahms - A Biography. Jan Swafford. Knopf. 1997. ISBN 0679422617 (hardcover), 0679745823 (paperback).: "In terms of bringing its subject to life, this is one of the most satisfying biographies I have ever read. As a biography of a composer, it benefits from having a composer as its author. As a modern biography, it avoids both "pathography" and putting its subject on a pedestal, even to make him an "easier target," as Swafford puts it in the preface to an earlier biography, of Ives. Swafford has taught me many things I have not known, and some I have wondered about, since I read Karl Geiringer's biography of Brahms long ago. …" - Read the complete Classical Net Review of this book.

Brahms (Dent Master Musicians Series). Oxford University Press. 1996. ISBN 019816484X (paperback)

The Life of Brahms, Florence May. Paganiniana. 1981. ISBN 087666589X (paperback): This edition is a two-volume work, originally published in London in 1905. Paganiniana Press expanded the work by adding many illustrations. May was a piano student and friend of Clara Schumann and Brahms, and this book is a very personal musical memoir.

Brahms and the Principle of Developing Variation, Walter Frisch. University of California Press. 1984. ISBN 0520047001 (hardcover): In this analytical study of eighteen important works by Brahms, Walter Frisch makes skillful use of Schoenberg's provocative concept of "developing variation." Frisch traces a genuine evolution through Brahms's compositions; he considers their relationship not only to each other, but also to significant works by Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, and Schoenberg. Walter Frisch is Associate Professor of Music at Columbia University and is Consulting Editor for 19^th-Century Music.

Benjamin Britten

Benjamin Britten, Michael Oliver. Phaidon Press. 1996. ISBN 0714832774 (paperback)

Letters from a Life: Selected Letters and Diaries of Benjamin Britten, Benjamin Britten, et al. University of California Press. 1991. ISBN 0520065204 (hardcover)

Max Bruch

Max Bruch His Life And Works, Christopher Fifield. George Braziller. 1988 ISBN 0807612049 (paperback): Late Romantic composer, Max Bruch (1838-1920). His most famous works were Violin Concerto in G minor, Kol Nidrei for cello and orchestra and Scottish Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra but this book lists many many more compositions. Is the time ripe for revival?

Anton Bruckner

Bruckner (Master Musicians Series), Derek Watson, Stanley Sadie. Macmillan Publishers. 1997. ISBN 0028646266 (hardcover)

Bruckner, Hans-Hubert Schoenzeler. Marion Boyars. 1998. ISBN 071450145X (paperback): Updated and expanded version of this excellent English-language biography of the enigmatic and elusive Bruckner.

Ferruccio Busoni

Ferruccio Busoni: Selected Letters, Ferruccio Busoni, Antony Beaumont (Editor). Columbia University Press. 1987. ISBN 0231064608 (hardcover)

Busoni the Composer, Antony Beaumont. Indiana University Press. 1986. ISBN 0253312701 (hardcover)

George Butterworth

Whom The Gods Love: The Life And Music Of George Butterworth. Michael Barlow. Toccata Press. 1998. ISBN 0907689426 (hardcover).: This is the first full-length study of the life and music of George Butterworth (1885-1916). He is chiefly remembered now for his orchestral tone-poems such as The Banks of Green Willow and A Shropshire Lad and for his songs, although Michael Barlow also chronicles the composer's extensive activities as a folksong and folkdance collector. The book includes some of Butterworth's own writings on music.

Dietrich Buxtehude

Dietrich Buxtehude - Organist in Lubeck. Kerala J. Snyder. Wadsworth Publishing. 1993. ISBN 0028724550 (paperback).

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