Beethoven was a genius so universal that his popularity, extraordinary even during his lifetime, has never ceased to grow. It now encircles the globe: Beethoven's most famous works are as beloved in Beijing as they are in Boston. Biographer Morris brings the composer to life as a man of astonishing complexity and overpowering intelligence. A gigantic, compulsively creative personality unable to tolerate constraints, he was not so much a social rebel...

Simon's memoir reveals her remarkable life, beginning with her storied childhood as the third daughter of Richard L. Simon, the co-founder of publishing giant Simon & Schuster, her musical debut as half of The Simon Sisters performing folk songs with her sister Lucy in Greenwich Village, to a meteoric solo career that would result in 13 top-40 hits, including the #1 song "You're So Vain." She was the first artist in history to win a Grammy Award,...

lluminates Beethoven's difficult childhood, his struggle to find a wife, his ungovernable temper, his emotional volatility, his tendency to push away those trying to help him, and in middle age his obsessive compulsion to control his nephew's life.

An authoritative guide to the lives and works of over 100 of the most famous classical composers, encompassing all styles of composition from medieval times to the present day. Including biographies for each composer, and historical information about the musical eras, events and artistic movements of that time, also how the composers influenced or changed the development of their art form.

The little-known story of Leonard Cohen's concert tour to the front lines of the Yom Kippur War, including never-before-seen selections from an unfinished manuscript by Cohen and rare photographs. In October 1973, the poet and singer Leonard Cohen--thirty-nine years old, famous, unhappy, and at a creative dead end--traveled from his home on the Greek island of Hydra to the chaos and bloodshed of the Sinai desert when Egypt attacked Israel on the Jewish...

For 18 months, award-winning director Scott Hicks followed the legendary composer Philip Glass across three continents, creating a remarkable portrait of one of the greatest artists of all time. Allowed unprecedented access to Glass's working process and long time collaborators, Hicks provides a unique glimpse into the composer's life.

The composer of symphonies, operas, and film scores examines his own life and career. A world-renowned composer of symphonies, operas, and film scores, Glass has, almost single-handedly, crafted the dominant sound of late-twentieth-century classical music. Here his behind-the-scenes recollections allow readers to experience those moments of creative fusion when life so magically merged with art. From his childhood in post-World War II Baltimore to...

This book is a memoir by the iconic singer-songwriter chronicling her story from her beginnings in Brooklyn through her remarkable success as one of the world's most acclaimed musical talents, to her present day as a leading performer and activist. From her marriage to Gerry Goffin, with whom she wrote dozens of songs that hit the charts, to her own achievements, notably with "Tapestry," which remained on the charts for more than six years, to her...