Drawing on original interviews, oral histories and archival documents, the author traces the iconic children's program host's personal, professional, and artistic life through decades of work. "Every weekday for decades, a kind man named Mister Rogers stepped through a door in his TV house, spoke directly into the camera while he changed from street clothes into a cardigan and sneakers, and sang, "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood." Offering...

Siblin weaves together three dramatic narratives: Bach's composition of the Cello Suites and the manuscript's subsequent disappearance in the eighteenth century; Pablo Casals' historic discovery and popularization of the music in Spain in the late-nineteenth century; and Siblin's own infatuation with the suites at the dawn of the twenty-first century.

This entertaining history of Cuba and its music begins with the collision of Spain and Africa and continues through the era of Miguelito Valds, Arsenio Rodriguez, Benny Mor, and Prez Prado. It offers a behind-the-scenes examination of music from a Cuban point of view, unearthing surprising, provocative connections and making the case that Cuba was fundamental to the evolution of music in the New World. The ways in which the music of black slaves transformed...

Les Miserables is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original French title. However, several alternatives have been used, including The Miserables, The Wretched, The Miserable Ones, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, The Victims and The Dispossessed. Beginning in 1815 and culminating...

How does an underground oddity become a cultural phenomenon? For over 40 years, the rock band Kiss has galvanized the entertainment world with an unparalleled blitz of bravado, theatricality, and shameless merchandizing, garnering generations of loyally rabid fans. But if not for a few crucial months in late 1975 and early 1976, Kiss may have ended up nothing more than a footnote. Shout It Out Loud is a serious examination of the circumstance and...

The popularity of cartoon music, from Carl Stallings work for Warner Bros. to Disney sound tracks and The Simpsons song parodies, has never been greater. This lively and fascinating look at cartoon music's past and present collects contributions from well-known music critics and cartoonists, and interviews with the principal cartoon composers. Here Mark Mothersbaugh talks about his music for Rugrats, Alf Clausen about composing for The Simpsons, Carl...

A series of themed essays rather than a traditional biography, this profile was written by a legendary conductor and performer. In addition to the composer's works and concert performances, the book explores Chopin's roles as teacher, Polish nationalist, friend to Liszt and Delacroix, and lover of George Sand as well his chronic illness and his tormented, sensitive nature.

This first comprehensive history of musical instruments, this book ranges from prehistoric times to the 20th century. It traverses five continents and every stage of evolution, from primitive rattles and bull-roarers to the electric organ. Author Curt Sachs, one of the world's most distinguished musicologists, combines rich scholarship with personal insight in a remarkable fusion of music, anthropology, and the fine arts. Beginning with the earliest...

The three volumes of The Masterwork in Music present complete English translations of major works by Austrian music theorist Heinrich Schenker, one of the twentieth century's leading figures in the field. First published in German between 1925 and 1930, these essays represent Schenker's greatest writings in analysis prior to the 1935 definitive formulation of his theory of music in Der freie Satz (Free Composition). This new publication of the long-awaited...

Howard Smither has written the first definitive work on the history of the oratorio since Arnold Schering published his Geschichte des Oratoriums in 1911. This volume is the first of a four-volume comprehensive study that offers a new synthesis of what is known to date about the oratorio.Volume 1, divided into three parts, opens with the examination of the medieval, Renaissance, and early Baroque antecedents and origins of the oratorio, with emphasis...