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Discusses the life and achievements of Frâedâeric Chopin in the context of his historical period. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The life of the great Polish composer Frederic Chopin
Frederic Chopin has a French name, a French father, and spent almost half his life in France, but was always considered a Polish composer because his music drew on the peasant tunes and dances of his native land.Perhaps more than any other great classical composer it was Chopin who represented the ideal "poet in music," especially the ideal poet of the Romantic age.What Lord Byron, John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley were to poetry, Chopin's piano works were to music.Chopin's work was sensitive, tender, amorous, lyrical and melancholy by turn.Richard Tames provides a straightforward juvenile biography of the composer's life for the Lifetime series.Frederic Francois Chopin (or Fryderyk Franciszek Szopen as he was christened) was born in Warsaw in 1810 and his first composition, a polonaise, was published in 1817.After enjoying success in both Warsaw and Vienna, the failed Polish revolt against Russia made him an exile living in Paris in 1831.

Overall, the book is much more of a biography than a lesson in music appreciation, paying much more attention to Chopin's travels and love interests before his death at the age of 39 than in specific compositions.However, I think that when young readers are introduced to the life of a great composer they should also be steered towards specific works (in fact, I think you should always listen to the music of a composer while you read about their life; certainly there are various "greatest hits" CDs that you can pick up with that will let you hear the Minute Waltz in D-Flat Major, the Nocturne in E-Flat Major, and the Military Polonaise).There are a couple of detailed sidebars on the notorious George Sand and the pianoforte as "The King of Instruments."The book is illustrated with many drawings and paintings made during Chopin's life time, including a sketch by George Sand of Chopin concentrating while composing, as well as a daguerreotype of the composer and a photography of the romantic monument to Chopin in Paris's Parc Monceau.Young readers will get a sense of Chopin's life from this slim biography, but will have to look elsewhere for an appreciation of his music. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Publisher: THE NEW TEMPLE PRESS; Publication date: 1859; Subjects: Non-Classifiable; Music / Genres ... Read more

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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the original text that can be both accessed online and used to create new print copies. The Library also understands and values the usefulness of print and makes reprints available to the public whenever possible. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found in the HathiTrust, an archive of the digitized collections of many great research libraries. For access to the University of Michigan Library's digital collections, please see http://www.lib.umich.edu and for information about the HathiTrust, please visit http://www.hathitrust.org ... Read more

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THIS 11 PAGE ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE BOOK: Music: Its Secret Influence Throughout the Ages, by Cyril Scott. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The only photograph of Chopin in existance
My review title says it all. This book contains an actual photograph of Chopin. Haunting, and lovely- like his music.

A Revisionist Biography
In this revisionist biogrphy, Zamoyski links Chopin with Bach and Mozart rather than his contemporary Romantics."Liszt had no close acquaintace with Bach's work, Berlioz disliked it cordially, yet Chopin thought it the essence of music.Liszt and Berlioz, like most Romantics, had no time for Mozart or Haydn, Chopin's favorite composers ..."Chopin preferred Hummel over Beethoven."He did not really like any of the more modern composers; he was lukewarm toward Weber, never seems to have digested Schubert at all, thought little of Mendelssohn's music, and less still of Schumann's."Zamoyski sees Chopin as an insecure 18th. century man lost in the Romantic Age.It's an interesting concept . . . one worth reading. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Very good book, but don't expect too much fingerings
Of course the music described in this book is wonderfull. The index is also practical. A disadvantage for some people, is that there are very little fingerings. But if you take some time to figure out your own, you will surely enjoy this book. ... Read more