Musical Genius

Describes the life of the eighteenth-century Austrian composer, a musical prodigy who learned to write music before he could write letters and grew up to become Imperial Court Composer to Emperor Joseph.

Musical Genius: Ludwig van Beethoven is aligned to the Common Core State Standards for English/Language Arts, addressing Literacy.RI.2.8 and Literacy.L.2.2c. Readers will follow the life of musical genius Ludwig van Beethoven, learning about his classical music through narrative nonfiction text and full-page color photographs and images. This book should be paired with “Ludwig van Beethoven: Famous Composer" (9781477722909) from the Rosen Common Core Readers Program to provide the alternative point of view on the same topic.

In this provocative account Tia DeNora reconceptualizes the notion of genius by placing the life and career of Ludwig van Beethoven in its social context. She explores the changing musical world of late eighteenth-century Vienna and follows the activities of the small circle of aristocratic patrons who paved the way for the composer's success. DeNora reconstructs the development of Beethoven's reputation as she recreates Vienna's robust musical scene through contemporary accounts, letters, magazines, and myths—a colorful picture of changing times. She explores the ways Beethoven was seen by his contemporaries and the image crafted by his supporters. Comparing Beethoven to contemporary rivals now largely forgotten, DeNora reveals a figure musically innovative and complex, as well as a keen self-promoter who adroitly managed his own celebrity. DeNora contends that the recognition Beethoven received was as much a social achievement as it was the result of his personal gifts. In contemplating the political and social implications of culture, DeNora casts many aspects of Beethoven's biography in a new and different light, enriching our understanding of his success as a performer and composer.

18 November, 1741. George Frideric Handel, one of the world's greatest composers, arrives in Dublin – the second city of the Empire – to prepare his masterpiece, Messiah, for its maiden performance the following spring ...In Hallelujah, Jonathan Bardon, one of Ireland's leading historians, explores the remarkable circumstances surrounding the first performance of Handel's now iconic oratorio in Dublin, providing a panoramic view of a city in flux – at once struggling to contain the chaos unleashed by the catastrophic famine of the preceding year while striving to become a vibrant centre of European culture and commerce.Brimming with drama, curiosity and intrigue, and populated by an unforgettable cast of characters, Hallelujah tells of how one charitable performance wove itself into the fabric of Ireland's capital, changing the course of musical history and the lives of those who called the city home.

After obtaining access to long-sought-after archival material about the final years of Robert Schumann, Lise Deschamps Ostwald, the author's widow, is finally able to detail the composer's last years at the mental institution in Endenich, fulfilling her husband's original intent "Schumann is a remarkable piece of work...Soberly and objectively, it unearths information that no previous Schumann researcher--in English at least--has come near duplicating."--Harold C. Schonberg, The New York Times Book Review "Peter Ostwald, a San Francisco psychiatrist who is also a trained musician, has dug deeply...and applied his professional knowledge to the fashioning of a fascinating, perceptive psychobiography of the nineteenth-century Romantic master."--Arthur Hepner, Boston Globe "Ostwald...offers new insights into one about whom the musical world has never ceased wondering."--Robert Commanday, San Francisco Chronicle --Book Jacket.

This is the story of how Les Paul created the world's first solid- body electric guitar, countless other inventions that changed modern music, and one truly epic career in rock and roll. How to make a microphone? A broomstick, a cinderblock, a telephone, a radio. How to make an electric guitar? A record player's arm, a speaker, some tape. How to make a legendary inventor? A few tools, a lot of curiosity, and an endless faith in what is possible. Featuring richly detailed, dynamic illustrations by Brett Helquist, this unforgettable biography will resonate with inventive readers young and old.