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Lexicon of Musical Invective: Critical Assaults on Composers Since Beethoven's Time
Who says the world of classical music is sedate or even dull? Certainly not anyone who has read Nicolas Slonimsky's Lexicon of Musical Invective! This funny, irascible little book details contemporary critical attacks on virtually all of the great musical figures of the past 200 years. Beethoven is here, along with Liszt, Mahler, Schumann, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, and Wagner ...more
Paperback, 325 pages
Published
August 17th 2000
by W. W. Norton & Company
(first published February 29th 2000)
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A compendium of pompous, arrogant, exasperated, blockheaded or woefully incorrect statements by "critics" about composers and their greatest or most famous works. The most lengthy sections are devoted to Liszt, Wagner, Richard Strauss, but just about every composer since Beethoven comes in for some abuse. These reviews, extracted (for the most part) from newspapers and journals, are generally contemporaneous with the music or composers they pan. Some Russian bozo enthusiastically co...more
Nicolas Slonimsky's LEXICON OF MUSICAL INVECTIVE collects those critical reviews of composers from Beethoven's time which proved "biased, unfair, ill-tempered, and singularly unprophetic judgements". It's handily arranged in alphabetic order by composer, so while listening to, say, Bela Bartok's first piano concerto, you can amuse yourself with a 1928 review from the Cincinnati Enquirer:
"Mr. Bartok elected to play his composition dignified by the title Concerto for Pia...more
"Mr. Bartok elected to play his composition dignified by the title Concerto for Pia...more
Slonimsky’s "Lexicon of Musical Invective" was a composer’s delight! It was the perfect blend of criticism and humor. Also great insight to general mindsets and opinions of music and performance practices at the time. I admit I could only read the book one short segment at a time as its content was overwhelmingly negative. That said, it was still interesting to read the cutting personal attacks on the composers rather than critiques just about the music or the performance. I would high...more
Lydia
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This is such a hilarious book. it just goes to show that everybody says snarky things now and then and that predictions and comments made in all seriousness will be totally ridiculous and laughable in a few years.
Slonimsky once declared that the book should be treated as "toilet literature." Althought I wouldn't disagree, this book teaches a valuable lesson for any artist or art appreciator.
A wonderful compendium of the most creative and malicious slanders against modern music. At once infuriating and riotously funny. Find a copy for the index alone.
Very funny collection of actual negative reviews written about classical music performances and compositions. Organized by composer.
A collection of wonderfully horrible musical reviews. The perfect gift for a composer!
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