Liszt

Master Musicians Series

by Derek Watson

Celebrating its 100th anniversary, this extraordinary series continues to amaze and captivate its readers with detailed insight into the lives and work of music's geniuses. Unlike other composer biographies that focus narrowly on the music, this series explores the personal history of each composer and the social context surrounding the music. In a precise, engaging, and authoritative manner, each volume combines a vivid portrait of the master musicians' inspirations, influences, life experiences, even their weaknesses, with an accessible discussion of their work--all in roughly 300 pages. Further, each volume offers superb reference material, including a detailed life and times chronology, a complete list of works, a personalia glossary highlighting the important people in the composer's life, and a select bibliography. Under the supervision of music expert and series general editor Stanley Sadie, Master Musicians will certainly proceed to delight music scholars, serious
musicians, and all music lovers for another hundred years.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

424 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1989

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Watson's engaging biography of Liszt does a really good job of placing him in the context of both the 19th century musical world and the developments of the 20th century that his music foreshadowed. Watson gives a very even-handed account of Liszt's life and the complexities of his character, then delves into the music. I especially liked the way Watson largely avoided tedious play-by-play descriptions of pieces and instead focused on larger trends and features, using description as a means to that end.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who entered the information on this book? It is clearly not 8 pages long. Can anyone edit or fix this error?