Other books that might interest you

• 

  Beethoven - The Universal Composer

  Edmund Morris

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was a genius so universal that his popularity, extraordinary even during his lifetime, has never ceased to grow. It now encircles the globe: Beethoven's most famous works are as beloved in Beijing as they are in Boston.Edmund Morris, the author of three bestselling presidential biographies and a lifelong devotee of Beethoven, brings the great composer to life as a man of astonishing complexity and overpowering intelligence. A gigantic, compulsively creative personality unable to tolerate constraints, he was not so much a social rebel as an astute manipulator of the most powerful and privileged aristocrats in Germany and Austria, at a time when their world was threatened by the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte.But Beethoven's achievement rests in his immortal music. Struggling against progressive, incurable deafness (which he desperately tried to keep secret), he nonetheless produced towering masterpieces, such as his iconic Fifth and Ninth symphonies. With sensitivity and insight, Edmund Morris illuminates Beethoven's life, including his interactions with the women he privately lusted for but held at bay, and his work, whose grandeur and beauty were conceived "on the other side of silence."

  Show book

• 

  James McNeill Whistler

  Patrick Chaleyssin

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Whistler suddenly shot to fame like a meteor at a crucial moment in the history of art, a field in which he was a pioneer. Like the impressionists, with whom he sided, he wanted to impose his own ideas. Whistler’s work can be divided into four periods. The first may be called a period of research in which he was influenced by the Realism of Gustave Courbet and by Japanese art. Whistler then discovered his own originality in the Nocturnes and the Cremorne Gardens series, thereby coming into conflict with the academics who wanted a work of art to tell a story. When he painted the portrait of his mother, Whistler entitled it Arrangement in Grey and Black and this is symbolic of his aesthetic theories. When painting the Cremorne Pleasure Gardens it was not to depict identifiable figures, as did Renoir in his work on similar themes, but to capture an atmosphere. He loved the mists that hovered over the banks of the Thames, the pale light, and the factory chimneys which at night turned into magical minarets. Night redrew landscapes, effacing the details. This was the period in which he became an adventurer in art; his work, which verged on abstraction, shocked his contemporaries. The third period is dominated by the full-length portraits that brought him his fame. He was able to imbue this traditional genre with his profound originality. He tried to capture part of the souls of his models and placed the characters in their natural habitats. This gave his models a strange presence so that they seem about to walk out of the picture to physically encounter the viewer. By extracting the poetic substance from individuals he created portraits described as “mediums” by his contemporaries, and which were the inspiration for Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. Towards the end of his life, the artist began painting landscapes and portraits in the classical tradition, strongly influenced by Velázquez. Whistler proved to be extremely rigorous in ensuring his paintings coincided with his theories. He never hesitated in crossing swords with the most famous art theoreticians of his day. His personality, his outbursts, and his elegance were a perfect focus for curiosity and admiration. He was a close friend of Stéphane Mallarmé, and admired by Marcel Proust, who rendered homage to him in A La Recherche du Temps Perdu. He was also a provocative dandy, a prickly socialite, a demanding artist, and a daring innovator.

  Show book

• 

  NPR Sound Treks: Animals -...

  NPR

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  From rainforests to deserts, mountains to plains, the sea to the sky, animals raise their voices in an eclectic and thrilling chorus. This collection celebrates the unique calls of the keel-billed toucan, Guatemalan coatimundi, hammerhead bat, Central African elephant, urban katydid, and many more intriguing creatures whose sounds we seldom hear.The NPR Sound Treks series features outstanding audio documentaries, stories, and commentary from the NPR archives. Each volume features sounds from nature, insights from experts and others who love the outdoor experience (naturalists, zoologists, biologists, adventurers, even a cowgirl), and vivid storytelling that captures the excitement of the wilderness.

  Show book

• 

  Music and the Politics of Negation

  James R. Currie

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Over the past quarter century, music studies in the academy have their postmodern credentials by insisting that our scholarly engagements start and end by placing music firmly within its various historical and social contexts. In Music and the Politics of Negation, James R. Currie sets out to disturb the validity of this now quite orthodox claim. Alternating dialectically between analytic and historical investigations into the late 18th century and the present, he poses a set of uncomfortable questions regarding the limits and complicities of the values that the academy keeps in circulation by means of its musical encounters. His overriding thesis is that the forces that have formed us are not our fate.

  Show book

• 

  Patina Living

  Brooke Giannetti, Steve Giannetti

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The husband and wife design team takes readers on a guided tour of their elegant farm residence in Ojai, CA—a home full of Patina Style inspiration. Brooke and Steve Gianetti offer an intimate look at their life on Patina Farm, the home they designed with an interplay of rustic and modern European charm. Beyond the gorgeously appointed farmhouse, the Giannettis readers through the sheds, outbuildings and gardens where they entertain and enjoy their miniature goats, sheep and donkeys, the chickens and ducks, and dogs. The entire residence is brimming with inspiration for a beautiful life in the popular Patina Style. “We decided to write this book to share why we decided to create this life and what we have learned along the way. We share how we decided where to live, how to design and lay out our property and how to think about the individual spaces. One of the main nuggets of wisdom that we have learned is that there is not only one way to live this life. The idea of this book is to give you some options.”

  Show book

• 

  The Itsy Bitsy Spider

  Karen Mitzo Hilderbrand, Kim...

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Kids will love this sweet story/song combination as they listen to “The Itsy Bitsy Spider,” and follow along word-for-word in the adorably illustrated eBook. This well-known nursery rhyme encourages learning through music and introduces children to important early literacy skills.

  Show book