Composers and songwriters Books

"It's an incredible collection of stories and I hope everyone gets a chance to pick up this book." Michelle McManus, presenter of 'Our lives' on BBC Radio Scotland. See BBC Scotland website to hear the full interview first broadcast Sat Aug 7 2021 at...

"Completely absorbing.... A comprehensive and hugely rewarding look at the Beatles' creativity." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) The Beatles changed the lifestyles and fashions of youth throughout the world, and were cultural leaders of a generation. ...

On The Future of Wagnerism: Art, Intoxication, Addiction, Codependence and Recovery is the sequel to Lawrence Mass's memoir, Confessions of a Jewish Wagnerite: Being Gay and Jewish in America. Together, they form a narrative of...

L'apprenti sorcier - also widely known as The Sorcerer's Apprentice - is a symphonic poem originally subtitled as "Scherzo after a Ballad by Goethe". Inspired by Goethe's poem of the same name, Dukas' musical depiction closely follows the narrative of...

Franck's Piano Concerto in B minor is an early work written when he was only 13 years old to showcase his piano talents. A fragment of one of his two piano youthful concertos (likely this one) was performed in Paris at 62nd concert of L'Athénée musical...

Originally composed for piano duet, Debussy's Peite suite was first peformed in Paris by the composer and Jacques Durand at a private hearing on February 2, 1889 and became immediately popular after its publication the same year. Its widespread...

Bach composed the first version of this piece in 1723 using the key of E-flat major for the Christmas Vespers in Leipzig which contained several Christmas texts. Over the years he removed the Christmas-specific texts to make it suitable for year-round...

Dedicated to the father of the to symphonic poem Franz Liszt, Borodin's In the Steppes of Central Asia is a musical depiction of a caravan traveling through the steppe lands of the Caucasus under the protection of Russian troops. The premiere took...

Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996) was the first Japanese composer to receive international recognition in the field of classical music, and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the late twentieth century. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu...

A comprehensive and insightful biography of My Chemical Romance, based on original interview material.

Sketches From Our Lord's History is a book written by John Michael Hiffernan and published in 1855. The book is a collection of sketches that depict various events and moments from the life of Jesus Christ. The sketches are accompanied by descriptive...

Songs Without Notes is a book of poetry written by Lewis Morris and published in 1894. The poems in this collection are written in a variety of styles and cover a range of themes, including love, nature, and the human condition. The title of the book...

The Homes of Tennyson is a book written by Helen Allingham and published in 1905. The book provides a detailed account of the various homes of the famous poet, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and his family. The author, who was a well-known artist and illustrator,...

""A Symphony And Other Pieces"" is a collection of essays and articles written by Arthur Edward John Legge, which was first published in 1913. The book features a range of topics, including music, literature, and philosophy. The centerpiece of the...

Love and Music is a novel written by Percy Reeve and first published in 1883. The story follows the life of a young woman named Dolly who is passionate about music and dreams of becoming a famous singer. She falls in love with a wealthy young man named...

""The Life of Handel"" is a biography written by Victor Schoelcher in 1857. The book provides a detailed account of the life and career of the famous composer George Frideric Handel. Schoelcher explores Handel's early life in Germany, his move to...

Napoleon�������s Conquest of Prussia, 1806 is a historical book written by Francis Loraine Petre in 1914. The book provides a detailed account of Napoleon Bonaparte�������s military campaign in Prussia during the year 1806. The author, a British military...

Everyone knew his name...During the first half of the twentieth century, Carl Sandburg seemed to be everywhere and do everything: poet and political activist; investigative reporter, columnist, and film critic; lecturer, folk singer, and musicologist;...

A colorful and candid look at my 60 years in the music industry. Obviously a large portion of my life has been dedicated to singing and arranging and I will still arrange if the right person asks (and I'm in the mood) but I actually have other hobbies...

During the 1950s, country music merged with a rising new fad called Rock & Roll to form what would become known as Rockabilly.  In short, rockabilly was high energy, fast paced, guitar and bass driven tunes displaying thundering rhythms...

I've been in ministry for as long as I can remember. I believe it all started when my mother made me play the piano for choruses for Sunday school when I could barely pick out the melody lines to the songs! But music opened many doors for me and helped...

Celebrate the Iconic Prince with Fascinating Facts!Immerse yourself in the vibrant world of one of music's greatest legends with our Large Print Prince Facts Word Search Puzzle Book. Perfect for fans of the Purple One and puzzle lovers alike, this book...

Calling Planet Earth: Close Encounters with Sun Ra pulls us into the quirky world of the jazzmusician known first as Herman Blount, then as Sun Ra (1914-1993), the Arkestra leaderwho claimed for most of his life to have come from Saturn. The book opens...

Dvorak's second set of Slavonic Dances was composed in response to a request from his German publisher N. Simrock in the wake of the tremendous popularity of the first set (Op.46). The brilliant orchestration of the melodious, folk-inspired dances did...

The second in Smetana's "Ma Vlast" a six-part series of tone poems inspired by his Czech homeland, Vltava (Die Moldau in German) is named for the river that flows through the heart of Prague. This new study score is a digitally-enhanced reprint of the...

Berlioz' operatic masterpiece is now performed regularly in concert halls worldwide, despite the poor reception received at it Paris premiere in 1846. This is a new, digitally-enhanced, corrected reprint of the score originally issued in 1911 by...

New, digitally-enhanced reprint of the full score issued by Boosey & Co., London in 1901, the same year Elgar conducted the world premiere of this sparkling concert overture. Sometimes known as "In London Town", the Cockaigne Overture has been...

Mahler's penultimate symphony received its premiere performance in Munich on September 12th, 1910 with a chorus of about 850, and an orchestra of 171. These massive forces led to Mahler's agent dubbing the work "Symphony of a Thousand." Mahler did not...

We can be the new wind: The interaction of punk, hardcore punk, power pop and neo-garage with alternative rock in the 1980's.The hardcore punk scene had two major crossovers, one with heavy metal and one with pop influenced independent rock. A...

Sir Terry Wogan couldn't have written a better introduction had he been alive today. I think it might have been penned with a tear in his eye and a crystal ball on the table, the one he used on a regular basis to tell my future, as you'll soon discover...

A rough and tumble collection of memories, poetry, and fiction from Sonny Vincent, the legendary underground rock 'n' roller. Slinging newspapers at Playland.Meditations on Formica.Loud nights at Max's and C.B.G.B.'s.Evil karma from Page 1.The Moon...

The future looks bleak. The present feels hopeless. Yet, for two young African-American brothers from the slums of New York City, failure is not an option. The reader will experience a once-in-a-lifetime, true story of how courage, desperation, and a...

There were three things I knew were true: His mom was definitely dead.He had two sweet kids.Ok, so maybe that was all I was really sure about.An unexpected breakup with her fiance sent Heather Anderson into the dubious world of online dating,...

This is a story of a young black boy with an unmistakable Irish surname, who takes you on a journey of the first half of his life, living and growing up in a totally white middle-class neighbourhood. When he starts school, he finds he is still the only...

In the 1940s and 1950s, Richard Dyer-Bennet (1913-1991) was among the best known and most respected folk singers in America. Paul O. Jenkins tells, for the first time, the story of Dyer-Bennet, often referred to as the "Twentieth-Century Minstrel."...

"To be a Benny Bell meant to be spirited, witty, funny and sometimesa little crazy. But to be a Benny Bell also meant to be obstinate,paranoid, suspicious and sometimes a little hasty."Given all the facts about his traits and personality, it is no...

George Cory and Douglass Cross wrote just one hit song, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." They were unknown before they wrote it--and were unknown after it became a standard. Their lives were a tangle. They eked out a meager living in San...

The first authoritative biography of the most famous woman in the world today.

The Insurrection in Dublin (1917) is a historical account written by James Stephens about the Easter Rising in Dublin, Ireland in 1916. The book provides a detailed description of the events leading up to the insurrection, the key players involved, and...