The Farewell Symphony [Hardcover]

Anna Harwell Celenza (Author), Joseph Haydn (Author), Joann E. Kitchel (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up

Includes a full-length CD recorded by the Orchestra of St. Luke's, conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras.

History and music come alive!

Prince Nicholas isn't easy to work for--just ask composer Joseph Haydn. When the prince isn't demanding chamber music, operas, and ballets to entertain his guests, he wants dance music for balls and dinner music with his meals. Haydn and the other musicians are kept quite busy at the prince's summer estate in Hungary. As summer fades into autumn, however, the musicians grow increasingly homesick. When Haydn mentions the musicians' distress, the prince threatens to fire the entire orchestra! How will the talented composer convince the mighty prince that it's time to bid farewell to the summer palace?

Memorable characters, carefully researched text, and expressive illustrations tell the story behind Haydn's famous Symphony #45.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this intriguing history lesson for music lovers, Prince Nicholas of Austria forbids his musicians from bringing their families to Estherh za, his summer palace in the Hungarian countryside. The court musicians under composer and royal music director Joseph Haydn's care grow increasingly homesick and restless, particularly when the prince extends his stay well into the autumn of 1772. "It will take a great deal of cleverness and tact to influence the prince," says Haydn. His solution: to compose a new symphony as a way of conveying the musicians' emotions to his employer. The real story behind Haydn's famous Symphony No. 45 (in F minor)Atracing the underlying moods that accompany each movement and ending with the musicians leaving the stage one by oneAwill likely make attentive listeners of its readers, as they gain a newfound appreciation for music's simultaneous subtlety and power (a CD recording is included). And if Celenza tweaks history by investing the characters with thoughts and emotions of her own devising (e.g., upon hearing the "explosive chords" and "surging melodies" of the "angry" first movement, the prince senses "the musicians' frustration over having to remain at Esterh za"), her interpretation of the events is plausible. Kitchel's (The Heart of a Friendship) brightly bordered watercolors verge on the simplistic, particularly the cartoonish features of the characters, but include plenty of historical detail. Ages 4-9. (July)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-4-Celenza's story is a delightful introduction to Joseph Haydn, his "Farewell Symphony," and 18th-century court life. The composer asks Prince Nicholas if the homesick musicians might invite their families to join them at the summer palace in Hungary, and the answer is an emphatic and angry no. When the stay extends into late fall, the musicians again appeal to their royal music director, this time to convince the prince to return to Austria. Since words again fail to persuade him, Haydn decides to try music. His Symphony in F-sharp minor reflects the musicians' anger, sadness, and frustration, and finally moves Nicholas to return home. Based on true events, the story is well told and suitably illustrated with striking watercolor-and-ink cartoons with simple lines and exaggerated characterizations that convincingly convey a sense of the excess and finery of the period. The white-wigged musicians are bathed in fiery crimson as they play the angry first movement and the tearful prince is covered in a wash of blue during the sorrowful second passage. There are notes on both 18th-century symphonic form and instruments as well as on the events and personalities in the story. An entertaining musical history and a well-produced package.
Louise L. Sherman, Anna C. Scott School, Leonia, NJ
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Talewinds; Rei/Com edition (July 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570914060
• ISBN-13: 978-1570914065
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 10.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #635,615 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anna Harwell Celenza is the Thomas E. Caestecker Professor of Music at Georgetown University. She is the author of several scholarly books - the most recent being Hans Christian Andersen and Music: The Nightingale Revealed (2005).
In addition to her scholarly work, she has authored a series of award-winning children's books with Charlesbridge Publishing: The Farewell Symphony (2000), Pictures at an Exhibition (2003), The Heroic Symphony (2004), Bach's Goldberg Variations (2005), Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (2006) and Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite (2011). Her work has been featured on nationally syndicated radio and TV programs, including NPR's "Performance Today," the BBC's "Music Matters" and "Proms Broadcasts," and C-Span's "Book-TV".

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Farewell Symphony, August 9, 2000

By 

Hope"ful" (New Bedford, Ma. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Farewell Symphony (Hardcover)

I do collect children's books and take into consideration the illustrations as well as the story. I rate this book excellent, the story is True, based on documented evidence. A CD is also included of the complete "The Farewell Symphony'" and I replay it ad infinitum. Excellent investment in quality entertainment. The illustrations are delightful! Dorothy Hope

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful child intro to Haydn, November 4, 2002

By 

Eric B. Kinsley (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Farewell Symphony (Hardcover)

I would read this to a class or child and then enjoy listening to the work. It's a very nice introduction to Haydn and the humor he used when composing. Wonderful book and it comes with a nice performance of several of Haydn's Symphonys.

4.0 out of 5 stars A fitting introduction, September 24, 2011

By 

Halvor Hosar (Norway) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Farewell Symphony (Hardcover)

As a budding musicologist with a focus on Haydn, I bought this book as a way both of introducing what I am doing, and hopefully create a spark of interest in classical music, in the youngest members of my extended family. As a scholar, I am thoroughly impressed by Anna Harwell Celenza's work. The book really manages to capture Haydn's position at Esterháza, and her interpretation of the story and the symphony's musical content is as good as anyone's. At the end of the book there is a small text about the classical symphony, which is very nice, although it's instrument section does not mention flutes and timpani, which, to be sure, is not used in the Farewell symphony, but certainly were used often enough to warrant an inclusion even so. (Flutes are also featured in the second symphony on the following cd, no 31)

English is not my main language, but I do consider myself to be sufficiently fluent to have a say on matters of language: It strikes me that this book perhaps uses language that may be a bit too lofty for Amazon's recommended audience of 4-8 years; certainly the lower spectrum probably will not be able to properly grasp it.

The following cd has a recording of the Farewell symphony, as well of the "Horn signal" symphony, no. 31. Both of these recordings are of solid quality, and certainly improves the value of the book for anyone who hasn't already got an exhaustive collection of Haydn's symphonies. A very minor point, however, is that the Horn Signal is put first on the cd. While this is stated on the front of the cd it is a counter-intuitive solution, and it is bound to happen that someone not familiar with the works will be puzzled by why the first movement of the Horn signal symphony is described as "angry".

These are minor quibbles, though. If I am correct that the language used may be a bit too much for Amazon's suggested age group, that shouldn't be a problem for most; children do, as we all know, have a tendency to grow. I highly recommend this book, then, for anyone wanting to expose their own or other's children to the world of classical music. The music of the Farewell symphony I would think is supremely appropriate for this: It is intense, but not overpowering, of appropriate length and proportion, and is, finally, an acclaimed masterwork. And Celenza has certainly done a commendable job describing it for anyone not yet ready to take on James Webster's book on the subject. :)