Customer Reviews

The Lives of the Great Composers

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In this substantial and attractive tome, Schonberg describes the lives of the great composers in moderate detail, the treatment going beyond mere thumbnail sketches. He starts with Monteverdi, proceeds through Bach, Mozart, Wagner, Stravinsky, Bartok, Messiaen, and ends with the post-1945 era (Cage, Carter, Stockhausen, ...) and the fragmentation and exhaustion of the great classical tradition. Clearly, for definitive treatments of individual composers one must look elsewhere -- to Maynard for Mozart and Beethoven, Newman and Gutman for Wagner, Barzun and Cairns for Berlioz, de la Grange for Mahler, and so on. But even in the short space allotted to each composer Schonberg has things of interest to say and insights to share, and he manages to plumb to a moderate depth.

I have only two reservations about this book. First, the treatment of Mahler is infuriating. Schonberg hates Mahler, and here he has a deaf spot the size of a continent. To me Mahler is among the very greatest, but to a large extent the music is the man and Schonberg can't stand him -- he finds Mahler weak, hysterical, exhibitionistic, and trite. But he is unable to do justice to his position because out of sheer spite, he makes this influential and controversial composer share a chapter with Bruckner (okay, but misguided) and Reger (!!). This is a real pity, because his arguments are fascinating and cry out for expansion and development. He does manage to quote a sentence by Bruno Walter describing Mahler's cruel insensitivity to a hapless composer during an audition, thus illustrating Mahler's deficiencies in ordinary social intercourse and basic human sympathy. But does this have any real bearing on the music? If only Schonberg were still alive -- I'd collar him, put him under house arrest, and make him write the book on Mahler that he had in him!

The other place I might quibble about is Schonberg's chapter on Stravinsky. No love was ever lost between the two men, and the relationship soured over the years. In the book "Themes and Conclusions" (which I like to think of as a Kraft fabrication by Stravinsky), Schonberg is pretty well skewered. Stravinsky had to endure some early hardships that marked him for life and left him insecure and vulnerable (as the twig is bent, so grows the tree). His mother openly preferred her elder son, and after he died prematurely did not transfer her affection to Igor. Also, and pointedly, he was not Rimsky-Korsakov's favorite pupil, that distinction fell to Maximilian Stein. In view of this vulnerability and the composer's undeniable greatness, it seems ungracious of Schonberg to devote two pages in this short chapter to belittling the significance of Stravinsky's music -- in particular saying that after the Sacre he enjoyed only a succes d'estime, that his works lacked a wide following. What has this got to do with the quality of the music? Surely he knows that in music as elsewhere, high achievement is not going to please everyone. But the animus in this chapter is exceptional. Elsewhere, Schonberg's writing is even-handed and generous in spirit.

Schonberg also gives brief physical descriptions of the great composers, which caused me to reach a surprising conclusion: There seems to be a strong positive correlation between physical smallness and musical greatness. Among my Top Seven, Mozart, Wagner, Mahler, and Bartok were tiny and very spare to boot, while the other three were merely very small. Perhaps someday, if and when biologists ever decipher the human genome and can tell us precisely where it says "Kilroy was here", we'll know if this smallness is just an accident, or if Erato really prefers them this way.

In sum, this is an entertaining book for adult readers interested in music and you will find yourself dipping into it with pleasure from time to time. It is also a perfect gift for an intelligent youngster with a budding interest in classical music.

When I first read "The Lives of the Great Composers" by Harold C. Schonberg, it was the second edition, published 1n 1981. That edition probably did more than any other on the subject of classical music to turn my casual interest in this musical genre into a genuine passion. So, when I recently saw a copy of the third edition in my local bookstore, I eagerly bought it. It's still a very well written book, made up of short biographies of those composers whom Schonberg considers the greatest or most influential of their times. It's an invaluable aid for readers interested in learning more about classical music and the great creative geniuses who composed it. The biographical essays are written with wit and eloquence. (I found myself really liking Joseph Haydn the man, and gaining a greater appreciation for his music as well.) The author's prose is clear, concise, easily understood, and written for (in his words) "the intelligent, music-loving lay audience." He avoids technical jargon, which is commendable.

However, to my disappointment, the third edition is not as good as its predecessor. Many of what the author considers "improvements" in the Third Edition actually detracted from its usefulness to me. For example, in the second edition, Schonberg provided short sections which explained the different musical periods - (i.e., Baroque, Classical, Romantic.) These were eliminated in the third edition, even though they're probably invaluable teaching tools for non-academic, non-musicologists like myself. I also found myself wondering about how the author selected composers for inclusion in the new edition. For example, I understand why he included Claudio Monteverdi, whose music has recently entered the performing repertory, but why does he exclude Antonio Vivaldi, especially when his music has remained in the performing repertory for nearly three centuries?

Having said all this, "The Lives of the Great Composers" is still an excellent book, and a worthy companion to Jan Swafford's "Vintage Guide to Classical Music." Both should be on every classical music lovers' bookshelf.

Schonberg's third edition of this perennial favourite includes a few subtle changes to the first edition (which I'd read numerous times), as well as new accounts of the serialists, tonalists, minimalists (and other -ists) who have bored and bewildered audiences during the last 45 years or so. And while Schonberg doesn't say so explicitly, in many ways this book poses the ultimate riddle of our supposedly advanced culture and times - how on earth did we go from the heights of Mozart in the 18th century, and then Beethoven in the 19th, only to fall in the last century to a level of such mindless mediocrity? Reading the latter pages of this book, I was reminded of Thomas Beecham's immortal riposte to the question of whether he had ever conducted the music of Stockhausen. "No, but I've trodden in some," was his sardonic reply.

Beecham would surely have applauded the author's straightforward style. Not for Schonberg is the stuffy, academic approach to the great composers so favoured by classical poseurs, but rather a witty series of vignettes designed to make the subjects come alive. Schonberg shows the composers warts and all, and our appreciation of their strengths and flaws (both musically and characterwise) is all the keener for his lack of pretentiousness. For some readers, he will undoubtedly have his blindspots when it comes to assessing certain composers' musical worth (his section on Elgar, for example, is not as glowing as the subject deserves), but he makes no apologies for possessing strong opinions - and nor should he.

If you're looking for a politically correct account of the great composers, then look elsewhere. Meanwhile, the intelligent lay-person (rather than the musical expert) will find many rewarding hours in this witty feast of a book.

This book reads like Zweig's "Die Welt von Gestern" or Bunuel's "My Last Breath"- once you start reading you can't stop. The portraits of the composers are written with gusto, giving the impression that for the research of his book Mr. Schonberg time-travelled to Leipzig, Paris and Salzburg, etc. to personally meet and and speak with Bach, Gluck, Mozart, etc. In about ten pages he brings more life to the famous composers than most biographies manage to do in say 250 pages.

But the book is about more than juicy anecdotes and biographical curiosities. In broad strokes Mr. Schonberg sketches the development of Western art music and places the development of musical styles in a historic perspective. Every composers is placed in the context of his (and yes- her!) time. The excesses of the Baroque leading to the Enlightenment and its reliance on reason; the clarity, simplicity and emotional restraint of the classical style developing into the romantic spirit, etc., etc. are explained enthusiastically and provide good insight in the composers' orginality in their day and age.

Inevitably, towards our own time the perspective becomes narrower. Maybe Mr. Schonberg had better resisted the temptation to be complete up until our day and age. After all the first chapters don't do not claim to be complete- with Lully, Palestrina, Sweelinck and others dealt with in a single sentence on page one.

The absence of one great 20th Czech century composer is peculiar- the composer of six great symphonies, the Gilgamesh Epos and The Greek Passion- I'm talking of course about Bohuslav Martinu.

A recommendable book for anyone who's interested in (the history of) art music.

If you are starting out reading about classical music, you can purchase many individual biographies of the great composers - or start with ONE superb book ... Schonberg's "Lives of the Great Composers." Schonberg's book has essentially achieved classic status for its authoritive tone, depth of information and engaging writing style that does not put one to sleep. I have many different books on the lives and music of the great composers but wish I found this book sooner (and saved a lot of money) as its biographies are amongst the most clear and compelling of those available - and well suited to the classical newcomer. After reading several books prior on these same composers, I was surprised to read new and brilliant insights in Schonberg's accounts that kept me in wrapt attention. His writing style flows easily - a mark of a talented communicator/author. While his accounts are not long, they do give an excellent first look at each composer. Not much more can be expected from a compilation book as this. But, for composers that really peak your interest, other specific books focused on only one composer will be the what is needed to satisfy the musicologist or historian within.

One thing not present in this book is much discussion of the MUSIC or analysis of it (no room in one volume already quite sizable). I guess this is why the book is titled, "The LIVES of the Great Composers." Also, not in this book are pictures or drawing of historical places, people or instruments. Some of the newer full-color, glossy books on the composers (like DK press) offer this and are most attractive - but definately at the expense of depth of treatment. So, if you don't need pictures to draw you into these historical periods and places, Schonberg's book is perhaps the finest overall book on the main composers, giving many inticing and fascinating details about their lives. Is not dry, overly academic or needlessly prosaic like some other books but rather is a pure pleasure to read ... kind of like a good novel that keeps your attention. Also recommended for a basic study of the great composers is "The Gift of Music" which has more of a spiritual slant to it and some high quality biographies.

There are a number of books aimed at a general audience which chronicle the lives of the great composers of western classical music. One of the best known is THE LIVES OF THE GREAT COMPOSERS by the late New York Times music critic Harold C. Schonberg. The 21st-century reader who peruses this book will get some engaging takes on composers of the common practice period. He will also get a glimpse into some outmoded attitudes towards music. Even with its updates since the first edition of 1970, the book shows biases and blind spots common to its author's generation. These biases can be reduced to two factors: a blindness to early music, and a repertoire-centered mind-set.

Can anyone imagine a history of painting that begins with, say, Rembrandt and ignores everything that came before? This is similar to what Schonberg does. His is a view of music history centered on the nineteenth century. The pre-Bach period is only lightly sketched in, while he devotes pages upon pages to all manner of romantic composers. Schonberg attempts to justify his non-inclusion of earlier composers: "Their work is simply not heard, by and large, in concert halls around the world...audiences tend to find the music archaic, or lacking in personality, or just plain dull". Indeed. As if there has been no explosion of interest in early music in recent years. Schonberg's decision to add a chapter on Monteverdi for the 1996 edition is laudable, but there is still no accounting for the hundred-year gap between Monteverdi and Bach - were there no great creators, no strong personalities, in that period? As a result of this neglect, the reader gets no sense of Bach's roots in the German baroque tradition of Biber, Buxtehude, Schuetz, etc; to read Chapter Two, "The Transfiguration of the Baroque", one would think that Bach's achievements came from nowhere. In addition to this time gap, there are examples of clumsy editing where Schonberg simply cut and pasted in some new text for the revised edition but the new text does not make sense with the older text around it (for example, the ending of the chapter on Handel). And I will not go into Schonberg's one-sided and inaccurate account of the equal temperament system of tuning, just another example of the outmoded attitudes found in this book.

Some illuminating quotes about baroque music come in the final chapter of the book - paradoxically, in a discussion on trends in contemporary music. In dubbing minimalist music "New Baroque" because of its use of repeated patterns, Schonberg shows a colossal ignorance of what the baroque aesthetic means. In the same paragraph we get this gem: "Part of the attraction of Baroque music was that one did not have to think while listening to it. Its excuse for being was that it wrapped the listener in innocuous sound, the busy patterns moving up and down without really ever saying anything." Of course, what Schonberg is describing here is not "Baroque music"; it is the Italian late baroque instrumental music of composers like Vivaldi (and not all of Vivaldi, to be sure!) To give the impression that facile, formulaic compositions are characteristic of baroque music as a whole (or are limited to the baroque period, for that matter) is pure ignorance. Moreover, this comment is emblematic of the common mentality of Schonberg's generation that confused the late baroque with the entire baroque era and relegated the composers before Bach to the status of primitives. Yet Schonberg shows that he is at least partially aware of earlier music. He gives nods towards Purcell and others. How about entire chapters devoted to them?

The second problem with the book is that it has a concert-hall, repertoire-centered view of music. Whether a composer is in the active repertoire or not an inordinately important yardstick for Schonberg. He uses it as an excuse to dismiss an important 20th-century creator such as Arthur Honegger in a few curt sentences: "[O]n the whole Honegger has slid from his once-high position, and his music is vanishing fast from the concert halls". Meanwhile, in a transparent P.C. gesture, such a peripheral figure as Dame Ethel Smyth merits two rather detailed paragraphs and even a photo.

To be sure, the book has its good points. Schonberg's writing is lively and often delightful. His views on composers like Chabrier and Vaughan Williams are illuminating and refreshing. And his focus on repertoire impels him to give an interesting chronicle of changing tastes and critical receptions of various composers. But ultimately the cons outweigh the pros. This may have to do with the book's genre itself: I don't think the "lives of the great composers" approach is a good way to learn about music history. It forces you to focus on personalities instead of the whole richness of musical development. The layman who wants a good introduction to music history should look to a book such as Jan Swafford's VINTAGE GUIDE TO CLASSICAL MUSIC, which wraps a traditional "lives of the composers" with discussions of style, theory, and performance practice, rather than Harold Schonberg's antiquated and irrelevant LIVES OF THE GREAT COMPOSERS.

Let's get this straight right up front: I have no musical ability whatsoever. But I fell in love with classical music in one of those hoary Introduction to Classical Music classes hundreds of people at a time take in college, and it's been a self-taught, self-driven exploration ever since. There are a few books that have been constant guides, and Schonberg's "The Lives of the Great Composers" has been one of them. Over the last fifteen years, I've read it from cover-to-cover half-a-dozen times, and each time I've enjoyed it with deepening understanding as the pieces of music he discusses have become dear old friends, rather than intimidating strangers. I have long believed that an artist's life and his art have a conflicting relationship: how else does one explain the monsters that so often create works of immortal beauty? Schonberg has provided the non-musician with a musically aware text, and all I can hope for is that some of it has rubbed off on me over the years. Charming, humorous, and just the right length for each composer, you can't go wrong with this book.

This is an excellent resource for learning and reading about the lives and works of the world's greatest composers. I literally read this book so much that it fell apart. As a composition student I am sometimes asked by people "where I should go to learn what composers and what compositions I should read". I recommend this book first.

This newly-revised contemporary "classic" by the New York Times music critic Harold Schonberg should remain a fixture on the bookshelf of any classical music lover. The "stand-alone" chapters often compare and contrast the life histories and creative output of contemporaneous composers (eg. Bach vs. Handel; Chopin vs. Liszt vs. Mendelssohn). The book also reflects Mr. Schonberg's particular musical biases. For example, Vivaldi, Locatelli and other non-Bachian, non-Handelian Baroque composers are given little attention, and "NeoBaroque" minimalist composers of this century are regarded as creators of "wallpaper music" (p. 617). In fact, he devotes minimal space to composers born in the 20th century. On the other hand, Mr. Schonberg really likes Chabrier! Clearly, this is not an important reference on modern composers, but it is a concise, enjoyable and highly readable introduction to some of the most creative musical minds that have graced the planet.

Both musicians and non-musicians alike will enjoy reading this excellent volume. It contains all the major composers up to and including the likes of Alfred Schnittke (one of my all-time favorites). In fact my VERY favorite of his numerous Contemporary works is Alfred Schnittke: Minnesang; Choir Concerto.

That aside, I read this book from cover to cover in not very many sittings because the writing is fluid and comprehensible. Schonberg holds your attention. You'll get a great little biography of each of these composers, some more expansive than others, based upon the magnitude of the particular Maestro.

You'll also discover information about certain composers which you may not have previously heard of such as Cécile Chaminade and/or Kurt Weill. But mostly we're talking about the biggies here, so perhaps it's appropriate to say that this is simply a great introductory book about the more well-known composers.

My copy is the Third Edition (1997) and W.W. Norton did a fine job on publishing this one (which was my full expectation concerning that highly reputable publisher). There are 653 pages, including the index -- the binding is hardcover with a nice dust jacket. The book is profusely illustrated with drawings and black-and-white photographs.

As for the author, his credentials are quite substantial and well-founded having been Music Critic for the New York Times for twenty-five years and having written a number of other texts on various composers and musicians. Here's one of his better ones: Horowitz: His Life and Music.

Schonberg is also well-known for his reputed lengthy "feud" with Leonard Bernstein. Additionally, Schonberg's contentious review of the 1976 Houston Opera's production of Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" was the only dissenting review of that particular production and was thus highly controversial.

But Schonberg knew Classical Music as few others have and he also knew how to communicate that knowledge -- this superb book is clear proof of that assertion.

Highly recommended.