Customer Reviews

Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers

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. . .with some flaws which limit it's appeal.

Noted Christian composer Patrick Kavanaugh has done a good job in presenting his thesis; namely that many, if not most, of the great composers over the last 400 years, were men of spirituality -- even if not always completely orthodox in their expressions of that spirituality. As far as that goes, the point is quite valid.

However, at times, Kavanaugh seems to be stretching his thesis to include less obvious examples (Schubert, for instance) when more obvious examples could have been used. (However, he does do the musical world a good service by rehabilitating Wagner and demonstrating that while he was a man with many faults, he cannot and should not be held responsible for the actions of Hitler!)

Also frustrating was Kavanaugh's habit of ascribing specific internal motives to several of the featured composers. In addition, there is a strong anti-Catholic bias in the book which I found distasteful. Those composers with Protestant backgrounds had their Protestantism emphasized, while those with Catholic backgrounds had their Catholicism minimized and even ridiculed. For me, this was unnecessary and intellectually dishonest.

This being said, I would still like to see another volume. Many, many other composers come to mind which could fill such a book. And hopefully, some of the anti-Catholic bias could be filtered out.

As both a classical music fan and a Christian, I was initially excited by this book. A quick perusal before purchasing let me know it would not be an in-depth exploration, but brief biographical sketches of the composers. While the author did a good job of providing a balanced presentation of the facts (see the chapter on Chopin), the book suffers from a kind of redactive shallowness that comes from attempting to look for genuine Christian faith in two-dimensional biographical material. The weakness of this approach is that it looks for certainty about individual faith from the sociocultural milieu in which the composers lived, where spiritual language was the norm. It is important to note that, while the author uses "spiritual" in the title, he means "Christian," or so it appears by his attempt to reconcile the unorthodox beliefs and conduct of men like Wagner and Beethoven with orthodox faith. The small postscripts at the end of each chapter that linked a character trait with each composer was trite and did not add any value to the book. I tended to skip them. Finally, there were some disappointing omissions: Vivaldi, Schumann, Mahler, Arvo Part and John Tavener come to mind. All in all, an interesting but unremarkable read.

This was a neat little book for folks that like classical music. It gives us something of the personal and spiritual sides of great composers, as well as short summaries of their musical careers. It was good to know something about them besides their names and music, and to get some nice tips on great music you might not be familiar with.

I found that Mozart was not quite the consummate party animal he is portrayed as in `Amadeus', the movie, at least not for his whole life. The author, Patrick Kavannaugh, asks us how each of us would like to have our lives put into biographies for public consumption. I know I would have to pass on that. I found that Haydn was happy and friendly, just like his music. Bruckner was a little hard too know, but well worth the effort to do so, just like his music. Folks like Beethoven, Wagner, and Liszt were very spiritual, though you don't hear much about that, and would not suspect so.

It was also surprising to me that most of them were Catholic, but I guess that makes sense since the Catholic Church has always been a great patron of the arts. Certainly, Mozart's Requiem and Beethoven's Mass are two of the greatest choral pieces ever written.

The book was a little gem for those of us who like classical music.

"People of faith" will likely be the most interested in these mini-biographies of the great composers that focuses mostly on the spiritual (mostly Christian) aspects of their lives. In that light, this book helps fill-in some of the personal faith aspects of each composer that are rarely expounded upon in depth in the other biographies. Kavanaugh's distillations here extract many of the most personal conversations and writings of these composers in an attempt to "reconstruct" their inner, spiritual life. And while some of the common lingo in the letters written in 18th/19th century Europe did indeed contain more neutral and polite "God talk," most of the direct quotes go way beyond that to reveal deeply personal and theological thoughts about what that composer felt about God, faith and the relation to their musical lives. Kavanaugh cites Brahms as a notable example who supposedly revealed very deep theological thoughts and personal beliefs to writer/friend Abell, who published them finally in 1955 after years of avowed silence ("Talks with Great Composers"). Many will also find the author's account of Chopin's last years particular touching as the great poet-pianist embraced the faith within him that had faded to a flicker amidst the hedonistic Parisian lifestyle of the 19th century. Other composers listed here will appear to some readers to be somewhat of a stretch regarding the presence of a genuine faith in God and love of mankind in their lives. But, again, Kavanaugh presents other, more hidden aspects of their lives not common in other biographies that are worth hearing.

However, trying to really understand the inner life and faith of a person - any person then or now - is a tricky proposition. It is tempting to extrapolate and make simple conclusions about a complex person based on a few words in a letter, and Kavanaugh might do this at times. But, other times the original writings Kavanaugh quotes seems to more clearly reveal a deeply spiritual person that might not have been apparent to others then or now. Overall though, this book is very revealing and presents a rather unique and detailed account of the spiritual lives of these great composers. As such it is a useful adjunct book on the topic. One caveat: given that the author's perspective here, you will not find any discussion on other religious or spiritual leanings outside mainstream 18th/19th century European Catholic/Protestant faith but will need to consult other sources if that is your interest. Other highly recommended books for general study of the great composers are (1) "The Gift of Music" which gives excellent biographies on 36 composers and also gives some Christian perspective ... and (2) "Lives of the Great Composers (Schonberg) which is one of the legendary references for the study of the composers and musical eras but reads more like a good novel than an academic treatise.

As a teenager, I don't usually don't get that excited over history. But this book changed everything!! A subject that had not previously been of interest to me became a fascination. Not only am I anxious to listen to the music these great composers wrote, but I am also starting a quest to find and read all of their biographies! You have to read this book--it's the best!!

I used information from this book as a part of my weekly Piano Theory classes this past summer. Each week we studied and listened to music from a different pianist/composers. This added real-life understanding of the composers, as opposed to data and factual information from standard reference sources. After the summer classes were over, I gave copies of this book to each student as a gift. The composers came alive for them, and they learned about them in a personal way.

Kavanaugh well researches a difficult topic, that a making an assessment of someone else's faith, let alone that of great music composers.

Oh, sure we all know about Bach, Handel and Mendelssohn, but for me at least not Haydn, Schubert, Liszt, Dvorak.

With equal grace he presents the results of his research, without really making final judgment on each composer, but rather laying out the evidence he has discovered. Seems that many of greatest had touch of both believing and not at times, and who doesn't. Just shocked, as author predicted most would, as the inclusion of Wagner. Only heard that he was God opposed conductor, so to hear of spiritual side for Christ was startling and fascinating.

The intro to each composer is well done, and suggetions for music listening for each also make this truly pleasure. Numerous notes allow all that wish to delve further a ready bibliography to begin.

Especially liked Hadyn's response to certain church types who thought his music too ebullient: Since God has given me a cheerful heart, He will forgive me for serving him cheerfully."
Also, the humbleness and piety of Dvorak was refreshing.

Well written, read with relish. One to reread.

I purchased this book to expand my families appreciation for classical music. We are beginners, at best, and it's hard to know where to start to broaden your understanding. This book was VERY insightful. It is one thing to listen to the music and attempt to appreciate it, but to understand the perspective of the composer and the purpose of major pieces puts everything in a new light. I am really pleased with this purchase.

Wether or not you are a Christian, you will enjoy this book. I am a believer and classical music lover so when I read this book, I loved it. It is not all about the composers as people, but the composers as God's tools for touching the lives of thousands, perhaps millions!...

This is a great book for my Music History class in a catholic high school. The brief biographies are interesting and inspiring. Many composers as well as artists have suffered with psychiatric disorders, or were considered eccentric, or otherwise "different", but that should never discount their belief and faith in God. The positive and spiritual changes they made in life are more meaningful than the sins they may have committed, especially being closer to God just before death.