Harry Parr-Davies was no more than a name to me until I saw the documentary play about Gracie Fields and realised that the songs Sing as We Go, Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye, Pedro the Fisherman, and I Leave My Heart in an English Garden were all composed by the same man. This set me about discovering more about him. Consulting the internet, I discovered a web-site and even more importantly was given Gabrielle Bell’s CD of Harry’s music covering the styles and sounds of 30’s, 40’s an...

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You may have heard about Gracie Fields. Harry not only accompanied her, but composed for her, eventually becoming an important British major light composer in his own right. This is his life story, discussing not only his musical achievements but his personal life.

Eminent historian Paul Johnson dazzles with a rich, succinct portrait of Mozart and his musicAs he’s done in Napoleon, Churchill, Jesus, and Darwin, acclaimed historian and author Paul Johnson here offers a concise, illuminating biography of Mozart. Johnson’s focus is on the music—Mozart’s wondrous output of composition and his uncanny gift for instrumentation.Liszt once said that Mozart composed more bars than a trained ...

I can hardly believe that it is more than half a century since I first stepped on to the stage of the Old Vic Theatre and into a way of life that has brought me the most rewarding professional relationships and friendships. I cannot imagine now ever doing anything else with my life except acting…" – Judi DenchFrom London's glittering West End to Broadway's bright lights, from her Academy Award-winning role as Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love to "M" in the James Bond films...

This superbly authoratitive new work provides a comprehensive A-Z guide to some 1000 years of Western music. It explores in detail the lives and achievements of a vast range of composers, as well as looking at such key topics as music history (from medieval plainchant to contemporary minimalism), performers, theory and jargon. Throught Griffiths skilfully blends lightly worn scholarship with personal insight, whether examining the emotional colouring that different musical keys achieve or ...

A selection of Mozart's letters, translated into English, complete with notes, linking commentary and chronology.

Grandiose and glamorous, Baroque music stands alone, written to glorify the finest courts of Europe, in Italy, France, Germany, England, Austria and even far flung Spain. Its greatest composers, such as Vivaldi, Handel and Bach, head a fascinating cast of musical magicians, including Albinoni, Pachelbel and Scarlatti. Their lives are as intriguing as their music: we find virtuoso performers who earned their bread and butter in the cathedrals of Europe while keeping company with kings and quee...

'National treasure? I hate that. Too dusty, too in a cupboard, too behind glass, too staid ... What I love is being part of a company. On stage I am not trying to be myself, I'm trying to be someone else, the more unlike me the better.'From her first theatrical roles as a teenager in York to her scene-stealing performances as 'M' in the James Bond films, Dame Judi Dench's professional life has consisted of non-stop acting, leading to numerous accolades, including an Academy Award.

The hidden history of the women who dared to write music in a man’s world.‘Lucid, engaging and exuberant... [Sounds and Sweet Airs] is terrifically enjoyable and accessible, and leaves one hankering for a second volume.’ The Sunday TimesFrancesca Caccini. Barbara Strozzi. Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre. Marianna Martines. Fanny Hensel. Clara Schumann. Lili Boulanger. Elizabeth Maconchy.Since the birth of c...

Elizabeth Jane Howard (1923-2014) wrote brilliant novels about what love can do to people, but in her own life the lasting relationship she sought so ardently always eluded her. She grew up yearning to be an actress; but when that ambition was thwarted by marriage and the war, she turned to fiction. Her first novel, The Beautiful Visit, won the John Llewellyn Rhys prize - she went on to write fourteen more, of which the best-loved were the five volumes of The Cazalet ...