Umreißt man heute die Ambivalenz, Geschichte, Gegenwart und Zukunft von Homosexualität, so ist die Antwort auf die Frage gar nicht so einfach. Lange Zeit hätte man einfach gesagt: das Gegenteil von Heterosexualität, pervers, nicht den sexuellen Normen entsprechend, die innerhalb der westlichen Welt weitgehend akzeptiert waren. In einer globalisierten Welt, die gewachsene Strukturen und kulturelle Identitäten in Frage stellt, befindet sich auch die wissenschaftliche Betrachtung menschlicher...

She was not the 'black sheep' of her family, as often claimed, but a heroic rebel. Friedelind Wagner (1918-1991), Richard Wagner's independent-minded granddaughter, daughter of Siegfried and Winifred Wagner, despised her mother'sclose liaison with Adolf Hitler and was the only member of the Wagner clan who fled Germany in protest. Although Winifred warned her that the Nazis would 'exterminate' her, should she continue her open opposition, she travelled toLondon and published articles pillo...

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 ...

Between 1961 and 1969 the Beach Boys made nineteen albums, including some of the best music ever recorded - and some not so good. In this book, Andrew Hickey looks at this music track by track, analysing every song that Brian, Carl, Dennis, Mike, Al, Bruce and David recorded and released during that time period. From early surf and car classics like "409" to sophisticated masterpieces like "Time To Get Alone", in this book you'll learn how they were recorded, why they work the way they do,...

When Nirvana first exploded onto the music scene in 1991 with the anthemic 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', few people could've predicted their subsequent global impact. No one knew then that Nevermind would become one of the seminal albums of the decade, selling over 30 million copies worldwide and spearheading a whole new 'grunge' movement. In so doing, the band's lead singer Kurt Cobain was transformed into one of music's most enduring and iconic figures.As drummer for the British group Capta...

Everything you could possibly know about Verdi and his operas, from the brilliant and humorous author of Wagner Without Fear.If you want to know why La traviata was actually a flop at its premiere in 1853, it's in here. If you want to know why claiming to have heard Bjorling's Chicago performance of Il trovatore is the classic opera fan faux pas, it's in here. Even if you just want to know how to pronounce Aida, or what the plot o...

This volume uniquely combines a lively biography of one of the best-loved composers of the nineteenth century with a detailed chronological guide to much of his oeuvre, from the most popular - Swan Lake or the 1812 Overture - to the lesser known pieces. David Brown enthusiastically and sensitively guides the reader through Tchaikovsky's music in the context of his life. His writing on the music is accessible and informative, both for the professional musician and the keen...

A wickedly funny look at opera today--the feuds and deals, maestros and managers, divine voices and outsized egos--and a portrait of the opera world's newest superstar at a formative point in her life and career.In Cinderella & Company, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Manuela Hoelterhoff takes us on a two-year trip on the circuit with Cecilia Bartoli, the young mezzo-soprano who has captured an adoring public around the world.Rossini's Cenerentola is Bartol...

Giuseppe Verdi remains the greatest operatic composer that Italy, the home of opera, has ever produced. Yet throughout his lifetime he claimed to detest composing and repeatedly rejected it. He was a landowner, a farmer, a politician and symbol of Italian independence; but his music tells a different story.An obsessive perfectionist, Verdi drove collaborators to despair but his works lauded from the start as dazzling feats of composition and characterization. From Rigoletto to Otello, La T...

Puccini's obsession with detail ensured the success of La Bohème, his opera about the impoverished 'artistes' in Paris in the 1830s. Soon after its première, people started calling their baby daughters Mimi. The story of this seamstress, her hectic but fraught love affair with the poet Rodolfo and her tragic death from consumption (tuberculosis), never fail to touch the audience. Che gelida manina, Mi chiamano Mimì …, and O soave fanciulla have become some of the most popular operatic exce...

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) is one of the most influential - and also one of the most controversial - composers in the history of music. Over the course of his long career, he produced a stream of spellbinding works that challenged musical convention through their richness and tonal experimentation, ultimately paving the way for modernism. This book presents an in-depth but easy-to-read overview of Wagner's life, work and times. It considers a wide range of themes, including the composer's ...

'Idiosyncratic, humorous, enlightening and written by one of the finest conductors alive ... This is the book to buy if you are going to see Wagner or listen to him at home' LITERARY REVIEWOver a distinguished career conducting some of the world's finest orchestras, Christian Thielemann has earned a reputation as the leading modern interpreter of Richard Wagner. MY LIFE WITH WAGNER chronicles his ardent personal and professional e...