History Classical World

The best masterclass in classical music you never knew you needed. Arianna Warsaw-Fan Rauch’s life-long fascination with classical music has taken her through Juilliard and into the shiny world of symphony halls and international concert tours. She’s loved classical music her whole life. But...

What does classical music mean to the Western world? How has it transformed over the centuries? What relevance does it have today? Julian Johnson inspires readers to explore over 1,000 years of music and examines how music is related to some of the big ideas of Western experience, including spirituality, emotion, the weight of history, and self-identity.

May 1945. A Soviet military patrol searches Hitler’s secret bunker in Berlin. They find bodies, documents, jewelry, paintings—and also an extensive collection of 78 rpm records. It comes as no surprise that this collection includes work by Beethoven, Wagner, and Bruckner. The same goes for a procession of other giants promoted by the Nazi regime: “It seems as if the Nazis put a steel helmet on Mozart, girded Schubert with a saber, and wrapped barbed wire around Johann Strauss’s neck,” composer Robert Stolz once said.

Breve Historia de las Ciudades del Mundo Antiguo viene a aclarar todos los mitos que se han ido creando alrededor de estas metrópolis y que han ido oscureciendo la majestuosidad y la inmensidad de estos colosos asentados en los márgenes de los ríos. Ángel Luis Vera acomete la tarea de levantar ante nuestros ojos, de nuevo, los Jardines Colgantes de Babilonia, el Gran Templo de Jerusalén del que sólo se conserva el muro de las Lamentaciones o la faraónica Tebas que albergaba el templo de Luxor.

“All men become brothers . . . Be embraced, ye millions!” The Ninth Symphony, a symbol of freedom and joy, was Beethoven’s mightiest attempt to help humanity find its way from darkness to light, from chaos to peace. Yet the work was born in a repressive era, with terrified Bourbons...