Chances are you've probably heard Handel's Messiah at least once, if not many times. Maybe you've even performed it, as have countless musicians around the world. After all, it's probably one of the best-loved, and certainly one of the best-known, musical works in the standard repertoire. But if you thought you knew all there was to know about the great composer's famous oratorio, think again. For example, it may surprise you to learn that: ■ Handel's first impulse to compose the work came not from religious or even musical inspiration. It had a whole lot more to do with money. ■...
Chances are you've probably heard Handel's Messiah at least once, if not many times. Maybe you've even performed it, as have countless musicians aroun...
Not content with having hilariously skewered the lives of great composers in Bach, Beethoven and the Boys, in If It Ain't Baroque musical humorist David W. Barber takes aim at their works as well. From symphonies to solo songs, from motets to madrigals to masses, Barber wittily yet informatively tells readers everything they need to know (and more ) about the various different genres of classical music. (And if you're not sure what a genre is, don't worry - Barber will explain that too.) As always, the facts are true and the information is accurate, it's just that Barber has a particularly...
Not content with having hilariously skewered the lives of great composers in Bach, Beethoven and the Boys, in If It Ain't Baroque musical humorist Dav...
