My Life, Volume II - Richard Wagner
PART III
1850-1861
MINNA had been lucky enough to find quarters near Zurich which
corresponded very closely with the wishes I had so emphatically
expressed before leaving. The house was situated in the parish of
Enge, a good fifteen minutes' walk from the town, on a site
overlooking the lake, and was an old-fashioned hostelry called
'Zum Abendstern,' belonging to a certain Frau Hirel, who was a
pleasant old lady. The second floor, which wa... Next >>
|
My Life - Richard Wagner
PART I
1813-1842
I was born at Leipzig on the 22nd of May 1813, in a room on the
second floor of the 'Red and White Lion,' and two days later was
baptized at St. Thomas's Church, and christened Wilhelm Richard.
My father, Friedrich Wagner, was at the time of my birth a clerk
in the police service at Leipzig, and hoped to get the post of
Chief Constable in that town, but he died in the October of that
same year. His death was partly due to the gre... Next >>
|
Mozart: The Man and the Artist, as Revealed in his own Words
BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
The German composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was not
only a musical genius, but was also one of the pre-eminent
geniuses of the Western world. He defined in his music a system
of musical thought and an entire state of mind that were unlike
any previously experienced. A true child prodigy, he began
composing at age 5 and rapidly developed his unmistakable style;
by 18 he was composi... Next >>
|
The Experiences of a Bandmaster
During eighteen years spent in playing music for the masses, twelve
years in the service of the United States and six in that of the
general public, many curious and interesting incidents have come
under my observation.
While conductor of the Marine Band, which plays at all the state
functions given by the President at the Executive Mansion, I saw
much of the social life of the White House and was brought into
more or less direct contact with all the... Next >>
|
The Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
PREFACE
A full and authentic edition of Mozart's Letters ought to require
no special apology; for, though their essential substance has
already been made known by quotations from biographies by Nissen,
Jahn, and myself, taken from the originals, still in these three
works the letters are necessarily not only very imperfectly
given, but in some parts so fragmentary, that the peculiar charm
of this correspondence--namely, the familiar and co... Next >>
|