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...

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...

An award-winning journey through Johann Sebastian Bach's six cello suites and the brilliant musician who revealed their lasting genius.One fateful evening, journalist and pop-music critic Eric Siblin attended a recital of Johann Sebastian Bach's Cello Suites—an experience that set him on an epic quest to uncover the mysterious history of the entrancing compositions and their miraculous reemergence nearly two hundred years later. In pursuit of his musicolog...

From high society in Vienna to a small flat in Sydney; from patrons of the arts to refugees from the Holocaust; this is the enthralling story of three generations of women spanning a century of upheaval.In 1900 Vienna was one of the most exciting places to live in the world. Its glamorous high society was the envy of Europe, and it was the centre of an exploding arts movement that set the tone for the following century.Tim Bonyhady's great-grandparents were...

'A glorious plum-pudding of a book, to be consulted, with pleasure and profit, over and over again' Sir Jeremy IsaacsMichael Steen's 'Great Composers' was originally published in 2003. A lifetime's work and almost 1000 pages long, it has since become 'the' reference point and key read on the biographical backgrounds to classical music's biggest names.Authoritative and hugely detailed - but nonetheless a joy to read - this new edition will expand its readershi...

Welcome to The Independent’s new ebook series The Great Composers, covering fourteen of the giants of Western classical music.Extracted from Michael Steen’s book The Lives and Times of the Great Composers, these concise guides, selected by The Independent’s editorial team, explore the lives of composers as diverse as Mozart and Puccini, reaching from Bach to Brahms, set against the social, historical and political forces which affected them, to give a rounded portrait of what it wa...

A revealing memoir about the author's friendship with the man who became a dictator and instigated World War II.Introduction by Ian KershawAugust Kubizek met Adolf Hitler in 1904 while they were both competing for standing room at the opera. Their mutual passion for music created a strong bond, and over the next four years they became close friends. Kubizek describes a reticent young man, painfully shy, yet capable of bursting into hysteric...

Welcome to The Independent’s new ebook series The Great Composers, covering fourteen of the giants of Western classical music.Extracted from Michael Steen’s book The Lives and Times of the Great Composers, these concise guides, selected by The Independent’s editorial team, explore the lives of composers as diverse as Mozart and Puccini, reaching from Bach to Brahms, set against the social, historical and political forces which affected them, to give a rounded portrait of what it wa...

Welcome to The Independent’s new ebook series The Great Composers, covering fourteen of the giants of Western classical music.Extracted from Michael Steen’s book The Lives and Times of the Great Composers, these concise guides, selected by The Independent’s editorial team, explore the lives of composers as diverse as Mozart and Puccini, reaching from Bach to Brahms, set against the social, historical and political forces which affected them, to give a rounded portrait of what it wa...

Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger has always called forth superlatives from those who have fallen under its spell. Toscanini wanted to lay his baton down for the last time only after he had conducted a performance of it. Paderewski called it 'the greatest work of genius ever achieved by any artist in any field of human endeavour.' H.L. Mencken declared, 'It took more skill to plan and write it than it took to plan and write the whole canon of Shakespeare.'And yet Wagner's...

Welcome to The Independent’s new ebook series The Great Composers, covering fourteen of the giants of Western classical music.Extracted from Michael Steen’s book The Lives and Times of the Great Composers, these concise guides, selected by The Independent’s editorial team, explore the lives of composers as diverse as Mozart and Puccini, reaching from Bach to Brahms, set against the social, historical and political forces which affected them, to give a rounded portrait of what it wa...