The Romantic Generation - Softcover

Rosen, Charles

4.35

199 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0002557126 ISBN 13: 9780002557122

Publisher: Fontana Press, 1999

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Winner of the Yorkshire Post Music Award, The Romantic Generation was rapturously reviewed on hardback publication and now, for the first time, is published in an affordable trade paperback.

‘One can say with confidence that The Romantic Generation is the music book not only of 1995 but also of many years to come. The author’s ability to communicate his musical insights and immense learning has developed even beyond the capacities displayed in his earlier volume. Musicians of every kind should partake of both its wisdom and its practical lessons. Among non-musicans anyone interested in the cultural and literary history of the period can feast on Rosen’s introductory and incidental essays about the Romantic Movement as a whole...William Empson distinguished two kinds of critic, the analytical and the appreciative. In Charles Rosen they are perfectly united.’ Robert Craft, Chicago Tribune

The subject of this book is the generation of musicians who came to maturity between the death of Beethoven and that of Chopin in 1849 – Chopin, Liszt, Berlioz, Mendelssohn and Schumann, with shorter discussions of Bellini and Meyerbeer, and a prolonged glance back to Schubert. Rosen discusses how they changed the musical language of their era and how their music achieved and achieves the effects it does.

‘The fact that this is a book about music has done nothing to deter its author from examining literature and the arts, and these are brought to bear on Schumann, Schubert and Chopin to brilliant effect... miraculous. [Chopin’s complexity] unfurls like a flower... A majestic book.’ Michael Church, TES

‘A remarkable amalgam of precise, brilliantly illuminating analysis, audacious generalisation, and always interesting synthesis... stunningly effective. No other writer on music has his gift for walking and playing through the pieces, pointing out how memory, quotation, observation are given concrete musical realisation that extends from the printed score, to the hand on the keyboard, to the pedal and then is received by the listener’s ear. No one has been as disciplined, as well-informed, as discerning as Rosen.’ Edward Said, London Review of Books

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Review:

"The Romantic Generation" will certainly be recognized as one of the decade's most important books about music...Rosen is a master of the sweeping generalization--more or less true, with exceptions and careful definition of terms--that will attract casual readers who seek a generalized knowledge of these composers. After a certain amount of random immersion in the music, one's disorganized perceptions can be usefully crystallized by short, pithy statements that put an experience into focus...Almost equally useful to the general reader are the pages where Rosen--often brilliantly--brings the findings of another discipline such as history or psychology into the discussion of music.--Joseph McLellan "Washington Post "

From the Back Cover:

'The Romantic Generation' brilliantly captures the spirit of the generation of musicians who came to maturity between the death of Beethoven in 1827 and that of Chopin in 1849 – Chopin, Liszt, Berlioz, Mendelssohn and Schumann, with shorter discussions of Bellini and Meyerbeer, and a prolonged glance back to Schubert, and in so doing conveys the very essence of Romantic music. Rosen vividly evokes the cultural and historical background and the particular influences of each composer. Through detailed musical analysis, he shows how they changed the musical language of their era and how their music achieved and achieves the effects it does. Rich with striking descriptions and new insights, Rosen's overview of Romantic music is an accomplishment without parallel in the literature of music.

"Certain to be recognised as one of the decade's most important music books – a giant undertaking that combines profound scholarship with artistic intuition... Rosen is giving what amounts to a free master-class."
David Gutman, 'New Statesman'

"Nobody else writes with such knowledge, authority and insight... this is writing that makes familiar music relive in the memory, enlarged and deepened... a finely produced and powerful book."
David Cairns, 'Sunday Times'

"Impressive, refreshing, precise and illuminating... The single chapter on Liszt strikes me as one of the finest explications ever written of his genius...Rosen's breadth of learning in so many disciplines is awesome and he creates powerful synthesis out of diverse threads...dazzling insights illuminate the text like lightning. There are paragraphs in this book that I would gladly pay �30 for."
Graham Johnson, 'Independent'

"The fact that this is a book about music has done nothing to deter its author from examining literature and the arts, and these are brought to bear on Schumann, Schubert and Chopin to brilliant effect...miraculous. (Chopin's complexity) unfurls like a flower...A majestic book."
Michael Church, 'TES'

"A brilliant performance. Rosen is doubly a virtuoso."
Peter Conrad, 'Observer'

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