Author : Kenneth McLeish
Publisher : Faber & Faber Limited
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 48,48 MB
Release : 2007
Category :
ISBN : 9780571237456
A concise, essential guide to Shakespeare and his 36 plays.
Author : Michael Tanner
Publisher : Faber & Faber
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 32,61 MB
Release : 2010-05-06
Category : Music
ISBN : 0571258484
Richard Wagner remains, almost 130 years after his death, the most controversial composer in the history of music. Creator of huge and hugely ambitious operas, which have an immense immediate impact, as well as providing food for endless thought and discussion, Wagner has had an influence on many fields outside music. In this lively pocket guide, Michael Tanner gives concise accounts of all his operas - the likes of Parsifal, Lohengrin and Tristan und Isolde - showing how important it is to grasp the dramatic situations at every point, and indicating some of the key musical features. He also provides an outline of Wagner's astonishing life, and shows that he has often been unfairly criticised and made a scapegoat, especially for political events which took place long after his death. Key features include: - Wagner: his life year by year - Wagner: his music work by work - Things people said about Wagner - Essential Wagner: ten great moments - Wagner on CD and DVD - Wagner bibliography This indispensable Faber Pocket Guide provides a wealth of insights into Wagner and is essential reading for anyone with an interest in both and the man and his music. '[P]robably the best introduction ever written to this most complex of composers.' Simon Heffer, Telegraph
Author : James Inverne
Publisher : Faber & Faber
Page : 305 pages
File Size : 14,4 MB
Release : 2010-12-22
Category : Music
ISBN : 0571268668
With hit TV shows picking the leads in productions of Oliver! and The Sound Of Music, and smash musicals like Hairspray and Wicked all the West End rage, musical theatre is as popular as it's ever been. James Inverne provides an indispensable guide to his top one hundred greatest shows of all time - and ten of the worst. Whether you know your Pal Joey from The Producers, your West Side Story from your Witch Witch, the Faber Pocket Guide To Musicals is packed with entertaining behind-the-scenes stories, essential songlists and comprehensive recording guides. Did you know, for instance, that one of the best recordings of Les Miserables is in Hebrew? Or that the Mel Brooks wasn't the first person to want to make a musical of The Producers? (That claim goes to Eric Idle.) Or the ridiculous story of the huge purpose-built theatre constructed in Holland to house a flop about Grace Kelly? Key features include: - The hundred greatest musicals - Numbers to listen for - Snapshot plot summaries - Ten terrible musicals - Recommended recordings James Inverne has been writing about musical theatre for years and brings copious knowledge, passion for the subject and a sense of fun to a genre that continues to entertain us all. Make the most of the musicals with this vital book.
Author : Kenneth McLeish
Publisher :
Page : 249 pages
File Size : 36,2 MB
Release : 1998
Category : Drama
ISBN : 9780571191833
Synopsizes each play, describes main characters, notes historical sources, and offers a brief critical essay on each play
Author : Stephen Unwin
Publisher : Faber & Faber
Page : 300 pages
File Size : 39,24 MB
Release : 2001
Category : Drama
ISBN : 9780571200146
If great drama flourishes in a changing world, the twentieth century may prove itself the most dramatically fruitful ever. The briefest historical outline shows a time of extraordinary upheaval, and twentieth-century drama's greatest achievement was that it managed to reflect those changes with courage, vision, and artistry. In A Pocket Guide to 20th Century Drama, Stephen Unwin and Carole Woddis examine fifty seminal works from the past one hundred years, and in the process chart some of the most profound events of that era -- from Anton Chekhov's illustration of the fin-de-siecle clash in cultural value systems in The Cherry Orchard to World War II's legacy of moral despair as voiced in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot to Tony Kushner's stark and moving exploration of the ravages of AIDS in Angels in America. For each play, a precis is provided, along with a brief essay on its historical and literary context and a rundown of pertinent productions. In addition, the authors provide both an overview of the past century in history and drama, and a chronicle of one thousand of the century's notable plays, providing an understanding of what other works were being written at the time.
Author : Sir Nicholas Kenyon
Publisher : Faber & Faber
Page : 508 pages
File Size : 23,76 MB
Release : 2011-03-17
Category : Music
ISBN : 0571272002
The music of J.S.Bach has a unique power and attraction some 300 years after it was written. From annual performances of the great Passions and BBC Radio 3's hugely successful Bach Christmas, to its use in adverts, films and popular arrangements, the imaginative strength of Bach's music continues to draw listeners to explore its mysteries. This new Pocket Guide looks at all Bach's music, sacred and secular, and explores why he speaks so profoundly to our age about both the spiritual and the sensual in life. Among the features of this easy-to-use book: The Bach Top Ten Bach: The music work by work Performing Bach today Bach: The life year by year What people said about Bach Accessible and easy to use, Nicholas Kenyon provides for the first time an up-to-date survey of all Bach's major works in the light of the latest research, from Masses to Cantatas, Concertos to Suites, and recommends the best CDs and further reading.
Author : James Shapiro
Publisher : Harper Collins
Page : 618 pages
File Size : 17,77 MB
Release : 2009-10-13
Category : History
ISBN : 0061840904
Winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize’s 25th Anniversary Winner of Winners award What accounts for Shakespeare’s transformation from talented poet and playwright to one of the greatest writers who ever lived? In this gripping account, James Shapiro sets out to answer this question, "succeed[ing] where others have fallen short." (Boston Globe) 1599 was an epochal year for Shakespeare and England. During that year, Shakespeare wrote four of his most famous plays: Henry the Fifth, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, and, most remarkably, Hamlet; Elizabethans sent off an army to crush an Irish rebellion, weathered an Armada threat from Spain, gambled on a fledgling East India Company, and waited to see who would succeed their aging and childless queen. James Shapiro illuminates both Shakespeare’s staggering achievement and what Elizabethans experienced in the course of 1599, bringing together the news and the intrigue of the times with a wonderful evocation of how Shakespeare worked as an actor, businessman, and playwright. The result is an exceptionally immediate and gripping account of an inspiring moment in history.
Author : E. Foley
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 257 pages
File Size : 36,99 MB
Release : 2015-06-16
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 0698188209
An essential guide to Shakespeare, from the international bestselling authors of Homework for Grown-Ups The Bard was so incredibly prolific that even most Shakespeare scholars would welcome the occasional refresher course, and most of the rest of us haven’t even got a clue as to what a petard actually is. Fear not, the bestselling authors of Homework for Grown-Ups are here to help. For parents keen to help with their children’s homework, casual theatre-goers who want to enhance their enjoyment and understanding, and the general reader who feels they should probably know more, Shakespeare Basics for Grown-Ups includes information on the key works, historical context, contemporaries and influences, famous speeches and quotations, modern day adaptations, and much, much more.
Author : Rupert Christiansen
Publisher : Faber & Faber Classical Music & Dance
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 48,69 MB
Release : 2014
Category : Opera
ISBN : 9780571306824
An expertly-written guide that is also extremely readable and accessible.
Author : Elizabeth Foley
Publisher : Random House
Page : 246 pages
File Size : 23,55 MB
Release : 2014-09-18
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 1448182905
'Rather jolly and very helpful’ The Times Need to swot up on your Shakespeare? The ultimate guide to the Bard, perfect for the Shakespeare aficionado and general reader alike. If you’ve always felt a bit embarrassed at your precarious grasp on the plot of Othello, or you haven’t a clue what a petard (as in ‘hoist with his own petard’) actually is, then fear not, because this, at last, is the perfect guide to the Bard. From the authors of the number-one bestselling Homework for Grown-ups, Shakespeare for Grown-ups is the essential book for anyone keen to deepen their knowledge of they plays and sonnets. For parents helping with their children’s homework, casual theatre-goers who want to enhance their enjoyment of the most popular plays and the general reader who feels they should probably know more about Britain’s most splendid scribe, Shakespeare for Grown-ups covers Shakespeare's time; his personal life; his language; his key themes; his less familiar works and characters; his most famous speeches and quotations; phrases and words that have entered general usage, and much more.
