Author: Kristina Simms
Publisher: Author House
ISBN: 1452001332
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 174
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Book Description
The Stradivarius in the Basement is a collection of essays, some humorous, some serious, based on the author's 72 years of observing - and participating in - life on this wonderful but essentially puzzling planet.
Author: Donald Ladew
Publisher: eBookIt.com
ISBN: 1456603019
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 267
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Book Description
An inspirational story of love and the transforming power of music, Stradivarius is a novel that will engage and delight everyone who believes that wonderful things can happen to good people. On the Korean peninsula during the freezing winter of 1951, a wounded American soldier finds a rare violin in the wall of a farmhouse where he has taken refuge. This is the beautifully told story of how a centuries old Stradivarius came to be in that unlikely place and how it changed the life of all those who possessed it. For this great instrument carries a kind of magic and all who use it are wrapped in its spell. This is also the story of two families from different cultures and different parts of the world: one rural, Baptist, Southern; the other, sophisticated, European, Jewish. The link between them is an abiding love of great music, possession of the violin, and the boy genius from the mountains of West Virginia, Ailey Barkwood. The remarkable route by which the violin reaches Ailey's talented hands, the course of love between two special but very different young people, and how great music, real genius and moral choices can alter destiny are the ingredients that make Donald Ladew's tale a novel that can be read, reread and remembered.
Author: Toby Faber
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1588362140
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 298
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Book Description
“’Tis God gives skill, but not without men’s hands: He could not make Antonio Stradivari’s violins without Antonio.” –George Eliot Antonio Stradivari (1644—1737) was a perfectionist whose single-minded pursuit of excellence changed the world of music. In the course of his long career in the northern Italian city of Cremona, he created more than a thousand stringed instruments; approximately six hundred survive. In this fascinating book, Toby Faber traces the rich, multilayered stories of six of these peerless instruments–five violins and a cello–and the one towering artist who brought them into being. Blending history, biography, meticulous detective work, and an abiding passion for music, Faber embarks on an absorbing journey as he follows some of the most prized instruments of all time. Mysteries and unanswered questions proliferate from the outset–starting with the enigma of Antonio Stradivari himself. What made this apparently unsophisticated craftsman so special? Why were his techniques not maintained by his successors? How is it that even two and a half centuries after his death, no one has succeeded in matching the purity, depth, and delicacy of a Stradivarius? In Faber’s illuminating narrative, each of the six fabled instruments becomes a character in its own right–a living entity cherished by artists, bought and sold by princes and plutocrats, coveted, collected, hidden, lost, copied, and occasionally played by a musician whose skill matches its maker’s. Here is the fabulous Viotti, named for the virtuoso who enchanted all Paris in the 1780s, only to fall foul of the French Revolution. Paganini supposedly made a pact with the devil to transform the art of the violin–and by the end of his life he owned eleven Strads. Then there’s the Davidov cello, fashioned in 1712 and lovingly handed down through a succession of celebrated artists until, in the 1980s, it passed into the capable hands of Yo-Yo Ma. From the salons of Vienna to the concert halls of New York, from the breakthroughs of Beethoven’s last quartets to the first phonographic recordings, Faber unfolds a narrative magnificent in its range and brilliant in its detail. “A great violin is alive,” said Yehudi Menuhin of his own Stradivarius. In the pages of this book, Faber invites us to share the life, the passion, the intrigue, and the incomparable beauty of the world’s most marvelous stringed instruments.
Author: Toby Faber
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0375760857
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 289
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Book Description
Antonio Stradivari (1644—1737) was a perfectionist whose single-minded pursuit of excellence changed the world of music. In the course of his long career in the northern Italian city of Cremona, he created more than a thousand stringed instruments; approximately six hundred survive, their quality unequalled by any subsequent violin-maker. In this fascinating book, Toby Faber traces the rich, multilayered stories of six of these peerless creations–five violins and a cello–and the one towering artist who brought them into being. Blending history, biography, meticulous detective work, and an abiding passion for music, Faber takes us from the salons of Vienna to the concert halls of New York, and from the breakthroughs of Beethoven’s last quartets to the first phonographic recordings. This magnificent narrative invites us to share the life, the intrigue, and the incomparable beauty of the world’s most marvelous stringed instruments.
Author: Anita Sutherland Millmann
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1463400357
Category : Pets
Languages : en
Pages : 51
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Book Description
A homeless cat is a great play friend and very loved by children in her neighborhood until one day when a loud neighbor changes the life of everyone. A beautiful story of friendship, hardship and love. A story to be enjoyed by all.
Author: J. Meade Falkner
Publisher: Read Books Ltd
ISBN: 1528789067
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 559
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Book Description
This vintage book contains the complete novels of J. Meade Falkner including “Moonfleet”, “The Lost Stradivarius”, and “The Nebuly Coat”. These fantastic novels will appeal to all fiction lovers and constitute must-reads for fans and collectors of Falkner's wonderful work. “Moonfleet” - The titillating tale of smuggling, treasure, and shipwreck set in 18th century England. "The Lost Stradivarius" - When a young wealthy man discovers a violin in a secret compartment of a college dorm, he becomes strangely reclusive and obsessed with a mysterious piece of music, roaming throughout England and Italy haunted by the ghost of the violin's previous owner. “The Nebuly Coat” - A suspense novel that tells the story of Edward Westray, a young architect overseeing the restoration of Cullerne Minister. He finds himself caught up in Cullerne life, and hears rumours about a mystery surrounding the claim to the title of Lord Blandamer. John Meade Falkner (1858–1932) was an English novelist and poet best known for his 1898 novel, “Moonfleet”. As well as being an accomplished writer, Falkner was also a successful businessman, becoming chairman of the weapons manufacturer Armstrong Whitworth in the First World War.
Author: William R. Phillippe
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 166
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Book Description
Three strong young men sit at an inn in Colmar, Alsace. It’s 1880 and they are about to graduate from university all with honors and are debating taking ship for the US. After immigration they find the German community in Lower East Side and with their help get train tickets to Pittsburgh where one had an uncle in business. As time goes on they find two more guys and two women all of whom are from the original three. The seven become close in grade and high school and all go to different colleges in America. After graduation they find each other again, form a corporation, get an office on the top of Mt. Washington and begin careers that make them major owners of much property in the city. They are very successful and become nationally known for their unusual techniques in business. Bob, the leader, falls in love with Martha, the daughter of the CEO of Douglass Steel, marries her and they have three children. Bob becomes Chair of his District, then Chair of the City Council and finally mayor of Pittsburgh. Martha, MD, becomes head of cancer research and is given several awards for her research. The seven of them stay close all through their fantastic careers.
Author: John Y Cole
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393045635
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 330
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Book Description
At the turn of the century, Herbert Small, a newspaperman, wrote a guide to the building and its decoration. His text, edited by Henry Hope Reed, is reproduced here. It is preceded by introductory essays by historian and Librarian of Congress Emeritus Daniel J. Boorstin and noted writer Brendan Gill. The planning and construction of the building are detailed in John Y.
Author: Keith Gunderson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Minneapolis (Minn.)
Languages : en
Pages : 48
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Book Description
Author: Hansi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 756
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Book Description
