Perhaps the oddest and most influential collaboration in the history of American modernism was hatched in 1926; when a young Virgil Thomson knocked on Gertrude Steins door in Paris. Eight years later; their opera Four Saints in Three Acts became a sensation--the longest-running opera in Broadway history to date and the most widely reported cultural event of its time. Four Saints was proclaimed the birth of a new art form; a cellophane fantasy; "cubism on stage." It swept the public imagination; inspiring new art and new language; and defied every convention of what an opera should be. Everything about it was revolution-ary: Steins abstract text and Thomsons homespun music; the all-black cast; the costumes; and the com-bustible sets. Moving from the Wadsworth Atheneum to Broadway; Four Saints was the first popular modernist production. It brought modernism; with all its flamboyant outrage against convention; into the mainstream. This is the story of how that opera came to be. It involves artists; writers; musicians; salon hostesses; and an underwear manufacturer with an appetite for publicity. The operas success depended on a handful of Harvard-trained men who shaped Americas first museums of modern art. The elaborately intertwined lives of the collaborators provide a window onto the pioneering generation that defined modern taste in America in the 1920s and 1930s. A brilliant cultural historian with a talent for bringing the past to life; Steven Watson spent ten years researching and writing this book; interviewing many of the collaborators and performers. Prepare for Saints is the first book to describe this pivotal moment in American cultural history. It does so with a spirit and irreverence worthy of its subject.NOTE: This edition does not include photographs.
#360237 in eBooks 2011-01-04 2011-01-04File Name: B008UX3PC4
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. A Kiss for the Cinderella of InstrumentsBy Song BirdThis book was so entertaining that I read it in one sitting. Eric Siblin. a former popular music critic. really rocked it on the cello and wove together the stories of Bach and Pablo Casals and The Cello Suites in a very clever and informative book for the general reader. It is fun to read and I really enjoyed it. If you love the cello. you must read it. The book is a light read. but not lacking in research and thought. Musicologists might pick up some errors in it. but his exploration into the world of classical music and approach to the subject is original. Since this is the authors journey into a new musical world. we walk along with him. learning as he learns.The details of Bachs life are not well known because he did not leave much behind beside his music. At one point early in the book. the author describes a meeting of musicologists who mention that they know what Bach drank but not what he ate. I am not that obsessive even about Beethoven. Sheesh. I am more interested in key or relevant biographical details. the context. and how it relates to the music of the creator or performer. This is not an exhaustive examination of a subject. which are often exhausting anyway.The number of recordings of The Cello Suites by fine cellists is staggering. and though the music has been heard so often in the mainstream. it is not part of it because it is stuck in the stuffy world of classical music. Eric Siblin points out quite correctly that classical music was not always so stuffy. and a more relaxed presentation might attract more people to concerts today. I agree.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A fantastic read!By Greg SmithEric Siblin has written an engaging book that weaves together three stories: a carefully researched portrait of J.S. Bach. the story of the great cellist Pablo Casals and his personal quest to determine the story of the original manuscript of Bachs six suites for solo cello. I enjoyed every page of this book and the personal. real stories of two of the most extraordinary musicians that ever lived. Erics love of his topic is palpable and powerful. Beyond a passion for his topic. Eric also is an wonderful writer and researcher.As though the story itself were not enough. the endnotes. chapter notes. bibliography and index prove that this former rock music critic has major chops as a scholar of music. But. were not talking a dull treatise but a labor of love. My hours spent with the cello suites have been deeply satisfying thanks to this fantastic book!0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Two extraordinary biographies and an enlightening experience.By MiguelI have been running through this book with a true Bach s suites for a cello lover. The dedication of each chapter to one of each pieces is a great idea. for you can hear them while the poetry and the almost detectivesque searching for heir "truth" is at last been completed with the last piece of the sixth. As myself being an amateur cello suites player and being able to understand all that the great performers have felt along their lives with them. I can say that the book has given new "wings" to my dedication. and repleniished with imagintion the hard and joyful task of trying to learn to play them. The book seems to bring space to the future of this great music. for it will change the opinion of many that rather overview them as "dull" or over power the. with a kind of fixation that says "well this must be good for it is Bachs" which is true but not the "Truh". It s much more than good. and the writter has been able to express iet with his own determintion of eing himself being "soul touched" by it.I will get to this book many times. for it will accompany my fatigues and encourage my love for the suites.Rosa Cobos
