# The Beloved Vision: A History of Nineteenth Century Music - Hardcover

by **Stephen Walsh** (Author)

**"\*\*A _New Yorker_ "Best Book of the Year"\*\***

**"An excellent work of history."--_The Wall Street Journal_**

**A rich and luminous biography of nineteenth century music.**

When one thinks of "great" classical music--music with the most emotional resonance and timelessness--we harken back to the nineteenth century and the Romantic tradition. We recall the sweet melody of a Schubert song, the heroine dying for love in an Italian opera, the swooning orchestration of a Tchaikovsky symphony.

The emotional resonance of nineteenth century has moved generations muscians and resonated with countless listeners. It has inspired artists and writers. But no writer until how has adopted such a vividly insightful narrative approach as Stephen Walsh and he shows how there is more to Romantic music that meets the eye--and the ear.

With authority, insight, and passion, _The Beloved Vision_, links the music history of this singular epoch to the ideas that lay behind Romanticism in all its manifestations. In this complete, entertaining, and singularly readable account, we come to understand the entire phase in music history that has become the mainstay of the twentieth and twenty-first century concert and operatic repertoire. We also come to understand Beethoven, Mahler, Schubert, Chopin, and Wagner anew.

The narrative begins in the eighteenth century, with C.P.E. Bach, Haydn and the literary movement known as _Sturm und Drang_, seen as a reaction of the individual artist to the confident certainties of the Enlightenment. The windows are flung open, and everything to do with style, form, even technique, is exposed to the emotional and intellectual weather, the impulses and preferences of the individual composer. Risk taking--the braving of the unknown--was certainly an important part of what the composers wanted to do, as true of Chopin and Verdi as it is of Berlioz and Wagner. It's an exciting, colorful, story, told with passion but also with the precision and clarity of detail for which Stephen Walsh is so widely admired.

_The Beloved Visi_on is a cultural tour de force, by turns bold, challenging, and immensely stimulating.

### Author Biography

**Stephen Walsh** is Emeritus Professor of Music at Cardiff University and the author of a number of books on music including _Debussy: A Painter in Sound,_ _Musorgsky and His Circle_ and the prizewinning, two-volume biography of Igor Stravinsky. He served for many years as deputy music critic for _The Observer_ and writes reviews for a variety of publications.

**Number of Pages:** 400

**Dimensions:** 1.5 x 9.3 x 6 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** October 04, 2022

## Details

- **Price:** 29.95 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 29.95 USD | In stock |

## Images

- The Beloved Vision: A History of Nineteenth Century Music - Hardcover

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