His story is a testament to the human spirit and to music itself, the beauty of which Laks and others honored even as the lives of so many were destroyed.

    An analysis of the Baroque style of music and its inventive forms of expression, such as the opera, from 1600 to 1750.

    Unlike many of his contemporaries, he had few major problems to overcome. His work, his family life, all brought him the reward of renown and joy. Even the stiff finger which virtually ended his career as a musician was the means of emphasizing his genius as a composer. Opal Wheeler has written a most engaging story for children of this great man s life, and the carefully chosen selections from his compositions which have been added make this a distinguished acquisition to any young reader s library."

    

    An illustrated history of musical thought in the nineteenth century and its relationship to the Romantic movement.

    The counterpoint studied is the harmonic, rhythmic, instrumental style so well represented by the music of Bach. For it is this style that most of the composers who came after Bach, including those of our own time, have regarded as the ideal of contrapuntal technique. Piston's method in Counterpoint is to discover how music has been written rather than how it should be written. This book, in contrast to most traditional studies, states principles and gives rules that are based on actual observations of the practice of composers rather than those invented by the theorist. It offers examples drawn from the works of standard composers rather than those constructed by the author. The literature of the last three hundred years is examined to form the logical basis for this study. Throughout the book, exercises are provided that call for the writing of music and that are intended to clarify the principles under discussion. Walter Piston, one of America's outstanding composers, created for this book an approach to the study of counterpoint that is stimulating and helpful to an understanding of the music of all times.