Panama Business & Investment Opportunities Yearbook

Book Description

This yearbook contains basic information on export-import, investment and business opportunities in the respected country. Provides information on government structure, economy, business climate, regulations, and more... Includes basic statistics, information on the most important business contacts and business travel. Updated annually.

Panama Business and Investment Opportunities Yearbook (World Country Study Guide Library)

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Panama Business and Investment Opportunities Yearbook (World Country Study Guide Library)

Manufacturer: Intl Business Pubns USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Exports & Imports | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0739777122

Amazon.com

Would-be travelers' dreams of Tuscany are permeated with visions of salame, bruschetta, gelato, and robust red wine. Gourmands with a taste for the cuisine of Northern Italy may have installed drool buckets by their beds as the Italian departure date nears, but getting their hands on those fabled comestibles once en route is not as easy uno, due, tre. What you want are those family-run trattorias and wineries, those village markets heaped with fresh local produce, those hard-to-find shops laden with delectably smelly cheeses and hand-pressed olive oils. Well, Carla Capalbo's Food Lover's Companion to Tuscany is reason for to rejoice for traveling Tuscan tasters.

After two years traversing Tuscany, testing trattorias, noting markets and festivals, Capalbo has put together a loving tribute to the food of Tuscany. Going region by region, the guide takes you from Lucca and the Garfagnana through Florence, Pisa, and the Island of Elba. It visits Mount Abetone, Livorno and its coast, Chianti Classico and its wines, Seina, Mount Amiata, and the hills and valleys of Arezzo. There's an appendix with Tuscan market days listed town by town, a glossary, an index of wines, and another of wine grape varietals.

A quick flip reveals a Florentine shop specializing in chocolates (available September through May only, alas), the Mansi Bernardini estate with its fine Luccan olive oils, and Signora Renata Ginestri, baker of some of Tuscany's best breads. There's Da Antonio (a fine fish restaurant in the heart of Chianti), Tenuta Fontodi (the excellent and handsome vineyard outside Panzano), and Caseificio Cooperativa Val D'Orcia (a cheese cooperative in the hills of Contignano specializing in Pienza-style pecorini). Perusing is addictive. Just don't read the book when you're hungry. --Stephanie Gold

Customer Reviews:

It's not a cookbook!.......2000-12-10

This is a lovely book with lots of good food information, but it's misleading to put it in with cookbooks! I bought it hoping for some great Tuscan recipes tucked in amongst the info about where to find good food. No recipes!

Excellent.......2000-10-01

This was the book we used the most in Tuscany. The book provides excellent recommendations on restaurants, wineries, markets, cermamics shops and food shops. It helped make our vacation in Tuscany wonderful.

An excellent guide!.......2000-09-09

I have traveled in Tuscany last fall and tried quite a few restaurants, markets, cheese shops and wineries based on this book's recommendations. All were absolutely wonderful. I am greatful to the authors for making this such a great vacation.

A must for travel in Tuscany.......2000-08-04

This is an essential book for Tuscany travel. Not only are the reviews of restaurants wonderful (and VERY accurate) but all the extra places that are recommended - a wonderful beekeeper in San Gimignano, delightful ceramic shops, a place to buy fresh pasta in Lucca (for both man and dog!), farmers markets, out-of-the-way restaurants in busy "touristy" places like Pisa and Florence; we never left home without it. We found it particularly helpful that directions to locate the place described were provided -- very important when traveling in unfamiliar areas. Although it can be bulky to carry, it's worth it. (I would often copy on to a piece of paper all the things I wanted to see and do in one city and leave the book in the car.) One of the best books we took on our trip - I was absolutely lost when we headed from Tuscany for Liguria!

Culinary detours well worth the effort!.......1999-12-16

Having recently enjoyed eight days in Tuscany, quite a bit of it spent chasing after memorable experiences described in this book, I highly recommend it to other food-driven adventurers. It's a bit heavy to tote about (as were the copper pizza pans from the shop in Lucca it led me right to); but we never left a hotel room without it. The layout (for first time visitors) requires a fair bit of cross-referencing until you get the knack of matching towns, descriptions and maps in the book to more detailed roadmaps that you will find to be an essential extra. There are so many worthwhile destinations in such close proximity to each other that it's impossible to see as much as you would wish. But that said, there's not a chance I would otherwise have found Dai Dai frozen desserts, savoured the unusual taste of lardo di Colonnata (or survived the nerve jangling drive there!), nor experienced the simple 'grand tour' pleasure of snacking on a truffle sandwich in such quiet elegance in Florence. My copy of this book, bought almost as an afterthought, just before leaving home, is thoroughly dog-earred and annotated throughout with huge exclamation marks and wistful 'next time's.' Not one comment lead us astray, although we managed to take a few unexpected detours. I only envy the author the obvious time she spent in completing her research.

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Great book

A "Must Have" For The Knowledgeable Collector

Collector's Guide to Horsman Dolls 1865-1950: Identification & Values
Don Jensen
Manufacturer: Collector Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Dolls | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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Arranbee Dolls: Identification & Value Guide

Collector's Encyclopedia of American Composition Dolls 1900-1950: Identification and Values (Collector's Encyclopedia of American Composition Dolls)

American Character Dolls: Identification & Value Guide

Collector's Guide To Ideal Dolls: Identification & Values (Collectors Guide to Ideal Dolls Identification and Values)

The Handbook of Doll Repair & Restoration

ASIN: 1574322796

Book Description

This is the first book on the market to tell the Horsman story. Partly historical and partly tale of an ambitious entrepreneur and his son, the book is a story of these American doll manufacturers who created literally millions of well made dolls that generations of youngsters loved and cherished. It is the ultimate reference for Horsman doll collectors, with descriptive listings and over 400 color photos, vintage catalog pages, and advertising pictures of commonly found and remarkably rare dolls.200 pages. AUTHORBIO: Don Jensen is a retired newspaperman with 34 years experience as a daily newspaper writer and editor. A freelance writer as well, he has written for national magazines on various subjects since 1967. He has been a frequent contributor to Doll Reader, Doll News, Contemporary Doll Collector, and other doll magazines. He and his wife Arlene enjoy collecting American-made composition dolls from the first half of the twentieth century, especially Horsman dolls. REVIEW: This is the first doll collector's book to tell the Horsman story. It is part history, an intriguing tale of an ambitious, successful entrepreneur and his initially reluctant, but ultimately enthusiastic and innovative son. More importantly, it is the ultimate reference for collectors of Horsman dolls, with descriptive listings and more than 400 illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

Great book.......2002-06-08

It's about time someone did a comprehensive study of the Horsman company and the wonderful dolls they made. This is a book that will prove valuable to all serious researchers and collectors. Let's hope Jensen will write more books of this caliber.

A "Must Have" For The Knowledgeable Collector.......2002-04-29

Don Jensen certainly has "put meat on the bones" for the Horsman Company. A newspaper writer and editor by training, he comanded the considerable research skills necessary to ferret out extensive information on the Horsman company and their early chief designer, Helen Trowbridge. It also made it possible for him to present for the first time ever a picture and markings of the earliest composition doll made by Solomon Hoffman. Horsman's product line is delt with comprehensively, from the early imported dolls to cloth, bisque during WWI, composition and finally plastic. Not only is this an indispensible reference book for doll collectors, but also makes for fascinating reading.

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It is what it says!

Wonderful book that makes scrapbooking so easy!

Quick & Easy Sketches For Scrapbookers (Memory Makers)
Nicole Cummings
Manufacturer: Memory Makers Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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More Quick & Easy Scrapbook Pages: 200 all new timesaving layouts you can create in one hour or less (Memory Makers)

The Scrapbookers Essential Guide to Color (Memory Makers)

Simply Graphic: Clean & Crisp Design for Scrapbook Pages (Memory Makers)

Creative Sketches, Vol. 2

What About the Words? Creative Journaling for Scrapbookers (Memory Makers)

ASIN: 1892127644

Book Description

Highly versatile sketches provide a foolproof foundation for quick-and-easy page design that allows crafters to focus on the creative aspect of scrapbooking. Sketches eliminate the guesswork from page design by supplying artists with blueprints for placing photos, titles and journaling. Quick & Easy Sketches for Scrapbookers offers readers:

-A blueprint for placing elements, such as photos, titles, borders and embellishments

-Ways to change the page theme, colors and page accents to create an endless variety of pages

-Sketches for single photo pages or pages with multiple photos

-Page design variations for basic, moderate and advanced pages based on a single sketch

Scrapbookers will love eliminating the guesswork of page design and layout with these user-friendly page sketches that they will turn to time and again to create beautiful and meaningful scrapbook pages.

Page sketches are fast becoming a tool in the scrapbooker's arsenal of design inspiration. They provide a blueprint for placing elements, including photos, title, borders and embellishments, on a scrapbook page. By simply changing the page theme, the colors and page accents, a sketch can be used to create endless varieties of scrapbook pages in quick order. Memory Makers Books puts a whole new spin on using sketches for scrapbooking!

Customer Reviews:

It is what it says!.......2006-12-29

I tend to have a very clean, classic style of scrapbooking and this book does a lovely job with sketches. I scraplift fromt his book all the time.

Wonderful book that makes scrapbooking so easy!.......2006-08-10

I love to scrapbook but I have the hardest time starting from scratch. It's much easier for me to scrapbook if I have a layout that I can follow. This book has several layouts and it also shows several examples for each layout. At the end of each section it has a page with each sketch from that section that you can copy for easy quick and easy use in the future. All in all this is a great resourse for people who have difficulty making their own layouts or for people who just need to get some ideas.

Quick and Easy Sketches for Scrapbookers

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Quick and Easy Sketches for Scrapbookers
*
Manufacturer: David & Charles
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K2HWWW

Book Description

Wright first came to fame with his airy Prairie houses, but before designing any of them he built or remodeled many other houses, most of them in the Chicago area in which he lived. This book presents a dozen of his earliest works from 1891 to 1897 and shows how he developed his distinctive architecture.

By Carla Lind. 60 pages, 38 color photographs, 3 black & white photographs, 5 1/4 x 5 1/4". Casebound with dust jacket.

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Frank Lloyd Wright and Wichita: The first Usonian design
Pamela D Kingsbury
Manufacturer: Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0962125016

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Organic Art - Benton House - Levy House - First Christian Church - Grady Gammage Auditorium (Frank Lloyd Wright & Organic Architecture aka Wrightian Magazine, July/August 1990)

Manufacturer: Wrightian Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GWHE2E

Book Description

Hans Hotter (1909-2003) was one of opera's most influential and profoundly moving artists of the twentieth century. His imposing frame and austere, high-browed profile made him an ideal figure of tragic dignity, unequaled in his era as Wotan, Amfortas the Dutchman, Scarpia and the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlo, and several Strauss roles, including three world premieres of that composer's works. Hotter made his debut at age twenty-one in Troppau, Germany (now Oppava, Czech Republic), and by the age of thirty was a leading artist at the prestigious Bavarian State Opera in Munich. Although he never joined the Nazi party and avoided appearances at Bayreuth while under Nazi control, Hotter remained active in German theaters throughout the war. He achieved his vocal prime after the war and was a featured performer in Munich, Vienna, Bayreuth, New York, San Francisco, London's Covent Garden, and Salzburg. In addition to his long and acclaimed opera career, Hotter was also a distinguished stage director, teacher, and an incomparable lieder singer, celebrated for his mastery of Schubert's song cycle Die Winterresise.

Translator and editor Donald Arthur conducted a series of interviews with Hotter during the final years of his life. The result is not merely an English translation of Hotter's memoirs (originally published as Der Mai war mir gewogen in Germany in 1996), but a significantly more critical, probing, and engaging account of the great singer's life. In particular, Hotter now confronts both his personal resistance to, and professional concessions toward, the Third Reich, and he speaks in greater detail about his musical and theatrical insights and his associations with such European luminaries as Richard Strauss, Herbert von Karajan, Otto Klemperer, and Clemens Krauss, to name but a few. Accompanied by more than seventy photographs, some never before published, this volume is a cause for celebration among his fans and general opera lovers everywhere.

Customer Reviews:

Hans Hotter an inspiring artist and human being.......2006-09-08

In the book Hans Hotter: Memoirs, Donald Arthur captures with tact the life, courage and humor of this incredible singer. In his informative introduction Mr. Arthur gives sincere keys elements about Hotter's conception in art and as a person. Hans Hotter who had a diversified career which is transcended here does not unfortunately always witnessed on records due to lack of music directors' initiatives or either due to unfortunate circumstances. The fact that Hans Hotter would sing operas and then diminish his voice volume to interpret German lieder was quite unusual at this time (singers would sing melodies after having a lasting career in operas and after loosing part of their voice). For the first time and perfectly illustrated in this book not only stylistically Hans Hotter was among the very first to acknowledge the importance of melodies as a Major art form but also avoiding the usual pitfalls of being excessive in expression like most of his colleagues.
As a teacher Hans Hotter had the phenomenal faculty of inspiring his students, musically of course, technically with very healthy tips and eventually metamorphosis a student in just a couple of days. Text and conception was always part of his interpretation in forming only one but without forgetting the expression.
The modesty throughout the book and Hotter's personality are very well represented and with taste. Also underlined is his generosity and I had the very good fortune to assist many of his master classes and witnessed his endless share of knowledge. His knowledge was always to help and guide a singer and in a constructive way.
In master classes, he would Very often propose options to singers but then as he said: "you need to demonstrate". To do so he would enlighten these sessions with mini-recitals. Having been thought very early on, how to teach, it was natural for him to forward his experiences to others. In main occasions the book explains how life and art are bounded together and how it was crucial for Hans Hotter to act in life and music with the same honesty.Mr. Arthur emphasis also the fact of how crucial encounters can be in the artistic development of an artist's career and how human relationships are equally important for Hans Hotter. These elements make this book a must, not only for the anecdotes which is full of funny stories but helps the reader to understand what tools is necessary for a complete artistic development.
The book is so lively written that sometimes you would think that you are in the room with Hans Hotter. Luckily for us and as it is explained by the author in his introduction highly unexpected circumstances gave birth to the book.
Emmanuel Benador

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Just the facts, ma'am
Frustrating glimpses of a fascinating man and artist.

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau: A Biography
Hans A. Neunzig , and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Manufacturer: Amadeus Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1574670352

Amazon.com

This book celebrates the art and life of the great German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau from his debut recital in 1947 to his retirement almost five decades later. Born in 1925 into an upper middle-class, intellectual Berlin family that prized patriotism, culture, literature, and music, he first made his name as a lieder singer, but recordings and operatic engagements soon followed. His repertoire was enormous, ranging from Bach cantatas to many premieres of contemporary works. This biography documents the scope of Fischer-Dieskau's unceasing performing and recording activity; it enumerates his operatic roles, describing his musical, literary, and historical preparation for "becoming the character he impersonated." It also discusses the singer's vocal and musical working methods, often quoting his own words from his books and letters, notably his famously controversial views on the relationship of words and music, and the tension between his inquiring intellect and his emotional musical response.

Dominated by a sense of artistic responsibility, Fischer-Dieskau worked obsessively in pursuit of perfection, gaining stimulation and renewal by frequent changes of accompanists. To satisfy his constant need for more self-expression, he took up writing, conducting, painting, and teaching. Inevitably, his personal relationships and private life were subordinated to the relentless demands of his life onstage. In his memoirs, Fischer-Dieskau confesses: "I worshipped my profession and my career; I was under the spell of opera and my recitals."

Of his four marriages, the first ended in tragedy when his beloved young wife died in childbirth; the next two ended in divorce; and the last one, to soprano Julia Varady--with whom he has often appeared in opera and concert--has given both lasting happiness. Not surprisingly, his three sons inherited his artistic gifts and courageously followed in his footsteps as stage designer, conductor, and cellist. By their own account, they grew up mostly without their father, who himself recalls isolated moments of shared activity.

The book suffers from repetitiousness and chronological incoherence. Neunzig has an irritating habit of explicating quotes both before and afterward, and of exaggerating the obstacles the singer encountered on his meteoric rise to fame and subsequent illustrious career. The biography's greatest flaw is its lack of objectivity: obviously written by a starstruck admirer, it is an uncritical hymn of praise; indeed, the constant hyperbole becomes self-defeating. Even the copious quotes from reviews and comments on the singer's performances are carefully chosen to express approbation; adverse responses are brushed off, though there are excerpts from his own replies to his critics. Yet despite Neunzig's adulation, his portrait of a great artist cannot conceal that total dedication to a successful career can lead to total self-absorption; indeed the singer himself was aware of the danger of "avoiding reality and rejecting life's day-to-day affairs." This includes not only the familiar controversy about the separation of art and politics but the special problems of living in Germany after the rise of Nazism. Though Neunzig clearly states his own opposition to the regime, Fischer-Dieskau's views are expressed mostly in assertions of kinship with idealistic operatic characters, and complaints about the discomforts and deprivations of life in the army, POW camps, and postwar Berlin, for which anyone who survived the war on the other side hardly feels much sympathy. A single paragraph recounts the 13-year-old's shock at finding a Jewish shop smashed, and another the "elimination" by the Nazis of a handicapped older brother; the reader is left to infer the singer's political attitude.

The book is written in a somewhat heavy style, perhaps partly due to the translation, and includes a chronology of Fischer-Dieskau's life, lists of his books and innumerable CDs, and many excellent photographs, on and off stage. --Edith Eisler

Book Description

The predominant lieder singer of his generation, Fischer-Dieskau also had a distinguished career on the operatic stage. This biography provides a comprehensive and frank account of his extraordinary career, from his debut in Verdi's Don Carlos in 1948 to his farewell concert appearance in 1992. Hardcover.

Customer Reviews:

Just the facts, ma'am.......2001-11-15

What a bore this book is. No sense of style (welll, it's a translation after all). No sense of narrative line. Just facts printed on the page. If you want the facts, here they are. I'd suggest you wait for the movie.

Frustrating glimpses of a fascinating man and artist........1999-10-21

Despite nearly 50 years of performing before the public, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau has remained a rather mysterious figure, and this biography does nothing to change that impression. The more one seeks the private Fischer-Dieskau, the more he retreats behind a preoccupation, more accurately, an obsession with art. On the other hand, as this biography confirms, no one has made the essence of what he is more evident and accessible than Fischer-Dieskau. Neunzig traces the development of F-D the artist, pursuing the influences and events that shaped one of the most talented and controversial musical performers of the 20th century, and he makes it clear that the conflicts and contradictions were there from the beginning, that they are, in fact, the forces that drive him. This book has a lot to offer those who know relatively little about F-D and are willing to put up with its reverential tone, which hasn't exactly been diminished by the equally effusive translation of Kenneth S. Whitton. However, if what you want is a serious, scholarly consideration of how Fischer-Dieskau became the man and artist he is, you are doomed to disappointment. Natterings about genius, no matter how flattering, just aren't sufficient.

Robert Schumann: Words and Music: The Vocal Compositions

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Robert Schumann: Words and Music: The Vocal Compositions
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Manufacturer: Amadeus Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

History & Criticism | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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Amazon.com

Unlike most famous performers who write books, predominantly memoirs, when they retire, the German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau turned to writing at the peak of his career, and his subject was not his life (that came later) but the art form with which he was most closely associated: the lied or art song. (It's interesting that the German word Lied, though it simply means "song," has entered the English language as if it denoted a separate, distinct vocal genre.) Fischer-Dieskau, one of the greatest Lieder singers of our time, had always been attracted to expressing himself in both words and music; his interpretations, too, emphasized their equal importance, their interaction and interdependence. For his first book, a compilation of Texts of German Songs, his only original contribution was the introduction, cast in the convoluted, abstruse style typical of scholarly German writing. In the next one, Schubert's Songs: A Biographical Study, he discarded this complexity; expressed simply and naturally, his love, knowledge, and understanding of his subject suffuse every page. The present book on Schumann's vocal works seems inspired not only by his affinity for the songs, but for a man who, like Fischer-Dieskau himself, was drawn equally to literature and music: a poet and a tone-poet, who chose his texts with care and discriminating literary taste, and achieved a true melding of tone and word, as well as a true partnership between voice and piano.

The book is excellent, clearly organized, filled with penetrating and illuminating insights. Fischer-Dieskau discusses Schumann's artistic development, changing style, and influence on future song composers. His analyses of virtually every work are detailed and exhaustive, though sometimes they seem to read too much psychological meaning into every harmonic and melodic turn. Despite copious musical examples, it is advisable to have the music at hand. Schumann's settings of a poem are compared with those of other composers, tracing similarities and influences and listing all the changes he made to his texts. There are biographies of the poets for whose verses Schumann composed and descriptions of his relationship with them, whether direct or indirect. The author's knowledge is encyclopedic, yet he never flaunts it. He rejects the long-held idea that Schumann's deteriorating health brought about a parallel decline in his creative power. On the contrary, he asserts that Schumann was striving for a new, simpler, leaner style, and that his late works have a deeply moving inwardness and concentration that make their neglect both unjust and unfortunate.

Though the book focuses on Schumann's music, it naturally includes biographical elements. It recounts the familiar events of his life, giving more than usual attention to the inevitable problems of a marriage between two people of supreme but very different gifts and the mutual accommodations necessary for their often unfairly disparate artistic success. It also presents Schumann's illness in a different light, locating its onset much earlier in his life than is generally assumed and adding a new causative and aggravating component: alcoholism. However, there seems to be no documentary or contemporary evidence to back this up. Fischer-Dieskau himself admits that "one did not speak of such things" in those days, but does not indicate the source of his information. And even this sympathetic, circumspect biographer cannot resist the temptation to mention Schumann's secret distress at the "infatuation" of their "house-guest," Johannes Brahms, with Schumann's wife, Clara, though her diaries mention no such hospitality, nor does anything she wrote about Brahms, then or later, justify credence in an "infatuation."

Reinhard Pauly's English version reads well, but there are occasional errors in punctuation and frequently serious mistranslations of the German song titles and quotations from the poetry. The book is beautifully laid out, with many pictures as well as reproductions of Schumann's manuscript pages. --Edith Eisler

Book Description

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, one of today's great interpreters of vocal music, examines Schumann's life in relation to his entire vocal oeuvre. The songs, his only opera, Genoveva, his secular oratorios, the Scenes from Goethe's Faust, Manfred, and the Mass and Requiem are all given careful consideration, with suggestions for interpretation. HARDCOVER.

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Enjoy learning about Schubert as a person as well as his songs from one of the great performers of those songs

Schubert's Songs: A Biographical Study
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Manufacturer: Limelight Editions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0879100052

Customer Reviews:

Enjoy learning about Schubert as a person as well as his songs from one of the great performers of those songs.......2005-11-10

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, lyric baritone, was born in Berlin in 1925 and was one of this most important and widely acclaimed singers in the post-war era (was drafted in 1945, captured by the Americans in Italy and spent two years as a prisoner of war). He sang a great deal of opera in a huge range styles from Classic to Romantic to Wagner to opera of the Twentieth Century such as Berg and Britten. He was able to do all of this because of his great technique, natural vocal gifts, and keen intelligence. Above all, however, Fischer-Dieskau is remembered as a great singer of Lied, especially of Schubert. He actually sang all of Schubert's more than 600 songs in recital!

It is natural that a talent and a mind with such a close affinity to Schubert would also have studied the composer's life deeply enough to write a book such as this. It is a book with grace and charm that helps us understand Schubert's life on a very personal, even intimate (emotionally) basis. The author carefully connects the music with the life without the fatal mistake of the amateur of making the music biographical. We understand what was happening in Schubert's life, what he was writing at the time, and how that music involved those around him.

The musical detail never gets too technical, but only serves to illuminate the beauty and significance of the song and helps the reader understand its musical poetry and its illumination of the text. There are no musical examples or pictures, but plenty of excerpts of the texts of the songs so they may be discussed.

There is also a wonderful immediacy to the writing. We are taken to concerts, recitals, parties, and share in Schubert's triumphs and disappointments. We learn about his love and disappointment over Theresa Grob (who married a master-baker instead - so much more practical!). We never get bored or find the writing dry or dusty (which is pretty darn good for a translation!)

The last two chapters discuss what happened after Schubert's death, his legacy, and a short look at a number of interpreters of Schubert's lieder (songs) over the past hundred and fifty years or so. Again, this is more about flavor and illuminating the songs than an academic study of who sang what when and why.

If you want to have a pleasant experience with the songs of Schubert from an intelligent man who was one of the great performers of those songs, get yourself a copy of this book. Some are available on the used market at reasonable prices.

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Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau : A Biography
Hans A.; Whitton, Kenneth S. (translator) Neunzig
Manufacturer: Timber Press, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MY7YJE

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Mastersinger: A Documented Study

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Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Mastersinger: A Documented Study
Kenneth S. Whitton
Manufacturer: Holmes & Meier Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0841907285

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau: Eine Biographie

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Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau: Eine Biographie
Hans A Neunzig
Manufacturer: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 3421067082

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Echoes of a Lifetime
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Manufacturer: Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0333498119

Fern die Klage des Fauns: Claude Debussy und seine Welt

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Fern die Klage des Fauns: Claude Debussy und seine Welt
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Manufacturer: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 3421066515

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Nachklang: Ansichten und Erinnerungen
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Manufacturer: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 3421063680

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