The definitive biography of one of the best-loved musicians of the twentieth-century, who was stricken with illness & died at the height of her career.

Jacqueline du Pré (1945-1987) was one of the world’s great cellists. At age 11, she won the most prestigious cello award in Britain and was an established artist at twenty. At twenty-one, she married young conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim. Six years later, her career was over. She had developed multiple sclerosis, and died slowly over the next fifteen years. During those years she continued to believe that she would recover, taught the cello and went out in her wheelchair. Carol Easton came to know Jacqueline well during her last five years, when the cellist had begun to work with a psychoanalyst. In addition to her own interviews with Jacqueline, Easton interviewed more than one hundred people who had known the cellist. This eBook edition includes twenty images from films about Jacqueline du Pré byChristopher Nupen. Christopher Nupen, in the words of Sir Jeremy Isaacs, Chief Executive, Channel 4 Television (London), “pioneered a style of filming music and music making for television in which his excellence has rarely been equalled and never excelled.” “Compelling. I had always known there was something unspoken about Jacqueline du Pré’s early childhood, here revealed. After reading the book, I wished I had known her before the onset of multiple sclerosis. What comes through in the biography is a passionate and free-spirited artist.” — Yo Yo Ma “A strong, compelling and compassionate book.” — Richard Dyer, Boston Globe “This sensitive biography... helps explain why so many people fell in love with [du Pré’s] persona as well as her incomparable artistry on the cello.” — Publishers Weekly “In this immensely compassionate biography, we learn the facts behind the fairytale, the many truths behind the tragedy. And they’re presented insightfully, even entertainingly.” — Valerie Scher, San Diego Tribune “By showing the human being behind the saintly mask handed to her by a public which demands that those whom it has designated ‘golden’ suffer nobly so as not to upset the rest of us, and by recording the silent scream of the woman who bore the terrible nickname ‘Smiley,’ Carol Easton has proved that truth can be more moving than fiction.” — The Sunday Times (London) “This biography will give extra poignancy to hearing again the Jacqueline du Pré recordings, which deservedly continue to hold their places in the best-seller lists.” —Music and Musicians “Carol Easton’s judicious and well-researched biography leaves you with the unedifying thought that life is a bitch, appallingly and gratuitously bloody in its wanton injustice. Fortunately, the book is also an illuminating exploration and celebration of a musical personality loved by her public.” — The Spectator “Easton’s book is a splendid evocation of the strange world of the prodigy, and a moving account of how the cello was both angel and monster for du Pré — a source of painful isolation as well as unmatched passion.” — Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times “Carol Easton describes the full extent of the tragedy that enveloped this wonderfully gifted woman. In the process, du Pré recovers the dignity of which she was robbed with such casual cruelty during her last years... Easton’s musical perception, sharper than that of many critics, makes the book credible, while her skills as a researcher and her direct-yet-elegant style make du Pré’s story, with its larger-than-life, jet-set cast of characters and its soap-opera overtones, emotionally rich and spiritually rewarding.” — Laurence Vittes, Los Angeles Reader “A rich, full-scale portrait of one of the 20th century’s greatest cellists whose emotionally charged concerts captivated audiences... Easton skillfully reveals du Pré’s musical and emotional development and shows us a charming, flirtatious and beautiful young woman who often hid behind her music.” — Los Angeles Today

Since her death in 1987, Jacqueline du Pre's brother and sister have long felt that her life story has never been properly told. This is an often painful account of what happens when a prodigy is born into a family and how the driving force of the talent controlled not only her life, but theirs.

From the moment Jacqueline du Pré first held a cello at the age of five, it was clear she had an extraordinary gift. At sixteen, when she made her professional debut, she was hailed as one of the world's most talented and exciting musicians. But ten years later, she stopped playing virtually overnight, when multiple sclerosis removed the feeling in her hands just before a concert. It took fourteen more years for the crippling disease to take its final toll. In this uniquely revealing biography, Hilary and Piers du Pré have re-created the life they shared with their sister in astonishing personal detail, unveiling the private world behind the public face. With warmth and candor they recount Jackie's blissful love of the cello, her marriage to the conductor Daniel Barenboim, her compulsions, her suffering, and, above all, the price exacted by her talent on the whole family. For proud as they were of Jackie's enormous success, none of them was prepared for the profound impact her genius would have on each of their lives. . . .

A Life in Music reviews five decades of the rich and uniquely varied musical life of Daniel Barenboim. A child prodigy as a pianist and a virtuoso conductor of symphonies and opera, he has known and worked with many of the most distinguished and exciting musicians of the 20th century, not least his own wife Jacqueline du Pré. With memories of music heard and performed, and thoughtful examinations of global influences and professional inspiration, A Life in Music offers a profound window to the mind of one of the twentieth century’s greatest musicians. In this definitive edition, Barenboim discusses his work in Bayreuth, where he has been the most important artistic influence on the annual Wagner Festival; his involvement with the rebirth of the Berlin State Opera House in post-wall Berlin, and as conductor of two great orchestras in Berlin and Chicago; his thoughts on the state of Israel and his work with young Israeli and Arab musicians in Germany; his worldwide travels, his discovery of young talent and his insights into the changing world of music.

The first full biography of the fearless and brilliant Maria Yudina, a legendary pianist who was central to Russian intellectual life "Playing with Fire is a ground-breaking work--a phenomenal biography of a towering human spirit of everlasting relevance."--Norman Lebrecht, Wall Street Journal Maria Yudina was no ordinary musician. An incredibly popular pianist, she lived on the fringes of Soviet society and had close friendships with such towering figures as Boris Pasternak, Pavel Florensky, and Mikhail Bakhtin. Legend has it that she was Stalin's favorite pianist. Yudina was at the height of her fame during WWII, broadcasting almost daily on the radio, playing concerts for the wounded and troops in hospitals and on submarines, and performing for the inhabitants of besieged Leningrad. By the last years of her life, she had been dismissed for ideological reasons from the three institutions where she taught. And yet, according to Shostakovich, Yudina remained "a special case. . . . The ocean was only knee-deep for her." In this engaging biography, Elizabeth Wilson sets Yudina's extraordinary life within the context of her times, where her musical career is measured against the intense intellectual and religious ferment of the postrevolutionary period and the ensuing years of Soviet repression.

Mstislav Rostropovich, a legendary musician of the 20th century, died just a month after the English edition of this book was published in April 2007. Wilson, a British author and former student of Rostropovich, gained access to a great deal of archival information about his years as a faculty member at the Moscow State Conservatory. The book proceeds chronologically through Rostropovich's life and career, with several interpolated chapters devoted to reminiscences from other former pupils. Wilson explores Rostropovich's teaching philosophies and methods and details his warm relationships with several leading composers of the day, notably Benjamin Britten and Dmitry Shostakovich. Unfortunately, Wilson ends her narrative in 1974, the year of Rostropovich's forced departure from the Soviet Union. She acknowledges that a study of the remaining 33 years of his life--during which he was principal conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC, and taught and performed around the globe--could fill several volumes, and one hopes that she will rise to the challenge of completing the biography of this great musician, humanist, and pedagog. Recommended for all music collections.