The preparation of this classical music guide, The World's Great Men of Music, began with a period of delightful research work in a great musical library. As a honey-bee flutters from flower to flower, culling sweetness from many blossoms, so the compiler of such stories as these must gather facts from many sources--from biography, letters, journals and musical history. Then, impressed with the personality and individual achievement of each composer, the author has endeavored to present his life story. Contents: Palestrina -- John Sebastian Bach -- George Frederick Handel -- Christoph Willibald Gluck -- Josef Haydn -- Wolfgang Mozart -- Ludwig van Beethoven -- Carl Maria von Weber -- Franz Schubert -- Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy -- Robert Schumann -- Frederic Chopin -- Hector Berlioz -- Franz Liszt -- Giuseppe Verdi -- Richard Wagner -- Cesar Franck -- Johannes Brahms -- Edward Grieg -- Peter Ilyitch Tschaikowsky -- Edward MacDowell -- Claude Achille Debussy -- Arturo Toscanini -- Leopold Stokowsky -- Serge Koussevitzky.

The World's Great Men of Music Story-Lives of Master Musicians by Harriette Brower I PALESTRINA To learn something of the life and labors of Palestrina, one of the earliest as well as one of the greatest musicians, we must go back in the world's history nearly four hundred years. And even then we may not be able to discover all the events of his life as some of the records have been lost. But we have the main facts, and know that Palestrina's name will be revered for all time as the man who strove to make sacred music the expression of lofty and spiritual meaning. Upon a hoary spur of the Apennines stands the crumbling town of Palestrina. It is very old now; it was old when Rome was young. Four hundred years ago Palestrina was dominated by the great castle of its lords, the proud Colonnas. Naturally the town was much more important in those days than it is to-day. At that time there lived in Palestrina a peasant pair, Sante Pierluigi and his wife Maria, who seem to have been an honest couple, and not grindingly poor, since the will of Sante's mother has lately been found, in which she bequeathed a house in Palestrina to her two sons. Besides this she left behind a fine store of bed linen, mattresses and cooking utensils. Maria Gismondi also had a little property. We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.

Excerpt from Stories of Great Musicians That the purpose1 of the public schools is the training of children for a higher citizenship, a more extensive helpfulness in affairs pertaining to the com mon good, no one questions; but we need expect no manifestation of a greater integrity, unless lofty ideals are kept constantly before them. Neither painter nor sculptor can produce a greater expres sion of beauty than that which has been built up in his own consciousness no individual can produce a greater expression of manhood or womanhood than that which he holds in his own mind. It is impor tant, therefore, that a high standard be set for the children in our schools to-day. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.