Musicologist and composer David Raksin discusses the career of his friend, the eminent film composer Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975). Many film clips illustrate his themes, and Raksin demonstrates some of Herrmann's techniques on the piano. Herrmann stands as one of the geniuses in the art, and was a pioneer and risk taker in many of his approaches. He worked with directors Orson Welles, Martin Scorsese, Francois Truffaut, Alfred Hitchcock, among others....

Discover little-known stories from music history—including murder, riots, and heartbreak—in this entertaining tour through the fascinating (and surprising) lives of classical music masters
 
With outrageous anecdotes about everyone from Gioachino Rossini (draft-dodging womanizer) to Johann Sebastian Bach (jailbird) to Richard Wagner (alleged cross-dresser), Secret Lives of Great Composers recounts the seamy,...

Here are the life stories of such diverse figures as Vivaldi, Mozart, Scott Joplin, Nadia Boulanger, and Woody Guthrie. Readers will learn of both their musical natures and the personal, humorous characteristics that make their lives so fascinating. Living, breathing anecdotes--the stuff of which the best biography is made.

"With rhythmic swirls of words and pictures, Suzanne Slade and Stacy Innerst beautifully reveal just how brilliantly Gershwin reached inside his head to create his masterpiece, Rhapsody in Blue. It's a surprising and whirlwind composition of notes and sounds and one long wail of a clarinet-dazzling and daring, just like George Gershwin himself!"--[from book jacket]

An unforgettable, harrowing yet hilarious story about growing up in the midst of chaos by award-winning songwriter Aimee Mayo. Mayo is one of the few females to receive both BMI's Country Song of the Year and Songwriter of the Year awards, putting her in the rare company of Dolly Parton and Taylor Swift. Her songs have sold over 155 million units worldwide and have spent 26 weeks at #1 on the Billboard charts.

A biography of the great Polish-French composer who, when only fifteen year old, received a diamond ring for playing his own musical composition for the Tsar of Russia.

A definitive exploration of singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen as seen through the prism of his internationally renowned hymn, "Hallelujah." Approved for production by Leonard Cohen just before his 80th birthday in 2014, the film accesses a wealth of never-before-seen archival materials from the Cohen Trust including Cohen's notebooks, journals and photographs, performance footage, and extremely rare audio recordings and interviews.

Each episode focuses on a great composer, tracing the creation of their masterpieces and the profound, lasting cultural impact of their music while exploring little known or recently discovered works and new music they inspired.

This toe-tapping picture book biography of African American composer Scott Joplin, whose ragtime music paved the way for jazz, is told through kaleidoscopic illustrations.