"Alma Mahler died in New York City in 1964, at the age of 85. The New York Times ran an obituary that described her as a woman whose "intellect...complimented her beauty." The obituary was something of a scandal: spicy, racy, naming the names of Alma's lovers, dredging up her secret affairs, and-in tone-passing judgment on this woman who had the audacity to be attracted to, and attractive to, men of genius. Since then, history has passed judgement...

Sounds and Sweet Airs reveals the hidden stories of eight remarkable female composers, taking the reader on a journey from seventeenth-century Medici Florence to London in the Blitz.