Books in the The Bard Music Festival series

Sergey Prokofiev (1891-1953), arguably the popular composer of the twentieth century, led a life of triumph and tragedy. This book probes beneath the surface of his career and contextualizes his contributions to music on both sides of the nascent Cold War divide.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957) was the last compositional prodigy to emerge from the Austro-German tradition of Mozart and Mendelssohn. He was lauded in his youth by everyone from Mahler to Puccini and his auspicious career in the early 1900s spanned chamber music, opera, and musical theater. Today, he is best known for his Hollywood film scores, composed between 1935 and 1947.