Experiencing the Violin Concerto

Franco Sciannameo is professor and associate dean for Interdisciplinary Initiatives in the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. He is the author of Nino Rota, Federico Fellini and the Making of an Italian Cinematic Folk Opera: Amarcord (2005); Giuseppe Mazzini's Philosophy of Music: Envisioning a Social Opera (1836) (2005); Nino Rota's The Godfather Trilogy (2010), and Phil Trajetta (1777-1854), Patriot, Musician, Immigrant (2010)

• Chapter 1: In the Baroque: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Bach’s Four HarpsichordsChapter 2: Mozart – Haydn – Brunetti – TomasiniChapter 3: Viotti and BeethovenChapter 4: The Meteoric Paganini and His EpigonesChapter 5: At the Heart of German Romanticism: Mendelssohn, Schumann, and BruchChapter 6: Brahms’ Violin Concerto and the End of an EraChapter 7: In the After-Brahms: Monsters and LeprechaunsChapter 8: Pillars of Modernism: Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Berg, and BartôkChapter 9: Barber and Korngold, Shostakovich and…SchoenbergChapter 10: Music without Anxieties

Published in the ‘Listener's Companion’ series, which is intended to ‘give readers a deeper understanding of pivotal musical genres and ... iconic composers and performers,’ this volume offers historical background and somewhat sentimental, literary-styled stories. On the plus side, the book is comprehensive. All the genres are covered, and major violin composers are well represented. The book's organization is logical, as are the subsections within the chapters. . . .Summing Up:Recommended. . . . .Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; general readers.