After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Muriel Nissel worked in the Civil Service until she married Siegmund Nissel in 1957. In the early years when she was at home looking after their two young children, she carried out research into the economics of the arts for a study based at Princeton University in the States. She was also appointed a magistrate. When the children went to school, she joined the Central Statistical Office and was the first editor of Social Trends, a highly successful annual government publication, now in its 28th year. She left the Civil Service in 1976 and in the following year joined the Policy Studies Institute, researching mainly into the family and the arts. She was a member of the Gulbenkian Enquiry into the Training of Musicians, which reported in 1977. She is now retired but still works on a freelance basis..

• Forty years playing quartets; early years; marrying the quartet; touring the world; our daughter is born; on tour with the quartet; what happens when you are ill? do you play on a strad? making records; we all go to the United Sates; festivals and summer schools; a change of life-style; I return to work; juggling jobs and family; getting away from it all; staying at the top; the last years of the quartet; teaching - an Amadeus legacy; a dedicated life. Appendices: engagements of the Amadeus Quartet in their Silver Jubilee Year, 197203; engagements of the Amadeus Quartet in their last season, 1986-7; earnings of the Amadeus Quartet in 1972-1986; discography of the Amadeus quartet; quartets attending the Amadeus International Summer Course.

Andrew Green in Classical Music: '...a thoroughly absorbing, well-written account of the Amadeus Quartet story observed from the inside...[It] has the benefit of many penetrating insights - not simply into how wives and families are affected by the lifestyle adopted of necessity by the members of a top-notch ensemble, but into the true nature of that lifestyle itself...It is a book, in truth, about an octet, with all the characters utterly believable, aided by an excellent photographic record, plus an appendix containing not just a complete discography but a list of all the quartets who have benefited from the Amadeus' International Summer Course. Very revealing.' Patrick Carnegy in TLS: 'There are memorable sketches of musician colleagues - Cecil Aronowitz...Alfred Brendel...David Oistrakh... and of the Amadeus playing Britten's Third Quartet privately to the composer only months before his death. The legacy of the Amadeus lives on in their recordings and in the many fine ensembles they have coached. Looking back on the forty years of their pre-eminence in the classic string quartet repertory, it is amazing how much of their reputation was won by the sheer quality of their performances, unaided by the marketing and image-making that is par for the course today...the story of the invisible life of the Wolf Gang is never less than candidly and engagingly told.' Martin Boyd in the Strad: '...the eloquent and cerebral wife of second violinist Siegmund presents us with an engaging account of the Amadeus' rise to pre-eminence...she successfully conveys a sense of how important a stable family life was to her husband and the other members of the jet-setting Amadeus...This book is about the vicissitudes of personal and professional relationships. Muriel Nissel's close proximity to the Amadeus Quartet enables her to give a privileged insight into the workings and group dynamics of this remarkable and long-lasting ensemble.'

After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Muriel Nissel worked in the Civil Service until she married Siegmund Nissel in 1957. In the early years when she was at home looking after their two young children, she carried out research into the economics of the arts for a study based at Princeton University in the States. She was also appointed a magistrate. When the children went to school, she joined the Central Statistical Office and was the first editor of Social Trends, a highly successful annual government publication, now in its 28th year. She left the Civil Service in 1976 and in the following year joined the Policy Studies Institute, researching mainly into the family and the arts. She was a member of the Gulbenkian Enquiry into the Training of Musicians, which reported in 1977. She is now retired but still works on a freelance basis..

• Forty years playing quartets; early years; marrying the quartet; touring the world; our daughter is born; on tour with the quartet; what happens when you are ill? do you play on a strad? making records; we all go to the United Sates; festivals and summer schools; a change of life-style; I return to work; juggling jobs and family; getting away from it all; staying at the top; the last years of the quartet; teaching - an Amadeus legacy; a dedicated life. Appendices: engagements of the Amadeus Quartet in their Silver Jubilee Year, 197203; engagements of the Amadeus Quartet in their last season, 1986-7; earnings of the Amadeus Quartet in 1972-1986; discography of the Amadeus quartet; quartets attending the Amadeus International Summer Course.

Andrew Green in Classical Music: '...a thoroughly absorbing, well-written account of the Amadeus Quartet story observed from the inside...[It] has the benefit of many penetrating insights - not simply into how wives and families are affected by the lifestyle adopted of necessity by the members of a top-notch ensemble, but into the true nature of that lifestyle itself...It is a book, in truth, about an octet, with all the characters utterly believable, aided by an excellent photographic record, plus an appendix containing not just a complete discography but a list of all the quartets who have benefited from the Amadeus' International Summer Course. Very revealing.' Patrick Carnegy in TLS: 'There are memorable sketches of musician colleagues - Cecil Aronowitz...Alfred Brendel...David Oistrakh... and of the Amadeus playing Britten's Third Quartet privately to the composer only months before his death. The legacy of the Amadeus lives on in their recordings and in the many fine ensembles they have coached. Looking back on the forty years of their pre-eminence in the classic string quartet repertory, it is amazing how much of their reputation was won by the sheer quality of their performances, unaided by the marketing and image-making that is par for the course today...the story of the invisible life of the Wolf Gang is never less than candidly and engagingly told.' Martin Boyd in the Strad: '...the eloquent and cerebral wife of second violinist Siegmund presents us with an engaging account of the Amadeus' rise to pre-eminence...she successfully conveys a sense of how important a stable family life was to her husband and the other members of the jet-setting Amadeus...This book is about the vicissitudes of personal and professional relationships. Muriel Nissel's close proximity to the Amadeus Quartet enables her to give a privileged insight into the workings and group dynamics of this remarkable and long-lasting ensemble.'

After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Muriel Nissel worked in the Civil Service until she married Siegmund Nissel in 1957. In the early years when she was at home looking after their two young children, she carried out research into the economics of the arts for a study based at Princeton University in the States. She was also appointed a magistrate. When the children went to school, she joined the Central Statistical Office and was the first editor of Social Trends, a highly successful annual government publication, now in its 28th year. She left the Civil Service in 1976 and in the following year joined the Policy Studies Institute, researching mainly into the family and the arts. She was a member of the Gulbenkian Enquiry into the Training of Musicians, which reported in 1977. She is now retired but still works on a freelance basis..

• Forty years playing quartets; early years; marrying the quartet; touring the world; our daughter is born; on tour with the quartet; what happens when you are ill? do you play on a strad? making records; we all go to the United Sates; festivals and summer schools; a change of life-style; I return to work; juggling jobs and family; getting away from it all; staying at the top; the last years of the quartet; teaching - an Amadeus legacy; a dedicated life. Appendices: engagements of the Amadeus Quartet in their Silver Jubilee Year, 197203; engagements of the Amadeus Quartet in their last season, 1986-7; earnings of the Amadeus Quartet in 1972-1986; discography of the Amadeus quartet; quartets attending the Amadeus International Summer Course.

Andrew Green in Classical Music: '...a thoroughly absorbing, well-written account of the Amadeus Quartet story observed from the inside...[It] has the benefit of many penetrating insights - not simply into how wives and families are affected by the lifestyle adopted of necessity by the members of a top-notch ensemble, but into the true nature of that lifestyle itself...It is a book, in truth, about an octet, with all the characters utterly believable, aided by an excellent photographic record, plus an appendix containing not just a complete discography but a list of all the quartets who have benefited from the Amadeus' International Summer Course. Very revealing.' Patrick Carnegy in TLS: 'There are memorable sketches of musician colleagues - Cecil Aronowitz...Alfred Brendel...David Oistrakh... and of the Amadeus playing Britten's Third Quartet privately to the composer only months before his death. The legacy of the Amadeus lives on in their recordings and in the many fine ensembles they have coached. Looking back on the forty years of their pre-eminence in the classic string quartet repertory, it is amazing how much of their reputation was won by the sheer quality of their performances, unaided by the marketing and image-making that is par for the course today...the story of the invisible life of the Wolf Gang is never less than candidly and engagingly told.' Martin Boyd in the Strad: '...the eloquent and cerebral wife of second violinist Siegmund presents us with an engaging account of the Amadeus' rise to pre-eminence...she successfully conveys a sense of how important a stable family life was to her husband and the other members of the jet-setting Amadeus...This book is about the vicissitudes of personal and professional relationships. Muriel Nissel's close proximity to the Amadeus Quartet enables her to give a privileged insight into the workings and group dynamics of this remarkable and long-lasting ensemble.'