Lecture 1 - Musical Phonology
Lecture 2 - Musical Syntax
Lecture 3 - Musical Semantics
Lecture 4 - The Delights and Dangers of Ambiguity
Lecture 5 - The Twentieth Century Crisis
Lecture 6 - The Poetry of Earth

This is an excellent, updated version of a 1974 documentary on the great German conductor Otto Klemperer whose life spanned two World Wars and the vagaries of communism vs. capitalism. Klemperer also fully absorbed his environment, musical or otherwise, and assessed it accurately. In addition to interviews with the German conductor and his colleagues, director Philo Bregstein uses historical footage to provide a needed background that further highlights the conductor's achievements. In the late '30s, Klemperer came to the U.S. to escape Nazi persecution and suffered a stroke -- he was diagnosed as having a brain tumor. After World War II, he went to live in Budapest and worked at the opera there. During the post-war years, communism was pushing "Social Realism" in art, literature, and music, and Klemperer's love of composers like Schonberg, Stravinsky, and Mahler ran against the grain. Repression drove Klemperer to the U.S. again, just in time to be persecuted during the McCarthy era. The last years of his life were spent in West Germany, where he died at the age of 88 in 1974. For anyone interested in the history of modern music, as well as modern history, this is a very informative documentary. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

本书撰收当今世界乐坛老、中、青三代近150位当红古典音乐明星，其范围括及弦乐、管乐、打击乐、钢琴、指挥、声乐几大主要表演领域。内容和文字在强调可读性的同时，力求相关资讯和依据的真实与可靠，兼有工具书的功用。全书目录的排列，没有采取按字母编排的辞典式排法，而是分门别类并依照老、中、青这样一种能多少见出些传承脉络的方法排在一起。全书所选人物的标准，一是声誉显赫、资质深者；二是在其所涉足的那一领域或某一层面表现突出者；三是正式签约在国际知名大唱片公司的艺术家，其所录唱片影响广泛者；再就是青年一代中的当红翘秀。

随着音乐演奏史的不断发展，涌现出许多杰出的指挥家，为发展交响音乐、歌剧、合唱艺术作出了重要的贡献。在当代的著名指挥家中，只有少数指挥家曾来中国表演，另一些指挥家是通过广播、唱片、磁带为我国人民熟悉的。为便于专业指挥和广大音乐爱好者对外国著名指挥家的生平、师承关系及艺术成就有所了解，本书编写了从17世纪中叶的指挥家、作曲家吕利（1632—1687）起，直到当代世界著名指挥家共369人，本书

贝多芬于1770年12月16日出生在德国小城波恩。他的父亲是宫廷男高音歌手，但有酗酒的恶习。从4岁起，贝多芬就受到父亲严格的音乐训练，他整天被关在屋子里练琴。贝多芬很早就学会了演奏钢琴、管风琴、小提琴、中提琴和长笛，13岁就当上了宫廷剧场首席小提琴师和教师、助理管风琴师。
由于家境贫困，贝多芬小小年纪便承担起家庭重担，因而没能受到很好的教育。他是靠在剧院里接触意大利、法国和德国的充满社会生活题材的喜歌剧以及欧洲各国文豪的作品，自学成长起来的。他17岁时，母亲去世了，年轻的贝多芬作为一家之主，同生活顽强地作斗争。
1789年，法国大革命爆发，革命影响到德国，正在波恩大学作旁听生的贝多芬也沉浸在革命的激情之中。法国大革命对贝多芬产生了决定性的影响，他信仰共和制，热爱“自由、平等、博爱”，推崇人民、斗争、胜利，他把这种信念当作自己的奋斗目标，至死不变。