The War on Music, John Mauceri
The War on Music, John Mauceri
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

The War on Music
Reclaiming the Twentieth Century

Author: John Mauceri

Narrator: Malcolm Hillgartner

Unabridged: 9 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/17/2022


Synopsis

A prominent conductor explores how aesthetic criteria masked the political goals of countries during the three great wars of the past century.This book offers a major reassessment of classical music in the twentieth century. John Mauceri argues that the history of music during this span was shaped by three major wars of that century: World War I, World War II, and the Cold War.Probing why so few works have been added to the canon since 1930, Mauceri examines the trajectories of great composers who, following World War I, created voices that were unique and versatile, but superficially simpler. He contends that the fate of composers during World War II is inextricably linked to the political goals of their respective governments, resulting in the silencing of experimental music in Germany, Italy, and Russia; the exodus of composers to America; and the sudden return of experimental music—what he calls “the institutional avant-garde”—as the lingua franca of classical music in the West during the Cold War.

About John Mauceri

John Mauceri is a world-renowned conductor and musical scholar. He has conducted most of the world’s greatest orchestras and opera companies, served on the Yale University faculty for fifteen years, and is the former chancellor of the UNC School of the Arts.

About Malcolm Hillgartner

Malcolm Hillgartner has narrated over 175 audiobooks. He was named an AudioFile Best Voice of 2013. His work ranges from children's titles such as On the Blue Comet (AudioFile Best of 2011, Earphones), and Neal Stevenson's sci-fi epic REAMDE (Audible.com Best of 2011) to the biographies Kissinger (AudioFile Best of 2013, Earphones) and Cheever (AudioFile Best of 2009, Earphones). He is also an accomplished actor, writer, and musician. With his wife and partner, Jahnna Beecham, he has written over 130 books for teens and young readers, as well as the musicals Chaps! and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Musical, which have been produced in the U.S. and Canada.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Leigh on July 01, 2022

Very readable and persuasive! I have some quibbles because this is a topic I’m passionate about, and Mauceri’s book made me more passionate, which I’m sure would please him. It feels underbaked when it could have been monumental. His initial thoughts on Wagner and Brahms, and the loving accounts of S......more

Goodreads review by Pat on May 14, 2022

Super interesting read on a subject I’ve not too much exposure to. Great read and story......more

Goodreads review by Bri on October 19, 2022

This book crystallized the faint suspicions I'd harbored my entire life about music - classical music in particular. I am an amateur musician in the truest sense of the word: I love music, make no profit from it save my own satisfaction, and have nourished an abiding love of music and music-making s......more

Goodreads review by kac on July 07, 2023

Scattered amongst the howlers is a story that deserves to be told. Two stars for that story, zero for its rendering here. This review is both too long and too vague. I blame the bullshit asymmetry principle. +=+=+=+ There are some notes and citations at the end, but really this is a polemical work and......more

Goodreads review by Andrew on July 16, 2022

John Mauceri has a deep and broad knowledge of Western music, but lacks the ability to compose a tight, compelling argument. The book's main argument is that much of 20th Century classical music after World War 2 has been excluded from concert halls, radio, and audiences generally. Why? After the wa......more