Piano Lessons is Noah Adams's delightful and movingchronicle of his fifty-second year--a year already filled withlong, fast workdays and too little spare time--as he answers atlast a lifelong call: to learn to play the piano. The twelvemonthly chapters span from January--when after decades of growingaffection for keyboard artists and artisans he finally plunges inand buys a piano--through December, when as a surprise Christmaspresent for his wife he dresses in a tuxedo and, in flickeringcandlelight, snow falling outside the windows, he attempts theirfavorite piece of music, a difficult third-year composition he'sbeen struggling with in secret to get to this very moment. Among the up-tempo triumphs and unexpected setbacks, Noah Adamsinterweaves the rich history and folklore that surround the piano.And along the way, set between the ragtime rhythms andboogie-woogie beats, there are encounters with--and insightsfrom--masters of the keyboard, from Glenn Gould and Leon Fleisher("I was a bit embarrassed," he wr

Untergbracht in einem hoen und weitraumigen Pariser Bahnhof,der in ein suBergowohnlich beliebtes Museum umgestalter wurde.kamm sich das Musee d'Orsay der weltweit eindrucksvollsten Kunstsammlung des 19.Jahrhunderts ruhmen.Alle wichtigen Werke des Museums sin it diesem umfassenden Bandchen abgebildet,in dem das gesamte Spektrum von Malerei,Skulptur,dekorativer kunst,Pastellmalerei,Zeichnungen und Aquarellmalerei,Architektur und Photographie von 1848 bis zum Ersten Weltkreg erfaBt wird.Die Museumsdirektorin Francoise Cachin;lch wunschte ,daB dieser klein,aber reich illustrierte Mini-Orsay beim leser lebendige Erinnerungen and die hohe Qualitat und Vielseitigkeir der Wreke wachurft,die in diesem Museum zu sehen sin.Mag er vor allem den Wunsch erzeugen,immer und immer wieder auf der Suche nach neuen Entdeckungen zuruckkehre.

Breaking up is hard to do - and when a relationship turnssour, nothing provides more comfort than the cheesy pop hits of the'70s and '80s. Just as Quirk's I Can't Fight This Feeling was ananthology of classic love poetry, You Give Love a Bad Name featurespoetic writings on breaking up - and moving on - from The Bee Gees,Michael Bolton, Pat Benatar, Hall and Oates, and many others.Packaged in an elegant hardcover volume with a deluxe ribbonmarker, it's the perfect gift for anyone seeking to mend a brokenheart. Includes these timeless classics: - Is She Really Going Out with Him? - Joe Jackson - She's Gone - Hall and Oates - Cold Hearted - Paula Abdul - Alone - Heart - Goodbye to You - Scandal

A basic primer for anyone without musical training who wishesto learn to read musical scores when singing or taking up aninstrument, this accessible and complete book covers classical,popular, jazz, and folk music. Well-known pieces are accompanied bya muscial dictionary, a note directory, and a guide to musicalsigns.

In this compelling book, Robert Coles, the celebrated Harvardprofessor and Pulitzer Prize–winning author, turns his attention topopular music legend Bruce Springsteen, and to the powerful impactSpringsteen’s work has had both on the lives of his audience and onthis country’s literary tradition. Coles places Springsteen in thepantheon of American artists—Walt Whitman, William Carlos Williams,Dorothea Lange, and Walker Percy, among others—who understood andwere inspired by their “traveling companions in time,” the ordinarypeople of their eras. With wisdom and a unique personal perspective, Coles exploresSpringsteen’s words as contemporary American poetry, and offersfirsthand accounts of how people interact with them: A truckerlistens to “Blinded by the Light” during long, lonely nights andreminisces about his mother; a schoolteacher is astonished when ausually silent student offers a comparison between “Nebraska” andConrad’s Heart of Darkness; a policeman responds to “Am

This richly illustrated book charts the heady days of Beatlemania, the golden years of the studio band and the solo careers the four pursued following the acrimonious break-up in 1970. These stunning photographs, supported by a detailed commentary, capture our enduring love affair with the group that influenced a generation,rewrote the record books and changed the course of popular music.