Book description
Once musicians such as Mozart were little more than court servants;
now they are multimillionaire superstars wielding more power than
politicians. How did this extraordinary change come about?
Tim Blanning's brilliantly enjoyable book examines how everything
from the cult of the romantic to technology and travel all fed the
inexorable rise of music in the West, making it the most dominant and
ubiquitous of the art forms. Encompassing balladeers, the great
composers, jazz legends and rock gods, this is an enthralling story of
power, patronage, creativity and genius.
Tim Blanning is Professor of Modern European History at the
University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College,
Cambridge. He is also a Fellow of the British Academy. His books include
The Culture of Power and the Power of Culture
,
The French Revolutionary Wars, 1787-1802
,
The French Revolution in Germany
,
Joseph II
and
Reform and Revolution in Mainz
. His last book,
The
Pursuit of Glory
:
Europe
1648-1815
won the Enid McLeod Literary Prize for 2007.
