Notes on Mendelssohn: 20 Crucial Works (Notes on (William B. Eerdmans Publishing))

The "Notes on ..." series by distinguished music critic Conrad Wilson illuminates the music of some of history's greatest composers in relation to their private lives. In each volume Wilson selects twenty crucial works of a given composer, discusses these masterpieces with insight and verve, and tells why these particular works are fundamental to understanding the composer.

Wilson's vast musical expertise and succinct, polished prose style permeate these pages. Meant for any general reader interested in music, these guidebooks are ideal for dipping into as well as reading straight through.

Having been called the greatest child prodigy in the history of Western music, Felix Mendelssohn nonetheless is often dismissed today as a classic case of creative burnout. Here Wilson claims that Mendelssohn's genius not only stayed intact but gained new intensity in the years before his untimely death.