So, in continuing the lists of books and stuff that I have acquired to pursue this journey here is a list of some of the biographies and similar books. I thought that it would be important to get a good grounding in the history of music and of significant contributors to it.

Here is the list.

Paper copies

• Writings on Music, 1965-2000 – Steve Reich, Paul Hillier – Completed
• Stravinsky: The Composer and His Works – Eric Walter White
• Poetics of Music in the Form of Six Lessons – Igor Stravinsky – Completed
• The Lives Of The Great Composers – Harold C. Schonberg – Completed
• Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician – Christoph Wolff – In Progress
• Béla Bartók: An Analysis of his Music – Lendvai, Bush
• The Music of Bela Bartok: A Study of Tonality and Progression in Twentieth-Century Music – Elliott Antokoletz
• Gustav Mahler: The Symphonies – Contantin Floros
• Mozart in Vienna 1781-1791 – Volkmar Braunbehrens
• Aaron Copland: Life and Work of an Uncommon Man – Howard Pollack
• Hindemith, Hartmann and Henze (20th Century Composers) – Rickards
• Handel’s Messiah – Larsen
• Basically Bach – Kufferberg
• Shostakovich (Life & Times) – Brian Morton
• Testimony: The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich (Limelight)Rachmaninoff – Solomon Volkov, Dmitri Shostakovich
• My Musical Life – Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov, Carl Van Vechten
• Rimsky-Korsakov: Letters to His Family and Friends – Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Tatiana Rimsky-Korsakov, Malcolm J. Crocker
• The San Francisco Symphony – David Schneider

Kindle copies

• Arnold Schoenberg’s Journey – Allen Shawn
• Ten Masterpieces of Music – Harvey Sachs
• Beethoven’s Letters (Dover Books On Music: Composers) – Ludwig van Beethoven
• Chopin’s Letters (Dover Books On Music: Composers) – Frederic Chopin, E. L. Voynich
• Brahms and His World (The Bard Music Festival Book 20) – Walter Frisch, Kevin C. Karnes
• Jean Sibelius – Daniel M. Grimley
• Charles Ives’s Musical Universe: Unlocking the Code… Reassessing his Provenance – Antony Cooke
• Essays Before a Sonata – Charles Ives
• Schoenberg: Why He Matters – Harvey Sachs – In Progress
• Sergei Prokofiev: A Biography – Harlow Robinson
• Vaughan Williams and His World – Byron Adams, Daniel M. Grimley
• Edward Elgar: Music, Life and Landscapes – Christopher Grogan
• Vaughan Williams (Composers Across Cultures) – Eric Saylor
• Benjamin Britten: A Life for Music – Neil Powell
• Johannes Brahms: A Biography – Jan Swafford
• Verdi: The Man Revealed – John Suchet
• Tchaikovsky: The Man Revealed – John Suchet
• Beethoven: The Music and the Life – Lewis Lockwood
• Mozart: A Life – Paul Johnson
• Bela Bartok – David Cooper
• Jean Sibelius – Daniel M. Grimley

This collection was acquired from numerous places and mostly reflects my narrow views and deficit of knowledge. I am sure that things will expand as I progress along this path. I will look at reviewing as many as I can.

What am I currently reading from this list?

On the kindle I am currently reading, extraordinarily slowly:

Schoenberg: Why He Matters – Harvey Sachs

In paper I am currently enjoying the following:

Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician – Christoph Wolff

If you have any suggestions for good books to read, please leave a comment.