Book Review
Apr. 10th, 2019 10:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariSamuel Barber: The Composer and His Music
by Barbara B. Heyman
This was a solid and interesting biography, with exactly the right amount of musical analysis and description. The chronology of Barber's works drives the book's organization, which occasionally results in some overlap and mild repetition of life events, but does give a lot of insight into the development of Barber's musical and professional life. Heyman gave just enough information about the pieces discussed to give the reader a clear picture of Barber's style and development as a composer without bogging the text down in lengthy or overly technical details. My only slight criticism is that Heyman is very reticent about Barber's personal life and relationships, which makes the book distant and detached at times. I'm not interested in salacious or gossipy details, but it would have been good to have more context for some of the events and aspects of Barber's life and career. For example, Heyman states that the death of Barber's sister threw him into a depression, but there is no real discussion of their relationship in the previous chapters or at that point that could render this statement more meaningful. Did her death hit him hard because they were close or because they were estranged, or because she played an important role in his musical or personal life?
by Barbara B. Heyman
This was a solid and interesting biography, with exactly the right amount of musical analysis and description. The chronology of Barber's works drives the book's organization, which occasionally results in some overlap and mild repetition of life events, but does give a lot of insight into the development of Barber's musical and professional life. Heyman gave just enough information about the pieces discussed to give the reader a clear picture of Barber's style and development as a composer without bogging the text down in lengthy or overly technical details. My only slight criticism is that Heyman is very reticent about Barber's personal life and relationships, which makes the book distant and detached at times. I'm not interested in salacious or gossipy details, but it would have been good to have more context for some of the events and aspects of Barber's life and career. For example, Heyman states that the death of Barber's sister threw him into a depression, but there is no real discussion of their relationship in the previous chapters or at that point that could render this statement more meaningful. Did her death hit him hard because they were close or because they were estranged, or because she played an important role in his musical or personal life?
