
Charles Mackerras
Boydell Press
Published on 19. March 2015
Book
Hardback
336 pages
978-1-84383-966-8 (ISBN)
Description
Comprising a brief biography and chapters written by those who worked with him, such as Janet Baker and Alfred Brendel, this is a celebration of an exceptional, creative life.
By the time of his death in 2010 at the age of 84, Sir Charles Mackerras had achieved widespread recognition, recorded extensively and developed into a conductor of major international significance. In addition to areas in which he already had forged a distinctive profile (Janacek, Mozart, Handel, Sullivan) he revisited - and rethought - much of the standard repertoire. The last thirty years were particularly momentous in the coming to fruition of so manycherished projects: not only the Janacek operas but the Gilbert and Sullivan series, the Mozart operas, the two Beethoven cycles, other projects with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Schumann and Brahms at Edinburgh; the outstanding late Mozart) and at the Royal Opera House and the Met. Unspoilt by fame, and undeterred by personal tragedies and increasing physical frailty, he remained productive and inventive: for him music-making, whether with world-classsingers and orchestras or with students, was a kind of joyous oxygen that kept him going right to the end.
A detailed account of his life is complemented by contributions from performers and scholars who worked closely with Mackerras, as well as interviews with his family. The book is richly illustrated with photographs and documents, and includes a comprehensive discography along with listings of many of his concert and opera performances. While SirCharles's whole life is considered, emphasis is given to his final quarter century, a period in which so many important projects were realized. This book celebrates and epitomizes an exceptional life.
NIGEL SIMEONE is awriter and teacher. He has published extensively on Messiaen and Janacek and recently edited The Leonard Bernstein Letters.
JOHN TYRRELL is Honorary Professor of Music at Cardiff University. He has published bookson Janacek and Czech opera and, with Sir Charles Mackerras, edited two Janacek operas. CONTRIBUTORS: Janet Baker, Alfred Brendel, Ales Brezina, Alex Briger, Rosenna East, Anne Evans, Nicholas Hytner, Simon Keenlyside, David Lloyd-Jones, David Mackie, Chi-chi Nwanoku, Antonio Pappano, Nigel Simeone, John Stein, Heinz Stolba, Patrick Summers, John Tyrrell, Malcolm Walker, David Whelton, Jiri Zahradka.
By the time of his death in 2010 at the age of 84, Sir Charles Mackerras had achieved widespread recognition, recorded extensively and developed into a conductor of major international significance. In addition to areas in which he already had forged a distinctive profile (Janacek, Mozart, Handel, Sullivan) he revisited - and rethought - much of the standard repertoire. The last thirty years were particularly momentous in the coming to fruition of so manycherished projects: not only the Janacek operas but the Gilbert and Sullivan series, the Mozart operas, the two Beethoven cycles, other projects with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Schumann and Brahms at Edinburgh; the outstanding late Mozart) and at the Royal Opera House and the Met. Unspoilt by fame, and undeterred by personal tragedies and increasing physical frailty, he remained productive and inventive: for him music-making, whether with world-classsingers and orchestras or with students, was a kind of joyous oxygen that kept him going right to the end.
A detailed account of his life is complemented by contributions from performers and scholars who worked closely with Mackerras, as well as interviews with his family. The book is richly illustrated with photographs and documents, and includes a comprehensive discography along with listings of many of his concert and opera performances. While SirCharles's whole life is considered, emphasis is given to his final quarter century, a period in which so many important projects were realized. This book celebrates and epitomizes an exceptional life.
NIGEL SIMEONE is awriter and teacher. He has published extensively on Messiaen and Janacek and recently edited The Leonard Bernstein Letters.
JOHN TYRRELL is Honorary Professor of Music at Cardiff University. He has published bookson Janacek and Czech opera and, with Sir Charles Mackerras, edited two Janacek operas. CONTRIBUTORS: Janet Baker, Alfred Brendel, Ales Brezina, Alex Briger, Rosenna East, Anne Evans, Nicholas Hytner, Simon Keenlyside, David Lloyd-Jones, David Mackie, Chi-chi Nwanoku, Antonio Pappano, Nigel Simeone, John Stein, Heinz Stolba, Patrick Summers, John Tyrrell, Malcolm Walker, David Whelton, Jiri Zahradka.
Reviews / Votes
Admirably succeeds in offering...a broad overview of the life and career of the conductor Charles Mackerras...whets one's appetite to go back to the recordings. * MUSICAL TIMES * Nigel Simeone and John Tyrrell have produced an outstanding volume and to whom the many admirers of Charles Mackerras and music lovers in general will be indebted. * BRIO * 'Charles Mackerras' is a treasure of a book, good for dipping into. * BIRMINGHAM POST * [A] very welcome and comprehensive book. * AUSTRALIAN BOOK REVIEW * 5 Stars * BBC MUSIC * Simeone and Tyrrell have achieved a remarkable synthesis of perspectives on Mackerras that is a model of its kind. . . . Offer[s] a picture of not only one of the most influential conductors of modern times, but also of a musical culture - of what music, as a performed art, really entails. . . . This book will be invaluable for students of performance history, for aspiring conductors, and for anyone who is intrigued by the art and craft of conducting. . . . Beautifully produced and edited, with over forty illustrations. * NABSMA Reviews * [An] excellent documentation of Sir Charles' long career. * THE DELIAN * The Mackerras biography is a book that you will love, if you knew Charlie, either as musician or happy audience member. It will feel like meeting an old friend again. It's a book that aspiring musicians should read ... they will be inspired, directed, humbled and challenged by it. * THE HERALD *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Woodbridge
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
44 s/w Abbildungen
44 b/w illus.
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
672 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84383-966-8 (9781843839668)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Unknown | Nigel Simeone | John Tyrrell
Charles Mackerras
E-Book
03/2015
1st Edition
Boydell & Brewer
€48.99
Available for download

E-Book
03/2015
1st Edition
De Gruyter
€48.99
Available for download
Persons
NIGEL SIMEONE is a scholar, writer and broadcaster specializing in twentieth-century music. He was editor of The Leonard Bernstein Letters (Yale, 2013) and for the Boydell Press has published Charles Mackerras with John Tyrrell (2015), The Janacek Compendium (2019) and most recently Ralph Vaughan Williams and Adrian Boult (2022). JIRI ZAHRADKA is Director of the Janacek Archive in Brno and a musicologist. He is the editor of critical editions of many works by Janacek including the Sinfonietta, Taras Bulba, Kata Kabanova, The Cunning Little Vixen and The Makropulos Affair, and author of books on Janacek including acclaimed full-length studies of the operas. NIGEL SIMEONE is a scholar, writer and broadcaster specializing in twentieth-century music. He was editor of The Leonard Bernstein Letters (Yale, 2013) and for the Boydell Press has published Charles Mackerras with John Tyrrell (2015), The Janacek Compendium (2019) and most recently Ralph Vaughan Williams and Adrian Boult (2022).
Editor
Contributions
Contributor
Contributor
Content
1 Charles Mackerras: A Chronology
2 Prologue: A Eulogy for Charles
3 An Immense Stylist Evolves: 1947-87
4 A Personal Portrait of Charles Mackerras
5 Mackerras and Janácek
6 Goat's Milk in Vienna: Three Memorable Meetings
7 The Lion: Charles Mackerras
8 'The Musical Values of Opera': WNO, 1987-92
9 Remembering Charles in Wales
10 Triumphs and Tribulations: Opera, 1993-2001
11 'Impeccable musicianship and enthusiasm for whatever he did'
12 Rethinking Old Favourites: Opera, 2002-10
13 Viva Charlie!
14 A Master of Mozart
15 Three Memorable Collaborations
16 The last great 'Czech' conductor
17 Reminiscences of a friend and colleague
18 Reconstructing a Better Version of The Greek Passion
19 Reconstructing Sullivan's Cello Concerto
20 Three Orchestras
21 'And there was Light!' Sir Charles and the OAE
22 An Electric Entrance
23 On Sir Charles Mackerras
24 Sir Charles at the Philharmonia
25 Coda
26 Appendix 1: Mackerras in Performance
27 Appendix 2: Desert Island Lists
28 Discography
29 Bibliography
30 Editions and Arrangements by Charles Mackerras
2 Prologue: A Eulogy for Charles
3 An Immense Stylist Evolves: 1947-87
4 A Personal Portrait of Charles Mackerras
5 Mackerras and Janácek
6 Goat's Milk in Vienna: Three Memorable Meetings
7 The Lion: Charles Mackerras
8 'The Musical Values of Opera': WNO, 1987-92
9 Remembering Charles in Wales
10 Triumphs and Tribulations: Opera, 1993-2001
11 'Impeccable musicianship and enthusiasm for whatever he did'
12 Rethinking Old Favourites: Opera, 2002-10
13 Viva Charlie!
14 A Master of Mozart
15 Three Memorable Collaborations
16 The last great 'Czech' conductor
17 Reminiscences of a friend and colleague
18 Reconstructing a Better Version of The Greek Passion
19 Reconstructing Sullivan's Cello Concerto
20 Three Orchestras
21 'And there was Light!' Sir Charles and the OAE
22 An Electric Entrance
23 On Sir Charles Mackerras
24 Sir Charles at the Philharmonia
25 Coda
26 Appendix 1: Mackerras in Performance
27 Appendix 2: Desert Island Lists
28 Discography
29 Bibliography
30 Editions and Arrangements by Charles Mackerras