Logo Diogenes Verlag
3
Donna Leon, Michael Sowa (Ill.) | Händel's Bestiary | English Title: Handel's Bestiary<br>144 Pages

Hardcover
144 Pages
Published in Nov. 2010

ISBN 978-3-257-06763-7
€ (D) 19.90 / (A) 20.50
sFr 35.90*
* recommended retail price

remember Dummy for Okay-Icon print

Donna Leon
Händel's Bestiary

Published by Diogenes as Tiere und Töne
English Title: Handel's Bestiary

›I’m no musician,‹ says Donna Leon. ›I can’t read music. I know nothing about musical theory. I’m a follower, a groupie, call me what you will: I am a heart with a pair of ears stuck on, one that for over ten years has been listening almost exclusively to music by Handel.‹ While listening, it struck Donna Leon that Handel’s music is teeming with animals, that he again and again gives voice to animals through his notation. What is Handel’s intention when a snake hisses through an aria or when armies of frogs penetrate the King’s chambers? Donna Leon investigates. She tells us how animals have informed the imagination, beliefs and superstitions since year dot. ›Handel’s Bestiary‹ reveals a different side to Donna Leon: she is not only an appreciator of music, but also an expert in the symbolism of medieval bestiaries. Michael Sowa has also taken inspiration from those animals to create these marvellous images. The arias on the attached CD are performed by the Handel expert Alan Curtis and his orchestra, ›Il Complesso Barocco‹. Divertimento fantastico! The work has been sold to: Spain, United Kingdom, United States and France

QuotesShow all

A wonderful book. A compendium colourfully illustrated by Michael Sowa, to be enjoyed not only by musical connoisseurs. Der Spiegel

»What Leon tells us is a real joy, and many of the details are unfamiliar. If as you read you listen to the music by ‘Il Complesso Barocco’ that accompanies it, you are in for a sensual treat - and one which will also broaden your horizons.«Stern

The book, wittily illustrated by Michael Sowa, is accompanied by a CD of arias recorded by the ›Complesso Barocco‹. A real tour de force!News

»As an expert on medieval bestiaries – moral lessons and fables about animals - Donna Leon cleverly describes how Handel portrays specific characteristics of these animals in his music. Naturally a CD with all twelve animal arias is included – musical fun, with enchanting pictures by the German painter and illustrator Michael Sowa.«Hamburger Abendblatt

»A charming little compendium. As clever as it is entertaining. Leon doesn’t turn to modern biologists to make the case for her menagerie. Rather she reminds us what Pliny and Herodotus knew about lions, that in the Middle Ages people thought bees were a small kind of bird, and describes - without being in the least patronising - the bewilderment with which 18th century Europe saw its first elephant trunks.«Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung

Lesezeichen / Weitersagenschliessen