Shaw's Music: 2: 1890-1893
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Before George Bernard Shaw conquered the theatrical world with his incendiary plays and polemical wit, he spent nearly a decade as one of Victorian London's most formidable and feared music critics — and Shaw's Music, Volume 2: 1890–1893 captures him at the very height of his powers. Writing under the pseudonym Corno di Bassetto and later as G.B.S. for journals such as *The Star* and *The World*, Shaw brought to concert halls, opera houses, and recital rooms the same piercing intelligence and irreverent brilliance that would later define his dramatic legacy. This second volume chronicles three pivotal years of criticism, presenting his unsparing assessments of Brahms, Wagner, and the great performers of the age, alongside passionate advocacy for a more rigorous and democratic musical culture in Britain. What makes these collected reviews endure far beyond their journalistic origins is Shaw's remarkable ability to make aesthetic argument feel like a blood sport — every sentence is charged with conviction, irony, and a delight in demolishing received opinion. His prose style, at once conversational and devastatingly precise, illuminates not only the musical life of the 1890s but the social and intellectual currents that shaped it. Edited and published by The Bodley Head as part of their authoritative collected edition of Shaw's work, this volume stands as an indispensable document for anyone who wishes to understand the full, restless range of one of the English language's greatest minds. How did a music critic become the conscience of a civilisation? The answer begins here.
Author: Bernard Shaw
Format: Hardback
Genre: Music
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Before George Bernard Shaw conquered the theatrical world with his incendiary plays and polemical wit, he spent nearly a decade as one of Victorian London's most formidable and feared music critics — and Shaw's Music, Volume 2: 1890–1893 captures him at the very height of his powers. Writing under the pseudonym Corno di Bassetto and later as G.B.S. for journals such as *The Star* and *The World*, Shaw brought to concert halls, opera houses, and recital rooms the same piercing intelligence and irreverent brilliance that would later define his dramatic legacy. This second volume chronicles three pivotal years of criticism, presenting his unsparing assessments of Brahms, Wagner, and the great performers of the age, alongside passionate advocacy for a more rigorous and democratic musical culture in Britain. What makes these collected reviews endure far beyond their journalistic origins is Shaw's remarkable ability to make aesthetic argument feel like a blood sport — every sentence is charged with conviction, irony, and a delight in demolishing received opinion. His prose style, at once conversational and devastatingly precise, illuminates not only the musical life of the 1890s but the social and intellectual currents that shaped it. Edited and published by The Bodley Head as part of their authoritative collected edition of Shaw's work, this volume stands as an indispensable document for anyone who wishes to understand the full, restless range of one of the English language's greatest minds. How did a music critic become the conscience of a civilisation? The answer begins here.