Contents |
Theme for a pas de deux -- Biography of a temperament -- The Hohenzollern real estate company -- A small, unready alchemist -- Giants, spies, and the lash: life with "Fatty" -- The sharp edges of genius -- Witness to an execution -- Song of the endlessly orbiting spheres -- A changeling among the swans -- The artist in a paint-by-numbers world -- War and peace and a mechanical duck -- The night of a musical offering -- Afterlives: an epilogue. |
Abstract |
Johann Sebastian Bach created what may be the most celestial and profound body of music in history; Frederick the Great built the colossus we now know as Germany, and along with it a template for modern warfare. Their fleeting encounter in 1747 signals a unique moment in history where belief collided with the cold certainty of reason. Set at the tipping point between the ancient and modern world, this book captures the tumult of the eighteenth century, the legacy of the Reformation, and the birth of the Enlightenment in this extraordinary tale of two men. |
Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 293-305), discography (pages 307-309), and index. |
ISBN | 0007156588 |