About this item
Anna Harwell Celenza's engaging fictionalized telling of the story behind Franz Joseph Haydn's famous symphony is a perfect introduction to classical music and its power. THE FAREWELL SYMPHONY brings to life a long summer spent at Esterhza, the summer palace of Prince Nicholas of Esterhzy.The blustering, bellowing prince entertained hundreds of guests at his rural retreat and demanded music for every occasion. As the months passed, Haydn was kept very busy writing and performing music for parties, balls, dinners, and even walks in the gardens. His orchestra members became homesick and missed their families. The anger, frustration, and longing of the musicians is expressed beautifully in the symphony born of the clever mind of Joseph Haydn who used it to convince Prince Nicholas that it was time to go home.
About the Author
Anna Harwell Celenza is the Thomas E. Caestecker Professor of Music at Georgetown University. She is the author/editor of several scholarly books - the most recent being The Cambridge Companion to Gershwin (2019) and Jazz Italian Style: From Its Origins in New Orleans to Fascist Italy and Sinatra (2017) . In addition to her scholarly work, she has authored a series of award-winning children's books with Charlesbridge Publishing: The Farewell Symphony (2000/2016) , Pictures at an Exhibition (2003/2016) , The Heroic Symphony (2004/2016) , Bach's Goldberg Variations (2005/2016) , Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (2006) , Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite (2011) , Vivaldi's Four Seasons (2012) and Saint Saen's Danse macabre (2013) . Her work has been featured on nationally syndicated radio and TV programs, including NPR's "Performance Today," the BBC's "Music Matters" and "Promotion s Broadcasts," and C-Span's "Book-TV".
