The Great German Composers

Bach's family background, court appointments and gifts at the organ open George T. Ferris's portraits of composers associated with German musical life. The Great German Composers combines biography, anecdotes and discussion of musical form, with chapters on Handel, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and later figures including Mendelssohn and Wagner. Ferris explains his inclusion of Chopin through the composer's training and influence on piano music, making artistic connections part of the book's organizing argument.

The account of Beethoven brings personal difficulty into contact with creative work. His growing hearing loss, affection for the countryside and conversations with his pupil Ferdinand Ries accompany a discussion of symphonies and other compositions. Ferris writes with strong opinions about artistic achievement and quotes earlier writers to support his portraits. Readers interested in music history can follow both the careers he describes and the language through which an earlier critic understood their importance.