The life of a musician has never been easy. When Prince Nicholas takes 22 musicians on an extended visit to his summer palace to provide non-stop music for his guests, he refuses the request of his royal music director, Joseph Haydn, to allow the musician's families to visit. Dejected after many weeks of separation, Haydn writes a composition called "The Farewell Symphony" (Symphony No. 45) to express the musicians' longing for home and family and their contempt for being treated so callously. To ensure that his message will be driven home, Haydn writes an ending in which the musicians are to abruptly leave one by one, until the stage is devoid of life. The author's note describes Haydn's work in the court of Prince Nicholas, utilizing interesting information from archival documents. Written by a classical musician, the personal details of Haydn's life and thoughts surrounding the creation of this piece are solidly grounded in music history and an understanding of this profession. A CD recording of Haydn's symphony is included; performed by the orchestra of St. Luke's, it should bring to life these visual images. The type of instruments used during the 18th century are nicely explained and pictured. Kitchel's watercolor and ink illustrations capture Haydn's dilemma and the Prince's reluctant change of heart most eloquently. (Picture book. 4-9)
Pub Date: July 1, 2000
ISBN: 1-57091-406-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PLB 0-688-17054-4 Henkes offers a bare-bones arrangement of words to convey snowfall, the creatures that enjoy it, and the passing of the day. “The snow falls and falls all night. In the morning everything is white. And everyone wants to play. Oh!” Animals and children are introduced with the tinkered refrain: “The cat wants to play. Sneak, sneak, sneak, brave young cat. The dog wants to play. Run, run, run, clever old dog.” The reasons for the words “brave” and “clever” are never shown in any tangible way. The snowscape is depicted in a dreamy and lovely wash of color by Dronzek, who gives the animals faces, but uses hats and hoods to hide the features of the children. After everyone joins in a peaceable kingdom of building, the shadows lengthen, the snow turns an evening blue, and playtime is over. For all their simplicity, the words and acts have an opacity that encumbers flow and meaning; the haiku-like spareness is employed without effect. (Picture book. 2-6)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-688-17053-6
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1999
A girl discovers the piano and starts composing in this entry from Cowan (My Life With the Wave), a very loose adaptation of a story by An°bal Menterio Machado. Although the piano and the girl are clearly soul mates, what is music to the girl’s ears is poison to her mother’s: “That is not playing. It’s noise.” The mother orders lessons, but both girl and piano balk at the routine and the stifling of their creativity. The practice sessions are flat or sharp or atonal, never fun or successful. When it looks as if a grandmother is going to come to live with them, the mother puts the piano up for sale, but it misbehaves for prospective buyers. Indeed, the piano, as a piano, can’t be given away; the woman who claims it plans to turn it into stripped and painted storage. The piano literally bristles at this outrage; Hawkes has ably and elegantly shaped the artwork for this book, in perfect concord with Cowan’s words. In the process of delivering the piano—the girl and her father are rolling it to its fate—the instrument, with the girl on top, makes its escape into the wide blue sea (she jumps off at the last minute). The piano serenades the girl with symphonies carried to the shore on breezes from distant climes while she composes “for pots and pans,” a musical undertaking that serves those wretched parents right. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-688-13239-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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