Description
Reviews
[A]s a veteran of teaching the course Music and Medicine to undergraduate music students, I wish Dr. Noble's book had been available for those semesters. That Jealous Demon . . . contains a wealth of information on composers' medical histories; it is thoroughly researched . . . ; the material is well organized and clearly presented and the diagnostic conclusions are logically thought out, based on medical reports and observations of contemporaries. . . . [A] great read! -- Jane Schatkin Hettrick * THE AMERICAN ORGANIST *
Despite the medical detail examined and assessed...Noble still sees the humans - the artists - at the heart of each case he investigates. * LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE *
We have waited a long time for a book like this...The overwhelming impression is of the sheer torture that health issues gave some of the greatest composers in Western civilization and the determination with which these challenges were met...this utterly scrupulous study [is] expected to become the standard work on the subject lasting into the future. * MUSICAL OPINION *
Dismisses the myth that composers often die young just because Schubert and Mozart did. * CLASSICAL MUSIC *
Though the matter is serious, Jonathan Noble manages to bring to it lightness of touch and even humour. * BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE *
A timely antidote to all those lurid biographies (and not just of composers) that speculate on their subject's sex lives and addictions. -- Richard Morrison * THE TIMES *
After studying post mortem reports and medical notes, [Jonathan Noble has] found that many did not suffer from the conditions attributed to them and that tales of alcoholism, venereal disease and sexual impropriety were simply gossip. * THE TELEGRAPH *
Jonathan Noble, a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, has reviewed material - including letters and diaries where symptoms and ailments are detailed - relating to Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Beethoven and many others, and found that 'an awful lot of them have been slighted by music critics and biographers'. * GUARDIAN *
Book Information
ISBN 9781783272587
Author Jonathan Noble
Format Hardback
Page Count 526
Imprint The Boydell Press
Publisher Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Weight(grams) 1g