Hurd, Michael

Describes the importance of the sea shanty to the life of the sailor at sea, explains the role of the shantyman, and presents various folk songs of the sea and the work to which they were sung.

A biography of the nineteenth-century composer whose important works before the age of eighteen included the Overture to "A midsummer night's dream."

The life and music of one of the major British composers of the twentieth century.

Includes over 3,000 alphabetically arranged definitions of music terms, examples of music, and biographical sketches of famous composers and musicians.

This biography of author, poet, composer and World War I Veteran Ivor Gurney focuses on his life-long battle with mental illness, which was probably exacerbated by his war experiences. He wrote, "Keep the Home Fires Burning," a very popular WWI song, as well as classical music, and several volumes of poetry. Gurney was confined for the last fifteen years of his life in a mental institution, after suffering several breakdowns, some of these being attributed to "shell shock." There is some question as to whether or not this diagnosis was correct. He was briefly a student of composer Ralph Vaughn Williams and was a close friend of many "soldier-poets," including Edward Thomas.