Adored as a god in ancient Egypt, cats traveled the spheres of the known world on ship and on their four paws. They were at home in the libraries and kitchens of monasteries, roamed through backyards and allies, slept in royal beds, were useful against mice and served as muses. Humans have felt love, suspicion and hate towards cats. Their mysterious nature has raised superstitions, but has also been a source of inspiration. It was always artists, most of all writers who were on the cat’s side. Thus the history of the cat is also one of the arts, a cultural history, the history of humankind. Cats have come a long way and this book traces the steps: from early times all the way to the snuggly sofa of today.

One of the keys to Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s artistry was his ingenious talent for conveying musical content in verbal images. Author and choral singer Sabine M. Gruber – both a participant and an observer – kept a record of Harnoncourt’s rehearsal instructions in her notes for 30 years. Combining original quotes with essays, she sheds light on the personality of the man and artist, while exploring the essence of his musical and artistic process. A book full of humour, musical truth and essential wisdom.

The unique rationale behind Nikolaus Harnoncourt's practice of music brought him fame across the entire musical world. With his ensemble Concentus Musicus he broke established traditions and opened up new approaches to interpreting old music. This was in part the result of his intensive research into the sound produced by original period instruments, but more significantly came about as a consequence of questioning conventional hearing habits. What exactly is music? What effect does it have? And what were the intentions of its creators? Harnoncourt's writing on performance practices, baroque music and instruments such as the harpsichord reads like eloquent music making. A wondrous journey through the history of music.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s childhood and youth was shaped by hardship and the after-effects of World War II, the parenting codex of the aristocracy to which his family belonged and the love for music. The world was in upheaval, it was a time of great political and societal change. To give his children and grandchildren a greater understanding of this era Harnoncourt wrote down his memories and reflections in a “family book”. How did his family deal with the economic and political shifts? What was life like when everything was no longer what it had been? And what traditions shaped the Harnoncourt family? Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s personal account is a fascinating record of the past.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt devoted himself to the study of early music, the way it is played and the sound of period instruments from an early age. In 1953 he founded the famous Concentus Musicus with his wife Alice and other musicians. This was to provide a forum for his work on period instruments and the historic performance practice of renaissance and baroque music. It was not until four years later that the Concentus Musicus first performed in public. Alice Harnoncourt has brought together the unpublished diary entries and notes of her husband, which recount his explorations on the trail of early musical sounds. It is a fascinating and entertaining journey, during which Harnoncourt had to accomplish much to listen his way towards the original period sound.

Music brings pleasure: Nikolaus Harnoncourt reflects persuasively and passionately on his metier. His texts, speeches and interviews reveal the vision of a great artist, looking back on his own influence and far beyond into musical history. He addresses subjects such as the urgency of art, Haydn, and “a crocodile called Mozart”, and considers romantic insight and baroque reminiscence. He gazes into the depths of an immoral world and shares anecdotes from the Vienna Music Society. He explains why artists cannot lie, why The Magic Flute remains an eternal mystery, and why great art ultimately arises from doubt.

In these essays, Nikolaus Harnoncourt summarizes his views arising from years devoted to the performance of early music. The problem of interpreting historical music is particularly critical in our age, when modern music has little aPaperbackeal for the listening public. For performers and audiences to understand music of earlier times, they must learn to comprehend the languages and messages of the past.

Beethoven and Schubert, Verdi and Johann Strauß, Schumann and Dvořak, Brahms and Bruckner – these are only some of the protagonists of this book in which Nicolaus Harnoncourt deals with the most important works of "the century of romanticism“. The conductor also describes his life-long search for the key to imparting music of this era to the audiences of today, a task that is often being hindered by traditions or changing fashions in performing. In his unrivalled style, with passion and a strong conviction, Nicolaus Harnoncourt outlines how we must never refrain from reading our musical heritage from scratch. Moreover, he shares gloomy memories of his youth under the Nazi regime and fascinating insights into the musical life of the Vienna of his era. All of his statements, be they on music, their cultural significance or his own identity as an interpreter of music, reflect his approach to life itself: that music is not to be regarded as a mere heritage of the past, but also, and particularly, as a living reminder of our right to a humane future.

The for the first time deciphered personal notes by Alban Berg give a multilayer genre picture of the Viennese bourgeoisie after the turn of the century. Alban Berg was undoubtedly the master of the Viennese musical modernity. Herwig Knaus tabulated and deciphered thousands of notes and letter drafts of Berg’s unpublished works. This unique biography which offers a new and authentic view at the artist emerged out of it. The until now available sources that where sometimes heavily censured by his wife Helene Nahowski gave only a directed view at the composer. Many aspects of Alban Berg’s biography were left out: his difficulties with his own family and his lesbian sister, the economical troubles resulting from the war- and postwar period, his relation to women, collegues, and – seen in the background of the traditional Viennese anti-Semitism – his relation to his teacher Arnold Schönberg. Out of those unvarnished insights into Alban Berg’s private life not only a very vivid portrait of this musical rebel emerges but also an exciting genre picture of the period after the break-down of the Danube Monarchy.