Showing results by author "David Barber" in All Categories

There is something quite special about this fine collection of tales of terror from the Sceptered Isle, each and every one crafted in the dead of the night by twisted, fevered minds, who have brought crawling and slithering to life the darkest denizens of the blackest shadows to terrify those brave souls amongst you who are brave enough to listen...

David W. Barber has delighted fans around the world with Accidentals on Purpose, When the Fat Lady Sings, and other internationally best-selling books of musical humor. His best-selling Bach, Beethoven and the Boys chronicles the lives of the great (and not-so-great) composers, exploring their sex lives, exposing their foibles, and expanding on our understanding of these all-too-human creatures.

Chances are you've heard Handel's Messiah at least once, if not many times. Maybe you've even performed it, as have countless musicians around the world. After all, it's probably one of the best-loved, and certainly one of the best-known, works in the standard repertoire. But if you think you know all there is to know about the great composers famous oratorio, think again. For example, it may surprise you to learn that: Handel's first impulse to compose the work came not from religious or even musical inspiration. It had a whole lot more to do with money.

When corporate “restructuring” takes veteran journalist Dugan Heywood’s newspaper job, he takes a temp gig as a church musician as a welcome change of pace from his old beat of crime and corruption. But when a former lover’s sudden death makes him suspect murder even when the police don’t, Dugan must rely on his old investigative skills to find answers on his own. His digging soon upsets someof the rich and powerful in his staid old university town.

Dugan Heywood – an ex-journalist turned church musician – faces a new challenge in the staid university town of Grayston. When one of its prominent citizens is found dead, the police find a handy suspect in a young man with a criminal record. A man who not long ago was at odds with Dugan himself. But now the jailed suspect has turned to his old nemesis for help. And there are many others, some of them rich and powerful, who might have wanted the victim dead.

In Bach, Beethoven and the Grrrls, the author turns his engaging and educating gaze on an area of classical music that has sadly been too long neglected – that of some of the great women composers. In briefly chronicling their lives, David maintains a light tone while striving to remain respectful of the women themselves, yet properly irreverent – at times even perhaps disdainful – of the societal and other forces that for far too long have kept these creative artists in the shadows of others.