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An authoritative account of the life and work of Francis Poulenc, one of the most prolific and striking figures in twentieth-century classical music'An assured overview of Poulenc's life and work.'—Alex Ross, New Yorker“Essential reading for anyone interested in the French musical culture of Poulenc's time. This is the biography the composer deserves.”—Christopher Dingle, BBC Music Magazine, Named one of the Best Books on Classical Music in 2020 by BBC Music Magazine Francis Poulenc is a key figure in twentieth-century classical music, as well as an unorthodox and striking individual. Roger Nichols draws upon Poulenc's music and other primary sources to write an authoritative life of this great artist. Although associated with five other French composers in what came to be called “Les Six”, Poulenc was very much sui generis in personality and in his music, where he excelled over a wide repertoire—opera, songs, ballet scores, chamber works, piano pieces, sacred and secular choral works, orchestral works and concertos. This book fully covers this wide range, while also describing the vicissitudes of Poulenc's life and the many important relationships he had with major figures such as Satie, Ravel, Stravinsky, Diaghilev, Cocteau and others.

Paul Hindemith: A Research and Information Guide is an annotated bibliography concerning both the nature of primary sources related to the composer and the scope and significance of the secondary sources which deal with him, his compositions, and his influence as a musician and teacher. The second edition includes research published since the publication of the first edition and provides electronic resources.

Arthur Honegger (1892-1955) is a major composer of the twentieth century. He first came to the attention of the musical public, along with Poulenc and Milhaud, as a member of Les Six and attained a certain notoriety with his composition Pacific 2.3.1., a musical representation of a steam locomotive. Although he earned popular acclaim with his oratorio King David (Le Roi David) early in his career, he was never concerned with musical fashion, and in his later years his musical language - serious, well crafted, consistently tonal - was considered outmoded. This important study considers both Honegger's life and his works. With the cooperation of Honegger's daughter, Pascale Honegger, Harry Halbreich has fully documented the composer's life since childhood; all his works are treated, with many of the more significant ones analyzed in detail. A concluding section attempts to discover, by examining the common threads in his life and music, the true nature of this giant, whose stature is finally being recognized more than forty years after his death.