Klarinet Archive - Posting 000569.txt from 1997/05

From: VN1@-----.com
Subj: Re: Baker/Slonimski biography book question
Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 10:19:06 -0400

Below is the catalog listing of the "big" Baker's, from a local
public library, noted for its chamber music collection. I thought it might
be useful in order to put all the other references of similar titled books in
perspective. Note the 2115 pages.

Allen Smith
Holyoke Massachusetts

AUTHOR Baker, Theodore, 1851-1934.
TITLE Biographical dictionary of musicians.
Baker's biographical dictionary of musicians.
EDITION 8th ed. / revised by Nicolas Slonimsky.
IMPRINT New York : Schirmer Books ; Toronto : Maxwell Macmillan Canada
;
New York : Maxwell Macmillan International, c1992.
DESCRIPT xxxiii, 2115 p. : port. ; 26 cm.
BIBLIOG. Includes bibliographical references.
SUBJECT Music -- Bio-bibliography.
Musicians -- Biography -- Dictionaries.
ALT AUTHOR Slonimsky, Nicolas, 1894-

In a message dated 5/21/97 12:29:15 PM, you wrote:

<<I did a little bit of searching and found the following book:

----------------------------------------------------------
Portable Bakers Biog Dictionary Musicians, by Slonimsky N
Published by Macmillan General Reference (0028712250,19)
Subject: Music-Biographical Reference
$18.95 (used, trade paper)
$20.00 (new, trade paper)
----------------------------------------------------------

Is this book worthwhile? Or does some of Slonimsky's wit get lost in order
to make it "portable"? Also, I found these books by N Slonimsky:

----------------------------------------------------------
Lectionary of Music, by Slonimsky, Nicolas
Published by Bantam Doubleday Dell Publsh (0385414218,19)
Subject: Music-History
$8.50 (used, trade paper)

Lexicon of Musical Invective, by Slonimsky, Nicolas
Published by University of Washington Press (0295785799,19)
Subject: Music-Classical Biographies
$10.95 (used, trade paper)
----------------------------------------------------------

Does anyone have any comments on these books? Finally, for those of you who
don't recall (I only made the connection when I did my online search) this
is the same Nicolas Slonimsky that "wrote" the "Thesaurus of Scales &
Melodic Patterns" that was much-talked about a few weeks ago with regard to
college auditions. This is the book that Coltrane used to practice with,
according to a list member's Frederick S. Sterns and Gary Young. By the
way, I found it online for $35.50 (used, hardback) but supposedly it can be
purchased new for about $30 now (again, according to a Klarinet posting).
Does anybody know if the new editions are paperback or hardback?

Thanks,
>>