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EVENING IN THE PALACE OF REASON
BACH meets FREDERICK THE GREAT in the AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT
James Gaines
Fourth Estate
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published by Fourth Estate 2005
Copyright © James Gaines 2005
PS section copyright © Louise Tucker 2005, except
‘How I Came to Write This Book’ by James Gaines © James Gaines 2005
Cover images: Lebrecht Music and Arts Photo Library
PS™ is a trademark of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
James Gaines asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Portraits of Johann Sebastian Bach and Frederick the Great © Bettman/CORBIS
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Source ISBN: 9780007153930
Ebook Edition © JULY 2014 ISBN: 9780007369461
Version: 2019-10-23
From the reviews of Evening in the Palace of Reason:
‘A wonderful work of popular history, intelligent, stylish, wryly witty, serious yet never solemn, and above all passionate’
JOHN BANVILLE, Guardian
‘Wonderfully engaging … a piece of theatre that is witty, instructive and often bizarre … It is a book that is almost impossible to put down when one is dancing, swerving, stumbling through the extraordinary brilliance, blood-thirst, cruelty, fecundity and religious and other feuds of the society that helped to inspire Bach and sustain Frederick’
Independent on Sunday
‘Gaines’s style is readable, crisp and compelling. He is an excellent guide: informed, unpretentious and frank … The impressive research is lightly worn … The minor parts are well played: Voltaire, Handel, Maria Theresa and George II all contribute beautifully drawn cameos. The reader retains a strong sense of their deeper and more complex historical characters. Above all, the musical prose is first-rate. Gaines is thoroughly acquainted with the repertoire, and his ability to convey a sense of Bach’s unique sensibility and spiritual power is often remarkable … A story told with wit, knowledge, the odd flight of fancy, and love’
Times Literary Supplement
‘James Gaines vividly brings to life the personalities involved … [A] dramatic story, told with great pace and gusto’
Scotland on Sunday
FOR ALLISON, NICK,
WILLIAM, AND LILLIAN
CONTENTS
II. BIOGRAPHY OF A TEMPERAMENT
III. THE HOHENZOLLERN REAL ESTATE COMPANY
IV. A SMALL, UNREADY ALCHEMIST
V. GIANTS, SPIES, AND THE LASH: LIFE WITH “FATTY”
VIII. SONG OF THE ENDLESSLY ORBITING SPHERES
IX. A CHANGELING AMONG THE SWANS
X. THE ARTIST IN A PAINT-BY-NUMBERS WORLD
XI. WAR AND PEACE AND A MECHANICAL DUCK
XII. THE NIGHT OF A MUSICAL OFFERING
P. S. Insights, Interviews & More …