Anna Harwell Celenza

18th century (12) 19th century (11) art (10) Art and Music (8) Austria (10) Beethoven (15) biography (81) book (10) book country (18) Book with CD (9) CD (20) children's (32) composer (33) Composer Study (12) composers (65) creativity (9) Duke Ellington (10) Europe (8) fiction (29) Franz Joseph Haydn 1732-1809 (8) George Gershwin (11) Gershwin (10) Haydn (20) historical fiction (32) history (48) homeschool (16) jazz (20) music (252) music appreciation (15) music history (15) musicians (20) non-fiction (36) Performing Arts (8) picture book (69) Reshelving Alexandria (9) Russia (9) Symphony (15) TOG (8) TOG Y2 (10) with CD (8)

Common Knowledge

Other names: Harwell, Anna Hedrick
Gender: female
Nationality: USA
Education: Duke University (M.A. ∙ 1992 ∙ Ph.D ∙ 1996 ∙ Music)
University of North Carolina, Greensboro (B.A. ∙ 1989)
Occupations: professor
musicologist
Relationships: Celenza, Christopher S. (husband)
Organizations: Georgetown University

Members

Reviews

Haydn's Farewell Symphony (Once Upon a Masterpiece) by Anna Harwell Celenza

I love Celenza's music appreciation series. This one is especially moving... in part, perhaps, because the piece is so old that much of the history is lost and Celenza was able to improvise a bit more than usual. Still, she told us what she knows from history, and the story and notes are all so enlightening. I recommend these to all libraries that serve children.

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Cheryl_in_CC_NV | 1 other review | Oct 18, 2024 |

Beethoven's Heroic Symphony (Once Upon a Masterpiece) by Anna Harwell Celenza

What a great series. Not just music appreciation, but history, too. I'm learning so much!

"I won't write music that just entertains people. I will write music that exhilarates them!"

Written in admiration of Napoleon, finished as the soldier named himself Emperor of France and revealed himself as tyrant, rescued from Beethoven's desire to destroy it by Ferdinand Ries. Another amazing & mostly true story, appealingly illustrated.

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Cheryl_in_CC_NV | 3 other reviews | Oct 18, 2024 |

Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (Once Upon a… by Anna Harwell Celenza

What a neat series! If only I'd had these when I was younger, I may have had a chance to 'get' music. Special illustrator's note in this one points out the symbolism used in Russian & Ukrainian art, eg "oak leaves represent the cycle of life and death."

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Cheryl_in_CC_NV | 2 other reviews | Oct 18, 2024 |

Bach's Goldberg Variations (Once Upon a Masterpiece) by Anna Harwell Celenza

A mostly true story for school-age children (not tots) that helps even those of us who don't 'get' music appreciate what's going on in at least one piece of classical music. I'm not sure if liked everything about the illustrations, but they were fine, and I liked the story and author's note enough that I want to find more. (The cover says "Once Upon a Masterpiece" as if this is a series.)

It's a long piece, 1.3 hours, I've just started to listen to it now. The first part is certainly easy to listen to....… (more)

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Cheryl_in_CC_NV | 5 other reviews | Oct 18, 2024 |

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