The power of music, the way it works on the mind and heart, remains an enticing mystery. Now two noted writers on classical music, Michael Steinberg and Larry Rothe, explore the allure of this melodious art--not in the clinical terms of social scientists--but through stories drawn from their own experience. In For the Love of Music, Steinberg and Rothe draw on a lifetime of listening to, living with, and writing about music, sharing the delights and revelatory encounters they have had with Mozart, Brahms, Stravinsky, and a host of other great (and almost-great) composers. At once highly personal and immediately accessible, their writings shed light on those who make music and those who listen to it--drawing readers into the beautiful and dangerous terrain that has meant so much to the authors. In recounting how they themselves came to love music, Steinberg and Rothe offer keys for listening. You will meet the man who created the sound of Hollywood's Golden Age and you will learn how composers have addressed issues as contemporary as AIDS and the terrorist attacks of September 11.

本書は、音楽を学術的な対象として解剖するのではなく、人生を共に歩む伴侶として描いた魂の交感の記録です。二人の巨星が、名作曲家たちの旋律に託した己の情熱を語り尽くす様は、まさに圧巻。音楽が心に触れる瞬間の神秘を血の通った言葉で捉え直した点に、本書の真の文学的価値が宿っています。 読者はここで、単なる知識ではなく「聴くための鍵」を受け取ることになります。ハリウッドの黄金期から現代の悲劇まで、時代を超えて響く音の力を紐解く彼らの洞察は、私たちの感性を鮮やかに潤してくれます。音楽という目に見えない美しさが、いかにして人間の救いとなり得るのか。その答えを探る、情熱的な招待状と言える一冊です。