Amazon's 'Your Store' can be a bit of a pain - if it's not the scrolling through, ticking 'own that' and 'not interested' boxes, it's the liability to spend, spend, spend. Once in a while however, it turns up something that suits you down to the ground.
On Amazon's recommendation I bought a copy of Frank Tallis's 'Mortal Mischief'. I'm not a huge fan of whodunnits but it's set in Vienna (tick), during 1902 (tick), and the hero's a psychiatrist not a detective (tick). It arrived this morning, and I dipped in instantly... fair bit of telegraphed historical detail, family history etc, but when a detective finally appears, he's been rehearsing Hugo Wolf lieder (kerching!).
Well done Amazon (and Mr Tallis) :)
Comments
I much prefer ...
... Schubert, Schumann or Mahler but Wolf will do for a Whodunnit :) So can we expect a prequel to 'The 3rd Man'? Or a musical story from the home of the greatest composers ever?
Geoff
greatest composers ever?
Mozart came from Salzburg and Beethoven from Bonne. Only ones that come to mind from Vienna, is Strauss, and although good, isn't in the same class as the two above.
Angharad
Angharad
if you could make it there, you'd make it anywhere
Beethoven and Mozart both made Vienna their home, as did Brahms (Hamburg), and Mahler (Bohemia). It was a bit like modern London in a way, very few of its most celebrated citizens were born there, but the city claimed them for its own.
That's what I meant.
The 'waltz' Strauss family are much overrated IMO though I quite like Richard Strauss' (no relation) music (as opposed to his politics).
Geoff
Not yet
Much as I love the music I'm nowhere near confident enough to take on a Viennese setting. I'm planning a trip to town in the next couple of weeks to look for inspiration around Kensington Gardens and Russell Square - armed with a camera and my 1900 Baedecker Guide to London... that said a tg 'operetta' might be fun :)
Have you heard Korngold's 'Abschiedslieder'?
Sore Subject
Part V of Balthasar's Extract, now in production, is set largely in Vienna, 1910, the Twilight of the Habsburgs. I've been trolling for someone, preferably a German speaker, who can help me authenticate the setting. So far, no luck! Guess I'll just forge ahead anyway, and doubtless commit some howlers. Hugs, Daphne
Daphne
I might be able to help
With Viennese music scene of the time, and a bit of art, but my German has been picked up from camera buying expeditions, and from listening to lieder... so it's pretty much restricted to enquires if shutters are calibrated, and expressions of loss and grief.
you're hired!
Great! Will send you a mass of prose in a week or so. Hugs,Daphne
Daphne