Rating: 
Summary: An inspiring book. . .
Review: . . .with some flaws which limit it's appeal.Noted Christian composer Patrick Kavanaugh has done a good job in presenting his thesis; namely that many, if not most, of the great composers over the last 400 years, were men of spirituality -- even if not always completely orthodox in their expressions of that spirituality. As far as that goes, the point is quite valid. However, at times, Kavanaugh seems to be stretching his thesis to include less obvious examples (Schubert, for instance) when more obvious examples could have been used. (However, he does do the musical world a good service by rehabilitating Wagner and demonstrating that while he was a man with many faults, he cannot and should not be held responsible for the actions of Hitler!) Also frustrating was Kavanaugh's habit of ascribing specific internal motives to several of the featured composers. In addition, there is a strong anti-Catholic bias in the book which I found distasteful. Those composers with Protestant backgrounds had their Protestantism emphasized, while those with Catholic backgrounds had their Catholicism minimized and even ridiculed. For me, this was unnecessary and intellectually dishonest. This being said, I would still like to see another volume. Many, many other composers come to mind which could fill such a book. And hopefully, some of the anti-Catholic bias could be filtered out.
Rating: 
Summary: So good it was swiped by a minister
Review: As a Christian and a classical music buff I highly recommend this book. Facinating and brief. This book cuts to the chase. Great gift, but don't lend it out.... :)
Rating:
Summary: So good it was swiped by a minister
Review: As a Christian and a classical music buff I highly recommend this book. Facinating and brief. This book cuts to the chase. Great gift, but don't lend it out.... :)
Rating:
Summary: Awe-inspiring!
Review: As a teenager, I don't usually don't get that excited over history. But this book changed everything!! A subject that had not previously been of interest to me became a fascination. Not only am I anxious to listen to the music these great composers wrote, but I am also starting a quest to find and read all of their biographies! You have to read this book--it's the best!!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting read, but somewhat superficial
Review: As both a classical music fan and a Christian, I was initially excited by this book. A quick perusal before purchasing let me know it would not be an in-depth exploration, but brief biographical sketches of the composers. While the author did a good job of providing a balanced presentation of the facts (see the chapter on Chopin), the book suffers from a kind of redactive shallowness that comes from attempting to look for genuine Christian faith in two-dimensional biographical material. The weakness of this approach is that it looks for certainty about individual faith from the sociocultural milieu in which the composers lived, where spiritual language was the norm. It is important to note that, while the author uses "spiritual" in the title, he means "Christian," or so it appears by his attempt to reconcile the unorthodox beliefs and conduct of men like Wagner and Beethoven with orthodox faith. The small postscripts at the end of each chapter that linked a character trait with each composer was trite and did not add any value to the book. I tended to skip them. Finally, there were some disappointing omissions: Vivaldi, Schumann, Mahler, Arvo Part and John Tavener come to mind. All in all, an interesting but unremarkable read.
Rating:
Summary: Awe-inspiring!
Review: I found these accounts fascinating, and, as a Christian myself, most relevant. I do not understand the criticism from the reader in South Carolina. Not every suspected unfavorable "fact" need be brought to light, particularly when there is so much doubt as to their veracity. For example, Pulitzer-prize winning critic Harold Schonberg notes that the supposed "fact" of Schubert's homosexuality is total speculation, particularly given his reputation as a ladies man. This is an enjoyable and important book.
Rating:
Summary: Much-needed
Review: I found these accounts fascinating, and, as a Christian myself, most relevant. I do not understand the criticism from the reader in South Carolina. Not every suspected unfavorable "fact" need be brought to light, particularly when there is so much doubt as to their veracity. For example, Pulitzer-prize winning critic Harold Schonberg notes that the supposed "fact" of Schubert's homosexuality is total speculation, particularly given his reputation as a ladies man. This is an enjoyable and important book.
Rating: 
Summary: Just enough to make some important points
Review: I have used this book with my women's group at Church to encourage them to listen to classical music and to appreciate the varied but strong relationships that these brilliant men have had with the God who gave them their incredible genius. While this book may not satisfy a purist or an academic, it is just right to introduce classical music to a spiritually-minded and intelligent (but not musically sophisticated) group. I love it and highly recommend it to those who appreciate spiritual confirmation, Christian or otherwise.
Rating:
Summary: Informative, Fair Treatment of Topoc
Review: Kavanaugh well researches a difficult topic, that a making an assessment of someone else's faith, let alone that of great music composers. Oh, sure we all know about Bach, Handel and Mendelssohn, but for me at least not Haydn, Schubert, Liszt, Dvorak. With equal grace he presents the results of his research, without really making final judgment on each composer, but rather laying out the evidence he has discovered. Seems that many of greatest had touch of both believing and not at times, and who doesn't. Just shocked, as author predicted most would, as the inclusion of Wagner. Only heard that he was God opposed conductor, so to hear of spiritual side for Christ was startling and fascinating. The intro to each composer is well done, and suggetions for music listening for each also make this truly pleasure. Numerous notes allow all that wish to delve further a ready bibliography to begin. Especially liked Hadyn's response to certain church types who thought his music too ebullient: Since God has given me a cheerful heart, He will forgive me for serving him cheerfully."
Also, the humbleness and piety of Dvorak was refreshing. Well written, read with relish. One to reread.
Rating: 
Summary: The Religious Right cleans up the lives of great composers.
Review: The central idea that this book presented was initially very fascinating to me, but upon reading it, I realized that what the author does here is to omit obvious, well-known facts about the lives of many of the composers in order to present a very clean-living group who supposedly were very religious. For example, Richard Wagner's repeated adulterous relationships are not even mentioned; Franz Schubert was a homosexual who died of syphilis, but in this book there is no mention of his sexuality, and he is said to have died of "typhus." Truth is the victim of the biased viewpoints presented in this book.
| 
