Peter Mercer-Taylor

Playing Before the Lord

History & Biography

“Calvin Stapert here provides an encounter with Joseph Haydn's life and work that is at once broad in its cultural outlook, confident in its musical explorations, and intimate in its portrayal of the composer's human experience. The music scholar will find an array of Haydn's works, both canonical and farther from the beaten path, revisited with thoughtfulness and keen musical insight. The more casual reader is guided with the gentlest hand toward a rich understanding of what made Haydn's compositional voice so uniquely significant to his era. And Stapert's own voice -- that of a consummate storyteller -- carries the tale of Haydn's remarkable life swiftly along.”