Jan’s Quodlibet
A YEAR IN MUSIC
Memoir/Music
- Price
- $25.95
A diary of music and stories told with wit, wisdom and passion drawn from Ian’s life as a professional cellist, with extensive hand-picked listening recommendations.
Told in the voice of Jan (the third-person narrator of his previous book, Jan in 35 Pieces), Ian Hampton delights, entertains and enlightens us with his tales of characters in music history from Beethoven to Jelly Roll Morton and Gershwin to Ravel plus insider stories of the life of a working musician.
Ian’s writing is enlivened by his playful drawings, recipes, poems/doggerel and advice for young musicians, which create a true quodlibet, the Latin term for throwing all kinds of tunes into a pot.
With an entry for every day of the year, discover new composers, artists and performances through recordings chosen especially for the reader.
An engaging and accessible musical tour through a year written by a music lover for music lovers.
Reviews
“Ian Hampton gives us an intimate commonplace book linked to the rhythms of the musician’s year. And what a delight it is — generous, open-hearted, wise and wry, filled with a life-enhancing tender- ness for music’s ‘elevation of the soul’ and studded with a lifetime’s memories and reflections...plus a healthy leavening of playful doggerel, clever caricatures and delightfully groan-worthy puns. Like all fine distillations, it should be sipped and savoured in leisurely fashion, to the accompaniment of — a stroke of genius from an instinctive teacher, this — the endlessly fascinating pre-curated musical playlist that accompanies the text.” —Max Wyman, O.C., author of The Compassionate Imagination: How the Arts Are Central to a Functioning Democracy
Book Details
Pub date: Sept 2026
Trade paperback
300 pages
Print 9781553807452
E-book 9781553807469
6" x 9"
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