Bøger af Oliver Hilmes

Hungarian composer Franz Liszt (1811-1886) was an anomaly. A virtuoso pianist and electrifying showman, he toured extensively throughout the European continent, bringing sold-out audiences to states of ecstasy while courting scandal with his frequent womanizing. Drawing on new, highly revealing documentary sources, including a veritable treasure trove of previously unexamined material on Liszt's Weimar years, best-selling author Oliver Hilmes shines a spotlight on the extraordinary life and career of this singularly dazzling musical phenomenon. A Whereas previous biographies have focused primarily on the composer's musical contributions, Hilmes showcases Liszt the man in all his many shades and personal reinventions: child prodigy, Romantic eccentric, fervent Catholic, actor, lothario, celebrity, businessman, genius, and extravagant show-off. The author immerses the reader in the intrigues of the nineteenth-century European glitterati (including Liszt's powerful patrons, the monstrous Wagner clan) while exploring the true, complex face of the artist and the soul of his music. No other Liszt biography in English is as colorful, witty, and compulsively readable, or reveals as much about the true nature of this extraordinary, outrageous talent.

In this meticulously researched book, Oliver Hilmes paints a fascinating and revealing picture of the extraordinary Cosima Wagnerillegitimate daughter of Franz Liszt, wife of the conductor Hans von Blow, then mistress and subsequently wife of Richard Wagner. After Wagners death in 1883 Cosima played a crucial role in the promulgation and politicization of his works, assuming control of the Bayreuth Festival and transforming it into a shrine to German nationalism. The High Priestess of the Wagnerian cult, Cosima lived on for almost fifty years, crafting the image of Richard Wagner through her organizational ability and ideological tenacity.The first book to make use of the available documentation at Bayreuth, this biography explores the achievements of this remarkable and obsessive woman while illuminating a still-hidden chapter of European cultural history.

Scenen var sat til arisk triumf, da nazisterne afholdt De Olympiske Lege for 80 år siden – men sjældent går alt som planlagt i sportens verden. Berlin 1936 er en dokumentarisk fortælling baseret på virkelige hændelser og personer rundt om de olympiske lege, der blev afholdt i den tyske hovedstad i august 1936. Berlin er på denne tid stadig en farverig og mangfoldig by. I 16 dage var hverdagslivet indrammet af en international sports- og folkefest, der fremviste det ypperste inden for menneskelig formåen. Men kontrasterne er store og mange. Mens regimet arbejder hårdt på at give byens gæster det bedste indtryk, bygger straffefanger kz-lejren Sachsenhausen uden for Berlin. Under den smukke og polerede overflade begynder det at trække op til krig. Om forfatteren Oliver Hilmes, født 1971, i Tyskland, er uddannet inden for historie, statskundskab og psykologi. Tidligere har forfatteren skrevet biografier om bl.a. Franz Liszt, Cosima Wagner og Alma Mahler.