Artem Vargafitik is a well-known music critic, radio and television journalist. His programs "Orchestral Pit" and "Sheet Music Don't Burn" have been awarded the national television prize "TEFI". Since 2007, A. Vargafitik has collaborated with the Moscow Philharmonic and other concert organizations in the country as a lecturer.
This book resembles a "musical investigation" in genre. It is interesting to learn how simple things and events are distorted in the mirror of time, how they acquire traits of significance, grandeur, mystery, or conversely – are demonized and depreciated. The author tells about musical legends, mystifications, and the mysteries surrounding the emergence of famous scores that have become world classics.
The heroes of the book include Mahler, Beethoven, Wagner, Bizet, Mozart, Salieri, Handel, Chopin, Paganini, Schumann, and others, whose biographies reveal many unexpected insights to the reader.