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2000 - The Winner
BERLIOZ: Servitude and Greatness -
David Cairns
David Cairns was tonight named as the winner
of the fiercely contested
Samuel Johnson Prize, the UK’s most valuable non-fiction
award, for his biography, BERLIOZ: Servitude and
Greatness, published by Allen Lane/The Penguin Press.
Cairns, a distinguished academic and music
critic, wins £30,000 for his lifework, the superbly
written and extensively researched account of the great composer.
Writer and journalist Nigella Lawson, chair of the judges,
made the announcement at a dinner held at London’s
Banqueting House. She commented:
“If it is possible to have an unflawed human endeavour,
then this is it. This may be a book that satisfies
the scholar but in every sense of the word it is a special
work; it is a book which will also seduce the general reader.”
Since publication, BERLIOZ has been critically acclaimed: “My
biographical palm for the year goes to David Cairns. The
publication of Berlioz: Servitude and Greatness brings the
work of three decades to a triumphant conclusion.” Ian
McIntyre, The Times, Biographies of the Year.
Now in its second year, The Samuel Johnson Prize is the
only major prize to celebrate the variety and originality
of non-fiction publishing today. Last year’s
winner, STALINGRAD by Antony Beevor,
went on to become a major bestseller.
The winning book was chosen from a shortlist of six, announced
earlier this month. Each of the other shortlisted authors
receives a cheque for £2,500.
BERLIOZ VOLUME 2: SERVITUDE AND GREATNESS
In this magnificent biography, the author describes the
genesis of the famous works of Berlioz’s maturity and
in particular his crowning masterpiece, The Trojans. Against
the backdrop of the composer’s professional life and
his struggle for artistic recognition, David Cairns traces
his personal struggles in the pursuit of love and financial
security, to his ultimate search for inner happiness.
David Cairns was chief music critic of The
Sunday Times and has been music critic and arts editor
of The Spectator and has written for the Evening
Standard, the Financial Times and the New
Statesman. From 1967 to 1972 he worked for the
London branch of Phonogram. He has been Distinguished
Visiting Professor at the University of California at Davis,
a visiting scholar at the Getty Center in Santa Monica,
and a visiting fellow of Merton College, Oxford. In
1991, in recognition of his services to French music, he
was made Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He
was co-founder the Chelsea Opera Group and is now conductor
of the Thorington Players. David Cairns lives
in west London.
Press contact: Ruth Killick, Penguin Press on 020 7416 3258
or Nikki Barrow on 020 7416 3121
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