Book One "Queen of the arts" : birth and growth. Introduction: A tale of two cities (1893). Part I: Boston and the cult of Beethoven. John Sullivan Dwight, Theodore Thomas, and the slaying of the monster concerts -- Henry Higginson and the birth of the Boston Symphony Orchestra -- Building a hall, choosing a conductor -- Composers and the Brahmin confinement. Part II: New York and beyond. Anton Seidl and the sacralization of opera -- Symphonic rivalry and growth -- Leopold Stokowski, Gustav Mahler, Arturo Toscanini, and the gossip of the foyer -- Antonín Dvořák and Charles Ives in search of America -- Coda : music and the gilded age. Book Two "Great performances" : decline and fall. Introduction: The great schism (1914). Part I: The culture of performance. The big three -- More conductors -- The world's greatest soloists -- Opera for singers. Part II: Offstage participants. Serving the new audience -- Composers on the sidelines -- Leonard Bernstein and the classical music crisis -- Postlude: Post-classical music.