For Boulanger, music creation was a sacred act to bring out the highest, most spiritual part of human nature… “The work of art… is an image of God.” —Nadia Boulanger to Igor Stravinsky, 1938 “With high intellectual standards, you can ask any sacrifice. With lower standards, spiritually or intellectually, you meet selfishness, weakness, and despair.” —Nadia Boulanger to Ruth Robbins September 1942 “And as life goes and the time shortens, it is harder. You may have heard of Dinu Lipatti’s death—a disaster and such a profound, heavy sorrow. As great an artist, as great a soul. One finds it difficult to overcome such a blow!” —Nadia Boulanger to Ruth Robbins December 1950 Read the first-ever biography of Nadia Boulanger’s life in America during the Second World War and her later years, featuring her never-before-published four-decade correspondence with her disciple Ruth Robbins, and exclusive interviews with Idil Biret, Boulanger’s favorite student of the 1950s and 1960s, who she helped launch into a brilliant concert and recording career.