Lost Genius
Lost Genius

Author: Kevin Bazzana

Publisher: McClelland & Stewart

Published: 2009-02-24

Total Pages: 394

ISBN-13: 1551991845

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The award-winning author of Wondrous Strange, the critically acclaimed biography of Glenn Gould, explores the bizarre, untold life of another brilliant and eccentric musician. The composer Arnold Schoenberg called him an “utterly extraordinary” pianist of “incredible originality and conviction,” yet today he is all but forgotten. Born in Budapest in 1903, Ervin Nyiregyházi (nyeer-edge-hah-zee) was a remarkable prodigy: at eight he performed at Buckingham Palace, and when he was thirteen a psychologist published a book about him. In his teens, his idiosyncratic, intensely Romantic playing electrified audiences and astounded critics in Europe and America. But his adult career quickly foundered, and he was reduced to penury. In 1928, he settled in Los Angeles, and eventually he withdrew from public life, preferring to spend his time quietly composing. Psychologically, he remained a child, and found the ordinary demands of daily life onerous — he struggled even to dress himself. He drank heavily, was insatiable sexually (he married ten times), and described himself as “a fortissimo bastard,” yet such was his talent and charisma that he numbered among his friends and champions celebrities such as Jack Dempsey, Theodore Dreiser, Bela Lugosi, and Gloria Swanson. Rediscovered in the 1970s, he enjoyed a brief, sensational, and controversial renaissance before slipping back into obscurity. He died in 1987. Lost Genius, the product of ten years’ research, is the first biography of Nyiregyházi, whose story is among the most fascinating — and bizarre — in twentieth-century music.

Julius Bürger
Julius Bürger

Author: Ryan Hugh Ross

Publisher: Böhlau Wien

Published: 2024-04-15

Total Pages: 111

ISBN-13: 3205220757

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Viennese composer Julius Bürger (also named Burger (1897-1995)) intersected with many important figures of 20th century western classical music. Despite success in some of the world's leading opera and broadcasting houses, Burger's true path as a composer was forever altered by the National Socialism. Burger studied with Franz Schreker in Vienna and Berlin. On Bruno Walter's recommendation, Burger later joined Artur Bodanzky as assistant at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In 1929 he became Otto Klemperer's assistant at Berlin's Kroll Opera, returning to Vienna after Hitler's appointment as Chancellor in 1933. En route to Vienna from London in 1938, Burger and his wife foresaw what lay in store for Austria and detrained in Paris, abandoning their luggage. In 1939 Burger relocated to America and in 1949 he rejoined the staff at the Metropolitan Opera, starting a close working friendship with Dimitri Mitropoulos. His mother and four of his brothers were murdered in the Holocaust. A fifth brother's fate is still unknown.

Confronting Stravinsky
Confronting Stravinsky

Author: Jann Pasler

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2023-12-22

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 0520332466

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1986. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived

The Player Piano and Musical Labor
The Player Piano and Musical Labor

Author: Allison Rebecca Wente

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-06-14

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 1000553140

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

By the early 20th century the machine aesthetic was a well-established and dominant interest that fundamentally transformed musical performance and listening practices. While numerous scholars have examined this aesthetic in art and literature, musical compositions representing industrialized labor practices and the role of the machine in music remain largely unexplored. Moreover, in recounting the history of machines in musical recording and reproduction, scholars often tend to emphasize the phonograph, rather than player piano, despite the latter’s prominence within the newly established musical marketplace. Machines and their music influenced multiple areas of early 20th-century musical culture, from film scores to popular music and even the concert hall. But the opposite was also true: industrialized labor practices changed the musical marketplace and musical culture as a whole. As consumers accepted mechanical replacements for what previously required an active human laborer, ghostly, mechanical performers labored tirelessly in parlors, businesses, and even concert halls. Although the player piano failed to maintain a stronghold in the recorded music marketplace after 1930, the widespread acceptance of recording technologies as media for storing and enjoying music indicates a much more fundamental societal shift. This book explores that shift, examining the rise and fall of the player piano in early 20th-century society and connecting it to the digital technologies of today.