Life and Liszt: The Recollections of a Concert Pianist

In this profound and scholarly study, Liszt's friend, favorite pupil, and secretary presents an intimate portrait of the composer's private and professional life. Its vibrant, richly textured prose recaptures a golden age of music during the 1870s and 80s, an era populated by giants of the keyboard and the podium, as well as scholars, writers, soldiers, and statesmen. Friend, favorite pupil, and secretary of Franz Liszt, Arthur Friedheim was the composer's closest associate during the 1880s. In this profound and scholarly study, Friedheim examines Liszt's life as a man, pianist, composer, conductor, teacher, and writer. His vibrant, richly textured prose recaptures a golden age of music that ended with the outbreak of World War I. Friedheim's memoir evokes an era populated by giants of the keyboard and podium as well as scholars, writers, soldiers, and statesmen. A noted concert pianist and conductor in his own right, the author was the contemporary of Paderewski, Rachmaninoff, Kreisler, Rubinstein, and Caruso. His reminiscences revisit the opulent social and musical circles of Europe and North America during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Modern readers will find this volume a rich source of sound musical scholarship on the forerunners of twentieth-century music. Reprint of the Taplinger Publishing Company, New York, 1961 edition.