Book Description

Since his death in 1847, Felix Mendelssohn’s music and personality have been both admired and denigrated to extraordinary degrees. In this valuable book Clive Brown weaves together a rich array of documents—letters, diaries, memoirs, reviews, news reports, and more—to present a balanced and fascinating picture of the composer and his work. Rejecting the received view of Mendelssohn as a facile, lightweight musician, Brown demonstrates that he was in fact an innovative and highly cerebral composer who exerted a powerful influence on musical thought into the twentieth century. Brown discusses Mendelssohn’s family background and education; the role of religion and race in his life and reputation; his experiences as practical musician (pianist, organist, string player, conductor) and as teacher and composer; the critical reception of his works; and the vicissitudes of his posthumous reputation. The book also includes a range of hitherto unpublished sketches made by ! Mendelssohn. The result is an unprecedented portrayal of the man and his achievements as viewed through his own words and those of his contempories. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Nicholas Gage's meticulously documented and consistently absorbing account chronicles the stormy love affair between Maria Callas (1923-77) and Aristotle Onassis (1906-75). Gage sees the soprano who reinvented the art of opera and the tycoon who transformed the shipping industry as kindred spirits, drawn into romance by a deep connection to their Greek origins and a shared sense that, despite all they had achieved, something was missing. They found that absent element in a once-in-a-lifetime passion, which Onassis betrayed by marrying Jacqueline Kennedy in 1968. Gage appears to share the view of the tycoon's Greek coterie, who viewed this marriage as an act of hubris that inevitably led to financial and personal reversals which embittered Onassis in his final years. But he doesn't blame the tycoon for Callas's decline, pointing out that by the time they met, she was already experiencing severe vocal problems and was eager for respite from her taxing performance commitments. In any case, her career and his business dealings take a back seat here to Gage's evocative portrait of his subjects' outsized personalities and the jet-set society in the gaudy postwar years. Some of the new information is revelatory, particularly Gage's persuasive contention that Callas bore Onassis a son who died hours after his birth in 1960. At other times his investigative-journalist approach seems too weighty for this highly personal story of love, rage, and big, big egos. Fortunately, these lapses don't seriously mar a text distinguished by smooth prose, the seamless interweaving of several narrative strands, and a warm sympathy for its genuinely tragic protagonists. --Wendy Smith ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Yet another Callas book--but it's good
The respected Greek-American journalist and biographer Nicholas Gage has written an exhaustive chronicle of perhaps the most sensational episode in Maria Callas' sensational life--her stormy and ultimately tragic involvement with Aristotle Onassis, the Greek shipping magnate.

The tale of Callas' life and art, of course, has been told and retold in many volumes of varying worth, but biographically Mr. Gage's carefully researched and verified effort cannot fail to impress. Due to his dual subjects, his chronology largely limits itself to the last two decades of Callas' life (she became seriously involved with Onassis in 1959), but within this time frame he has come up with some startling new revelations, including the astonishing assertion (supported by convincing evidence) that Callas gave birth to a son by Onassis in 1960. The baby died the same day it was born, and this tragic event affected the entire rest of their relationship. There is a reverent, almost mystical tone in Gage's writing about the pair, a feeling that their romance was fated to happen and should have turned out much more happily than it did. This is backed up by the opinions of numerous people close to the couple that Onassis' impulsive pursuit of and marriage to Jacqueline Kennedy was the greatest mistake of his life.

Undoubtedly Onassis and Callas come vividly to life in these pages as people, warts and all. About Callas the musician Gage is less convincing. Although he speaks denigratingly about the false stories of the diva that have been uncritically perpetuated by biographers copying from each other, Gage himself does the same on occasion. For example, he repeats the standard tale of the January 1958 Rome Opera "walkout," that Callas was voiceless and struggling against hecklers from the very start of the performance. In fact, as Michael Scott has pointed out, a broadcast tape is readily available of the performance which belies both these contentions. Overall, too, Callas, even with her voice in decline, remained much more interested in singing after she met Onassis than the rather indolent portrait that emerges from these pages would indicate. Post-1960 there were several complete opera recordings, and numerous collections of arias released on disc, and these are just the commercial studio efforts.

Still, Callas the artist has been well-served in much other writing, notably that of John Ardoin. Gage's book corrects many more errors than it perpetuates. It is obligatory reading for any fan and, for that matter, anyone who wishes to know more about this eternally glamorous and fascinating pair.

Finally an honest telling of the Callas/Onassis story!
My grandmother gave me my first opera recording when I was 11 years old - the second Callas Tosca, and I spent much time later as an adult buying every recording she made and reading every book I could get my hands on to discover as much about this compelling artist as I could. At last, here is the definitive version of her great love affair, told impartially from many sources close to the heart of their relationship. I had always known that tabloid gossips had put a wrongful spin on what was going on, and it is refreshing to read the facts here, and have many longstanding falsehoods exposed. I knew absolutely nothing of Onassis before reading "Greek Fire", and this book gives a good general overview of his life and rise to being one of the richest men in the world. Onassis does not come off as the villian here - forcing Maria to give up her singing, to have an abortion, and then dumping her for Jackie Kennedy. The intricate byplay of these very public figures is chronicled extremely well, with each side of the "triangle" treated fairly. If anything, it is Jackie who comes off as the greedy, material, and socially power hungry villian, concerned only for herself, finally hooking the wealthiest man she could get her hands on. Since he is not a musical scholar, Gage does not discuss in depth the decline of Callas' voice prior to meeting Onassis, but it is fairly indicated, so at last here is a biographer that does not spin the familiar "Callas gave it all up for Onassis" story. Having read virtually every book published about Callas, I can say that this is certainly one of the best out there. I read it over one weekend, and immediately started reading it again. It was compelling.

good gossip on remarkable lovers
This is a great vacation book, well researched and by a very good reporter. The trouble is, should we care about the melodramas therein? I would arge yes, as they were outsized personalities and changed their times as much as reflected them.

The reader will be treated to a real view of the glitterati, from Callas and Onaissis, to Jackie Kennedy as she used the designer dresses he would buy to "launder" money by reselling them. It is sleaze at its best and a first-rate reporter to look under all the rocks for the voyeur, that is, me and you.

Recommended.

Wonderful !
When I started this book I said to myself, "How is Gage going to fill this whole book with Callas and Onassis?" Well, he did it. This factual account is so interesting that I couldn't put the book down. Gage gives us specifics and so many details that I have to believe that this is the most truthful account of this relationship that I have read. I have always been in intrigued with Callas's story but I had never read anything regarding Onassis. This book gave me a good start of Onassis and his relationships along with his story of being a ship tycoon. This is so much like a Greek tragedy. Read this well written book!

simply wonderful
This book is absolutely sensational, impossible to put down, exciting, excellently written and researched, and impartial. Congratulations, Mr.Gage! ... Read more

Book Description

Letters by Mozart in sparkling new translations that capture the flavor of the writing, transmit every nuance, and render every thought faithfully and accurately. What was Mozart really like--wild? sublime? responsible? fun-loving? bright? foul-mouthed? Reading these letters, we learn in his own words that he was all of these and much more. Here is the composer at his most intimate and unguarded, expressing his feelings about life, love, music, and the world around him. For this collection, Robert Spaethling has carefully chosen letters written by Mozart over a span of almost twenty-two years--from his first journey to Italy as a shy teenager to the final months of his life in Vienna. The letters, together with the accompanying introductions, chronicle the composer's life, personal development, and artistic growth. These new translations into English, the first in more than sixty years, are faithful to the original German even to the point of misspellings, which abound in the early correspondence. No effort has been spared to find language as closely equivalent to Mozart's as any translation can be and to clear up references in the letters to people, places, and events. Mozart's Letters, Mozart's Life makes wonderful reading for anyone who has ever loved a work by the composer, from the deceptively simple Eine kleine Nachtmusik to the towering, magnificent Requiem. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

This lively book will deepen your appreciation of Mozart
What a fine accomplishment! According to the introduction, this book contains about 2/3 of Mozart's surviving correspondence. It has letters from and to Mozart and the translations are very lively and bring the personality of the composer to life. In older translations it seems that care was taken to make him sound like the monumental cultural force that he has become. But in this book, Mozart is a boy, a young man, a young husband, a fiery genius, and at times lost, grieving, and even confused.

The book is organized chronologically and provides biographical information that gives each letter some context. There are many useful footnotes as well as a couple of maps and list of Mozart's travels. The author has even included some notes about the various currencies in order to help the reader understand the discussions of money in the letters.

I can't emphasize enough what a lively read this book is. I found that I simply didn't get bogged down and enjoyed reading it. Yes, there are some portions of some letters I skipped, but that is one of the beauties of the book. You don't get lost simply because you skipped some mundane portions of one letter or another.

Mr. Spaethling is to be congratulated on this fine achievement. If you are interested in Mozart in any way, this book will deepen your appreciation of the living breathing person who wrote all that music. It didn't come from some alien dimension. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, this wonderful and complex human being did it all and we are much richer for it.

A whole new view of Mozart
Those of us who know a little about Mozart believe that he was perfection incarnate, part angel, fluttering down to endow the world with heavenly music. (There probably is some truth to that.) This book, however, reveals a whole new side of Mozart, a very human side. As beautiful as Mozart's music is, the more beautiful it becomes after reading this book. Understanding his big heart, hard work and, yes, even imperfections, increases one's appreciation of his music.

Bravo!
This book enabled Mozart come to life for me. The translation was very good. It showed, (in english), how Mozart worked on his grammar and spelling as he got older. Since he was "home educated", he had to work at this.

I could not put this book down, reading a few letters every day, I saw how Mozart grew from a boy into a man with a family. He was a really good guy, it's a shame he had to die so young.

I would say, to anyone who wants to know more about Mozart, buy this book. You can form your own opinion of him, then you can buy the "expert's" books.

After having read this book, I would like to know more about Constanze!

Fascinating!
Anyone who has ever heard any of Mozart's work knows that he is a fantastic composer - arguably the best ever. But every recording of every one of Mozart's pieces could not begin to provide the glimpse into Mozart's life that this book does. Contained herein are hundreds of Mozart's letters to those close to him, starting from when he was a boy traveling around Europe to a mere three months before his death in 1791. And whilst the fact that all of these letters are translations does make for some awkward reading at times, it also adds to the authenticity and thusly makes it all the more interesting.

I cannot recommend Mozart's Letters, Mozart's Life highly enough to anyone interested in Wolfgang Mozart. It is an unparalleled first-hand account of Mozart's life by the man himself, and is a must have for any classical music enthusiast's collection. ... Read more

Book Description

A New York Times Notable Book

"This brilliant and magisterial book is a very good bet to...become the definitive study of Johannes Brahms."--The Plain Dealer

Judicious, compassionate, and full of insight into Brahms's human complexity as well as his music, Johannes Brahms is an indispensable biography.

Proclaimed the new messiah of Romanticism by Robert Schumann when he was only twenty, Johannes Brahms dedicated himself to a long and extraordinarily productive career.In this book, Jan Swafford sets out to reveal the little-known Brahms, the boy who grew up in mercantile Hamburg and played piano in beer halls among prostitutes and drunken sailors, the fiercely self-protective man who thwarted future biographers by burning papers, scores and notebooks late in his life.Making unprecedented use of the remaining archival material, Swafford offers richly expanded perspectives on Brahms's youth, on his difficult romantic life--particularly his longstanding relationship with Clara Schumann--and on his professional rivalry with Lizst and Wagner.

"[Johannes Brahms] will no doubt stand as the definitive work on Brahms, one of the monumental biographies in the entire musical library."--London Weekly Standard

"It is a measure of the accomplishment of Jan Swafford's biography that Brahms's sadness becomes palpable.... [Swafford] manages to construct a full-bodied human being."--The New York Times Book Review


... Read more

Reviews (15)

The Wisdom Of Solomon
If you have ever read Maynard Solomon's biographies of Mozart and Beethoven, and enjoyed them, you will definitely like Swafford's biography of Brahm's. The styles have a lot in common. Both authors write mostly with the lay reader in mind, so even someone like me who doesn't have any background in music can still enjoy the books. Both authors are interested in psychological reasons for behavior and, in my opinion, make convincing arguments concerning certain personality traits of these great musicians. However, both authors are also aware that some of the people that read these books are knowledgeable about music, so there are brief sections that get into technical analysis of the music. Solomon did this by including short chapters scattered throughout his book, devoted solely to musical analysis. Swafford chose to incorporate his musical analysis within the general flow of the book, a few paragraphs at a time. As a lay reader, I liked Swafford's approach better. Since I pretty much didn't understand the technical aspects, it was less boring to have this stuff just a little bit at a time! Swafford's book has two great strengths, besides the fact that he writes beautifully. He goes into detail concerning Brahms relationship with Clara Schumann, a friendship which lasted for approximately 40 years. The second strength is that piece by piece he builds up a picture of Brahms the man so that by the end of the book you will feel that you knew Brahms. The picture is well-rounded, too. Brahms could be rude and arrogant but he also could be sensitive and humble and generous. He also had a tremendous sense of humor. He was very witty, both in his conversation and in his correspondence. He was also a great practical joker. Swafford relates a story about the time Brahms went to lunch with a friend, who happened to be a Beethoven scholar. Brahms, before the lunch, had taken a popular song of the day and written it out in musical notation, but he did this imitating Beethoven's handwriting. He made arrangements for the fellow that waited on them in the restaurant to wrap up the scholar's takeout lunch in the "Beethoven" score. Brahms was quite amused when he saw the expression on his friend's face as he unwrapped his lunch and without saying a word, carefully folded up the score and just put it in his pocket. He probably thought he had made a great discovery until he got the score home and actually got to read the music! This was easily one of the best books I read last year and I have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone who loves good biography, even if you don't know anything about music!

A Delight For Fans of Brahms
Highly readable. This large tome fills in all the information on Brahms that your college Music History class left out. It has about all we are likely ever to know about the Brahms/Clara Schumann relationship.

The amateur psychologizing is not excessive, and the amount of musical analysis is about right for a biography.

Massive though this book is, it is not exhaustive. For instance, I would have liked more on Brahms' trips to Italy.

One of the reasons I read biography is to learn about the era, not just the person. This book gives much of the flavor of mid/late 19th Century musical life in Germany and Austria.

The ONLY Brahms biography!
As a music major in college, I read lots of books on music, including many composer biographies. I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Swafford's book on the life of Brahms. I am amazed at the thickness of the book, despite the fact that Brahms tried to discourage future biographies by destroying many personal items, such as letters and scores. Many musical biographies tend to focus more on the music than the composer. Swafford's book takes a very itimate look at Brahms the man and how it influenced his work.
The only shortcoming of this book is that it may be a little too academic for most readers. The reading is a tad difficult from time to time, but I still had fun with it.
If you are even remotely interested in Johannes Brahms, I suggest you buy this book because it is an excellent read, and you'll learn a lot! Also recommended is Jan Swafford's "Vintage Guide to Classical Music".

The best classical music book I have ever read!
This book is so easy and fun to read! A shear joy! There is so much detail and great stories in this book. Stuff we have never seen before. Anyone who likes this book should also read J.D. Landis' LONGING.

Exceptional and insightful
This is perhaps the finest biography that I have ever read. It evokes so well the atmosphere of Hamburg in Brahms' youth (which added to what I had read of an earlier period in 'Anton Rieser' by Moritz) and later of Vienna. It has so many friends - other composers and musicians, and then there are the pieces of music that are so familiar to modern music lovers - the serenades, the symphonies, the Requiem, the songs and chamber music, the concertos. Any sense I had that Brahms was less productive than the great giants he saw looming behind him - Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert - was altered when I read that he had destroyed many of the works he was dissatisfied with, as well as a lot of biographical material, such as letters. Fortunately some resources remain and Mr Swafford uses these continuously.

Brahms was a man as well as a composer/musician and I greatly admired the gentle way Mr Swafford narrated the story of the relationship of Brahms to the women he was so attracted to, but kept at arms length - especially, of course, and tragically Clara Schumann. For me there was a secondary biography here - that of Clara Schumann. She was such a courageous woman to sustain the friendship and the stream of musical advice that Brahms so needed, after Brahms had rejected following the death of Robert Schumann. In my experience, few women are capable of sustaining such a friendship in the face of their own emotional disappointment. Mr Swafford describes Brahms' behaviour without any hint of criticism or speculation - the facts speak sufficiently for themselves. Another aspect of this biography is the explanation of the schism in music caused (precipitated?) by Beethoven's musical experiments - a symphony with a program (the 'Pastoral') and one with words (the 'Choral'). Berlioz took Beethoven's lead and wrote an especially influential programmatic symphony (the 'Fantastique') as well as less successful symphonies with vocal elements (such as 'Romeo and Juliet'). This was taken on enthusiastically as the new wave - emotional rather than academic music. Liszt and Wagner were the great leaders in Germany of this modern school. In the meantime there was a reargaurd action lead by Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann to try and retain the historic development of music and reject radical change (Mendelssohn's revival of interest in the music of JS Bach is an example of this). Brahms arrived in this schism and was immediately championed as the future of music by Robert Schumann - was this the cause of Brahms' rejection of women - a sense of duty to Schumann's prediction?

Like all biographies that are chronologically described there is always a deep sense of sadness as we read of the end of life. But after the gruelling and sad description of Brahms later life and death, Mr Swafford ends the biography with an essay that explores Brahms place in history and explores why we still enjoy the music despite the general decline in musical appreciation that Brahms could see coming. Was Brahms the end of the historic development line in music? Did Liszt, Wagner, Bruckner, Mahler and Richard Struass win the battle of the schism? It seems that Brahms' music was fostered by his political wisdom (despite some personal abrasiveness), but if that were the case the music would have disappeared along with that of all the composers Brahms admired (with the exception of Dvorak).

But there is another school of music - that of Scheonberg, a composer whom I have grown to admire recently more than I would have expected twenty years ago. But Brahms and Schoenberg? It's an interesting speculation and Mr Swafford does reflect on it with an insight that adds measurably to the biography. ... Read more

Book Description

This is a brief biography of Russia's greatest musical dramatist, Modest Musorgsky (1839-1881), known the world over for his operaBoris Godunov, for his innovative realistic art songs, and for his pianistic work "Pictures at an Exhibition." Yet during his life Musorgsky had no institutional connections, no "degree," no family of his own, not even a permanent address. This book emphasizes the psychological and economic factors that contributed to the composer's remarkable autodidactic rise and tragic, premature end. ... Read more

Book Description

Long considered a masterpiece, Wagner's Ring has baffled and confused critics because of the highly complex meaning of its text and music. The diverse range of commentaries written on the subject since the first performance over one hundred years ago reveals just how little critics have understood The Ring. Deryck Cooke displays his masterly common sense in this study of how and why The Ring took the shape it did. This volume represents only a portion of the enormous book he had planned--his untimely death prevented him from writing a full analysis of the music. Even as it stands, I Saw The World End will give fresh understanding and appreciation to every lover of Wagner's music. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Sadly, unfinished
i saw the world end is one of the most brilliant studies of wagner's ring. unfortunately, deryck cooke died before he finished his survey. still, i saw the world end remains an important work detailing the ring and die walkure in particular.

extraordinary book
This really is an extraordinary book - it is the most comprehensive, insightful, and consistent study of Wagner's Ring des Niblungen. It offers some musical analysis of the leitmotivs, and is one of the first books to begin a revision of von Wolzogen's grossly erroneous analysis of the leitmotivs; it provides a plethora of highly organized information about the stages of Wagner's sketches and librettos and the original myths/legends/sagas from which he drew; and a scene by scene analysis of Rheingold and Walkure.

This book actually makes sense of Der Ring des Niblungen - no easy task, as anyone familiar with the opera tetralogy is well aware. If you are interested in the tetralogy and want to know more about it, this is THE book. There are, however, two tragedies associated with this book: the first is that the author's untimely death prevented him from finishing the book (though the material printed is itself finished). The whole book should have been about three times the length of the printed material. The second tragedy is that it is OUT OF PRINT - this is absolutely disgraceful...hopefully this title will come in to print again.

Get a hold of a copy of this book if you can.

a definitive reference
This book was to have been the first of a two-volume set, but sadly Deryck Cooke passed away before his monumental exposition could be fully realized. It is a great tragedy that this work was left unfinished, but we should at least be thankful for what we have. Rather than take a theological, political or sociological position and try to make the Ring fit, as many authors did, Cooke chose instead to focus on the actual construction of the libretto and orchestral score. Although there is insightful analysis on all 4 operas, this volume is devoted mostly to the realization of Das Rheingold and Die Walkure. The author presents a very convincing thesis that far from being a disjointed, poorly conceived work, Rheingold, by comparison to the extremely disparate and incoherent nature of the source material, is in fact a very compact and concentrated story. When one looks at the Nibelungenlied, the Eddic poems, and the various pieces of Norse mythology, Cooke unequivocally demonstrates that Wagner had enough material to compose a stage work requiring much longer than 4 evenings to perform. The process of refining, editing, compressing, and modifying (within reason) to adapt the writings for the stage is explained in thorough and exhaustive detail. Somehow Cooke accomplished this without the narrative dragging on or becoming too difficult, a masterly effort in exposition. He then goes on to explain how the leitmotives were conceived and transformed from one character and/or event to another. The depth of analysis is worthy of the subject matter. Anyone who reads this book should have a much greater appreciation of Das Rheingold than before.

This work offers many rewards to the serious Wagner enthusiast and also to the casual music lover, and cannot be too strongly recommended. Let us hope it comes back into circulation. ... Read more

Book Description

The true story of Charlotte Church, the Welsh 15-year-old with the voice of an angel, whose extraordinary talent has made her an international star with millions of fans worldwide.

How did a schoolgirl from Wales become an international sensation? And how can she possibly cope with staggering, worldwide fame? In this fascinating account, the young singer shares her amazing true story. From humble beginnings in Wales singing on local radio to singing for Prince Charles, President Clinton, and the Pope, to her quick rise to the top of the music charts, Charlotte Church's unique story is an inspiring tale of a phenomenal young talent and will touch the hearts of millions of music lovers worldwide. ... Read more

Reviews (25)

Charming book
Just as most American kids have to write their "life so far" in junior high school, Charlotte Church writes about her own life, emphasing her family and friends rather than her self. With her soft Welsh accent, she reads her book self-effacingly, and we also learn how to pronounce many of those interminable Welsh words. She describes her success as happenstance and hard work of her family rather than self-made. She thanks all sorts of people for helping her career and for their kindness, and never once demeans anyone in her life.

Charlotte's First literary Attempt
I read this book from cover to cover and loved every word and
paragraph. Some people don't like this book because of the style
she wrote it in [like a diary] but I say give the girl a break
she's only 16. I thought this book was very imformative.So I
strongly recommend this book to any charlotte church fan who
wants to some back round info on this gifted child.

Music does flow in her blood
After reading this book, you'll know what music is to Charlotte; it's in her. I thought the book was well written. I don't know why some people seem to be passionately against her. One reviewer says Charlotte doesn't write about her music, but that's not true. Most of this book IS about her music! As a matter of fact, I bought "Voice of an Angel" after reading this book. I only wish she showed her Welshness more in the book.

Well Written And Enjoyable To Read
I too am a classical singer, and I must admit that Church might not be as wonderful as the World has made her to be. I do also have to say that I very much enjoy listening to her music and I think she has a lot of potential. Those who give her such low reviews, in my opinion, are jealous and unfair to Church.

As for the book? I thought it was very well written and I thoroughly enjoyed every chapter! I'm 15 and it kept my attention through the whole book. I found her life to be not that of a rich and famous singer/star, but that of a regular teenage girl. Sure, she's got about a million times more than most regular people will ever have, but she lives in a semi-regual way compared to other stars. It tells a lot of interesting facts about how she got started, her family, her home and travels.

In all, I have to say that this was very entertaining. I would recomend this book to those of you who are not jealous of this teenage star and for those of you who like to read about famous people.

Wow, no talent and no brains either!
I'm sorry, but this is ridiculous. Can someone please tell me why so much hype concenring this "child prodigy"? Yes, at 12 years old she was good, however not as amazing as America percieved her to be. Now, years later she's gotten worse, and still everyone fusses about her! and now the next thing i see, we have to read about her life so far? please! she seems very shallow according to this book, to tell you the truth, she doesn't seem interesting enough or have enough depth to her to write a book. she just seems like a one-dimensional money-making machine that once showed potential and now is just something to make money off of. I'm sorry if this is cruel, but that's the price publishers risk when releasing nonsense like this. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Writing this book must have required enormous courage; reading it is overwhelming, especially for anyone personally connected to the events it describes. Martin Goldsmith, best known as the host of NPR's Performance Today, is the American-born son of two German-Jewish musicians who escaped the Holocaust. He anchors the Holocaust to the story of his own family, whom he never knew because most of them perished in Hitler's death camps. Goldsmith accompanies them through their lives in Nazi Germany, with its ever-tightening persecution and repression of the Jews, and on their nightmarish journey to the gas chambers. He follows his parents through their early musical training, their blossoming love, courtship, and marriage--making them seem like a normal, happy young couple--to their miraculous rescue and escape to America.

The book's linchpin is the Jewish Culture Association ("Jüdische Kulturbund"), in whose Berlin orchestra his parents met. Established by prominent Jewish leaders in 1933, after a "purge" of all Jewish Civil Servants, the Kulturbund flourished for eight years, with the permission and under the constant, increasingly repressive surveillance of the Nazis, who exploited it as a propaganda tool. Spreading from Berlin to other cities, its musical and theatrical presentations, lectures, and films offered employment to thousands of Jewish artists and the only cultural oasis to its Jewish audiences. In 1941, Germany's preoccupation with the war and the "Final Solution" rendered it superfluous, and it was dissolved.

But Goldsmith also furnishes the proper historical context for his uniquely individual, human account of the 20th century's most inhuman period. After a chillingly detailed description of the grass-roots rise of Nazism, he focuses on particularly horrifying events: the infamous 1935 Nuremberg Laws and the devastating 1938 pogrom, "Kristallnacht." The tragedy of the 937 refugees, including Goldsmith's grandfather and uncle, who were refused disembarkation first in Cuba, then in Miami, illustrates the world's customary indifference to "other" people's misfortunes. Nobody paid attention when, as early as 1922, Hitler declared that his first priority on coming to power would be the extermination of the Jews.

Goldsmith's factual, reportorial style increases the sickening horror, and he reminds us frequently that he is writing about his own family. Though his story's outcome is never in doubt, he generates real suspense--a measure of his skill, despite his unfortunate habit of hinting at the future. The Kulturbund has been accused of encouraging the Jews to ignore the desperate circumstances outside the theater, and therefore the imminence of their danger. Goldsmith refutes this. For most of them, emigration was impossible because, apart from the natural fear of pulling up roots, leaving everything behind, and starting a new life, they had nowhere to go. Moreover, how could anyone foresee the depth of the impending horror? It was, and still is, beyond the human imagination.

Goldsmith writes with insight and aching honesty about the survivors' guilt and its numbing effect even upon the next generation. But his parents also taught him to love music and appreciate its meaning in people's lives, and he talks about it with real knowledge and understanding. (However, someone should have corrected his opening reference to Siegmund's sword in Die Walküre, which is made of steel, not gold.) This is a brilliantly written, important, unforgettable book. --Edith Eisler ... Read more

Reviews (38)

A moving and exciting book . . .
Martin Goldsmith, the familiar voice of National Public Radio's "Performance Today," writes simply in The Inextinguishable Symphony of his parents' meeting, courtship, and marriage during 1930s Nazi Germany. The irony of the situation is not lost on Goldsmith, who recognizes that the young Jewish couple would not have met (and he would not have been conceived) except for the Kulturbund, a group of Jewish artists, musicians, dancers, and writers who existed as a propaganda tool of the Third Reich. Thus, the purpose of the work is twofold: on the historical level, it traces the Kulturbond, describes its leaders, and explains the circumstances under which the unique group thrived for a few years. But on a more personal level, it is a love story about two young musicians working and living in a hostile regime while creating a safe haven for themselves, a world surrounded by the beautiful music of Bach, Mozart, and Mahler and the poetry of Heine, Shakespeare, and Goethe.

The book is a page-turner, especially for anyone who is interested in music and the performing arts. While the purely historical books quote the facts and figures, Goldsmith places the reader right smack in the middle of Nazi Germany, viewing the action from the perspective of his father as a youth. Twenty-two year old Gunther Goldschmidt is a typical student; he has a crush on a beautiful harpist who rejects him. When his best female friend, a young German girl, is impregnated by a handsome, dashing young French art student, he stands by her. Later on, he meets Rosemarie, Goldsmith's mother, and elects to remain in Germany rather than immigrate to Sweden. It is an exciting, movingly written memoir somewhat in the tradition of Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes.

Yet, like so many other Holocaust writers, Goldsmith really cannot answer the question that his narrative begs. Germany, the nation of Bach, Schumann, and Brahms, degenerates into a nightmare world dominated by thugs who seem intent on destroying the very cultural institutions that the Nazis claim to protect. The Germans are accurately, though rather shallowly, portrayed as monsters, particularly in the sections that describe the so-called Crystal Night. For example, one particularly horrifying photograph depicts a pair of attractive young German women laughing jubilantly at a group of Jewish men who have been dragged out of their homes, removed from their families, beaten, and are in the process of marching towards a prison.

However, Hitler's documented personal hatred of the Jews neither excuses nor explains the sadistic behavior that ordinary Germans evidently exhibited toward this beleaguered group. In fact, the book does not shed any light on the circumstances that led to such moral bankruptcy, a predicament that is only partially explained by the Nazis. Goldsmith's Germans are, for the most part, mean and stupid; certainly they must have appeared that way to his talented and sensitive young parents. But what causes them to be psychologically predisposed toward abusing outsiders - not just Jews but Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, and others?

In defense of Goldsmith, a case certainly can be made for his memoir on the grounds that the answer to such a question is far beyond the scope of the book. It is, after all, a terrifically moving and exceptionally well-written work. I would highly recommend it.

Poignant and Extremely Well-Written
Martin Goldsmith, a senior commentator for National Public Radio, paints a vivid and poignant story about his own mother and father in "The Inextinguishable Symphony." Goldsmith's parents, both German Jewish musicians, were forced to work in one of Germany's Judische Kulturbunds, which were really little more than forced Nazi propaganda. By creating the Kulturbunds, which only Jews could join and attend, the Nazis hoped to cover up their inhumane treatment of this ethnic group.

Both of Martin Goldsmith's parents were talented, highly trained musicians. His father, Gunther Goldschmidt, was the son of Alex Goldschmidt, a prosperous clothing store owner in Oldenburg, Germany and a World War I veteran. Gunther, a budding flutist, was eventually forced to leave music school simply because he was a Jew.

Goldsmith's mother, Rosemarie, was a violinist who had been trained by her own father, the director and owner of the Gumpert Conservatory of Music in Dusseldorf, Germany. Both Gunther and Rosemarie considered themselves Germans first and Jews second, and both were happy to be accepted into the Kulturbund...at first.

On 9. November 1938, the eve of the horrible "Kristallnacht," the Jewish community in Germany was forced to take another look at their comfortable Kulturbunds, for it is on that date that the Nazis chose to burn synagogues and Jewish places of business. When Alex Goldschmidt marched down the streets of Oldenburg with other young Jewish men in protest, he was rapidly taken to prison. The Nazis, however, attempted to "smooth things over" by telling the Jews they were only "protecting" them from other, angry German citizens.

In 1941, when the Nazis closed the Kulturbunds, Gunther and Rosemarie escaped to freedom in New York City. Other patrons and musicians, however, did not make it to safety. As a memorial plaque at one Kulterbund reads, "Almost all of those who worked here were murdered in concentration camps."

The Goldschmidts, now the Goldsmiths, eventually settled in Ohio where Martin Goldsmith was born in 1952. Although his father gave up music forever, his mother later became a member of the Cleveland Orchestra.

"The Inextinguishable Symphony" is a book about Nazi Germany that gives us another view of the era and of the Holocaust. Rather than focusing on the camps as excellent authors such as Elie Wiesel and Primo Levi have done, Goldsmith focuses on the plight of Jews who managed to remain out of the camps, yet lived very restricted lives.

This book is a fascinating account and one that is extremely well-written. I would recommend it highly to anyone who is interested in this period in world history.

A son's voyage of discovery of his parents' nightmarish past
What do we really know about our parents' life before we were born? That depends largely, I guess, on how much of an interest we show - and on how much they are willing to reveal. Because in the life of every person there are instances and times they rather wish to forget, and not revive time and again by discussion, even if only among their nearest and dearest.

Such, in the lives of author Martin Goldsmith's parents, were the years from 1933 through 1941; so much so, in fact, that Goldsmith likens that time to the massive ash tree in the house of Germanic warlord Hunding, the setting of the first scene of Richard Wagner's opera "Die Walkuere:" Something looming large, yet never openly acknowledged. Because before George Gunther Goldsmith, furniture and home decorating salesman of Cleveland, Ohio, and his wife Rosemary, a violinist with the St. Louis Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra, became American citizens in 1947, they had lived a whole other life - the hunted life of Jews in Adolf Hitler's Germany. And only years after his mother's death, on a trip to his father's home town of Oldenburg, did Goldsmith catch the first glimpses of what was hidden behind that massive ash tree, and George Goldsmith began to talk about the events which his, the Goldschmidt family had witnessed there; as well as the early life of Rosemarie nee Gumpert in Duesseldorf, the couple's first meeting in Frankfurt, and their later life in Berlin until their lucky escape to the United States. Beginning with this visit, Martin Goldsmith retraced his family's path to the early years of the 20th century, when his paternal grandfather Alex Goldschmidt took residence in Oldenburg, and his maternal grandfather Julian Gumpert settled in Duesseldorf.

How intensely personal this voyage into the past must have been becomes clear in the account of Goldsmith's visit to Oldenburg prison, as a participant in a march retracing the path taken by the Jews - among them the author's grandfather - driven through the streets of Oldenburg in 1938 by Nazi thugs, to later be shipped off (at least temporarily) to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. But although he writes about his very own family, and now in full knowledge of their fate, Goldsmith's narrative is in no way sentimental. With a journalist's detachment he talks about Guenther and Rosemarie, Alex, Julian and their wives and other children; turning a nonfiction account whose outcome is clear from the very start into a heartstopping tale few would be able to believe if presented with it under colors other than that of the plain historic truth.

Prominently featured in Goldsmith's account is the Jewish Culture Association, or Juedischer Kulturbund; as of 1933 the German Jews' only permitted artistic organization, in whose orchestra Guenther and Rosemarie had met and which had formed the center of their life until they finally left the country. One of the most controversial institutions of Nazi Germany, it reunited what was left of the country's Jewish musicians, artists, writers and composers - providing a modicum of shelter in an increasingly hostile environment, but also a convenient tool in the Nazi propaganda machine. Were the members of the Kulturbund instrumentalized to deceive public opinion, at home and abroad, about the true intentions of Hitler's government? By giving their Jewish audience a sense of comfort and "belonging," did they also prevent some of them from rescuing themselves when there still would have been time? The surviving members of the "Kubu" and their families, interviewed by Goldsmith, come down on both sides of the issue; and the fate of the survivors is probably as symptomatic as that of the many who ultimately did perish in Nazi concentration camps - chiefly among those the Kulturbund's charismatic founder Dr. Singer, who not only let himself deceive into returning to Germany after already having reached the safe shores of the U.S. but saw a mark of distinction even in his deportation to the "model" concentration camp of Theresienstadt.

Yet, for Guenther and Rosemarie the years with the Kulturbund were dominated, above all, by the musical companionship they experienced. What does seem to have haunted them most for the rest of their lives, however, was their very escape to America, while their remaining family members were stuck in Europe and, one way or another, died in Hitler's concentration camps - and the feeling that with a little effort they just *might* have saved at least some of them. The letters of Alex Goldschmidt and his younger son Helmut, written to Guenther from captivity in France after their own unsuccessful attempt to flee to Cuba, are among the most chilling testimonials contained in this book; and the decision to translate and include them conceivably cannot have been an easy one for Goldsmith. Indeed, it apparently was the knowledge of his family's fate that, all talent and love of music aside, eventually compelled George Goldsmith to forever retire the flute which, in his life as Guenther Goldschmidt, had been the only item of true importance besides his beloved wife Rosemarie; thus punishing himself in a way no outsider could have done. Yet, the couple's gift for music lives on in their son, who in his own way has brought many hours of joy to radio listeners all over the U.S.

Martin Goldsmith's "Inextinguishable Symphony" - named for Danish composer Carl Nielsen's Fourth Symphony, which sets music, as a parable for life itself, against war, terror and destruction - is as much a personal journey of discovery as a journalist's account of historic facts; seeking to understand rather than to judge. It deals with a time in which morality was thoroughly upset by a profoundly immoral regime, which cannot possibly have remained without effect on anybody who witnessed those events. In applying our own values to those facts, I think we would all do well in being careful to, likewise, make a thorough effort to understand before we judge. Goldsmith's insightful account is a great place to begin such a process.

A Very Moving Book
This story was impossible to put down and when you finish, it stays with you for a very long time. Its hard to believe that Gunther and Rosemary didn't make every effort to help their parents emigrate to U. S. What really bothers me most is, not being Jewish, what would I have done in Germany in the late thirties and early forties when I saw these atrocities happening?

Wow
I listened to Martin Goldsmith on "Performance Today" (and still listen to his successor, Fred Child) for many years. This man who for years described classical music on the radio -- composers and their life story, pieces and their histories, in accessible, engaging, and lightly humorous ways, and even sometimes tied it in to his love of baseball -- he also has an extraordinary family story. It's moving and well-written, and makes me think about the extraordinary stories that must dwell in the depths of my own geneological past. ... Read more

Book Description

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) has a reputation as one of the leading composers of the twentieth century. But the story of his controversial role in history is still being told, and his full measure as a musician still being taken. This collection of essays goes far in expanding the traditional purview of Shostakovich's world, exploring the composer's creativity and art in terms of the expectations--historical, cultural, and political--that forged them.

The collection contains documents that appear for the first time in English. Letters that young "Miti" wrote to his mother offer a glimpse into his dreams and ambitions at the outset of his career. Shostakovich's answers to a 1927 questionnaire reveal much about his formative tastes in the arts and the way he experienced the creative process. His previously unknown letters to Stalin shed new light on Shostakovich's position within the Soviet artistic elite.

The essays delve into neglected aspects of Shostakovich's formidable legacy. Simon Morrison provides an in-depth examination of the choreography, costumes, décor, and music of his ballet The Bolt and Gerard McBurney of the musical references, parodies, and quotations in his operetta Moscow, Cheryomushki. David Fanning looks at Shostakovich's activities as a pedagogue and the mark they left on his students' and his own music. Peter J. Schmelz explores the composer's late-period adoption of twelve-tone writing in the context of the distinctively "Soviet" practice of serialism. Other contributors include Caryl Emerson, Christopher H. Gibbs, Levon Hakobian, Leonid Maximenkov, and Rosa Sadykhova. In a provocative concluding essay, Leon Botstein reflects on the different ways listeners approach the music of Shostakovich.

... Read more

Book Description

Cecilia Bartoli, still only in her thirties, has risen to the top of the opera world. Her astonishing mezzo coloratura has been called the finest since those of Marilyn Horne and Teresa Berganza, her recordings have sold in the millions, and her concerts are sold out in hours. What has made Bartoli such a sensation? Cecilia Bartoli: The Passion of Song provides a compelling insight into Bartoli's background and character. The book includes exclusive interview material with the singer herself; her mother, Silvana Bazzoni, Bartoli's one and only teacher; her manager; the top opera directors who have worked with her; and her record producer. It also examines the marketing of Bartoli as a young, attractive woman; the effect that this has had on Bartoli's reputation as a singer; and the myths and prejudices that now surround her. The book is complete with a detailed discography and performance guide to the first ten years of Bartoli's career, charting her development as a performer. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

An engaging portrait of opera diva Cecilia Bartoli
Cecilia Bartoli: The Passion of Song By Kim Chernin, with Renate Stendhal HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 1997. I have just finished reading the brief and engaging portrait of opera diva, Cecilia Bartoli, and want to offer a thumb's-up to fellow classical music enthusiasts. Author Kim Chernin, who is best known for her feminist texts and fiction, has focused her creative attention and literary skills on a new subject and genre with the publishing of this intelligent, informative profile, and readers can relish in the fruits of her efforts. The story of Bartoli's meteoric rise from promising young talent to "the hottest young singer in the world," according to an October 1994 review in Newsweek, unfolds gracefully and thoughtfully in a mere 142 pages, much like a satisfying New Yorker portrait, in the good old days when New Yorker articles were virtually book-length. Chernin's profile of the mezzo soprano, which draws on interviews and conversations with Ms. Bartoli, her mother and music coach Silvana Bazzoni, her manager Jack Mastroianni, and other colleagues, is accompanied by a performance guide and discography meticulously assembled by Chernin's collaborator, Renate Stendhal, the German-born writer and translator. In the last sjx years, Cecilia Bartoli, who is now thirty-one years old, has accrued remarkable credits. She was named "The 1992 Top Recording Artist" in both classical and popular categories by Time Magazine. In 1992 she was named "Singer of the Year" by Musical America. The following year, in 1993, she received the unique distinction of being named both Billboard's "Artist of the Year" and "Top Selling Classical Artist," having become the third highest paid opera singer in the world, following Pavarotti and Domingo. Her recording of Mozart's "Portraits" sold over 200,000 copies in the United States within the first six months of its release. At the 1994 Classical Musical Awards in London she was named "Female Classical Artist of the Year." And in 1995, she received the Grammy Award for Best Vocal Album and was also honored with the French Chevalier of Arts and Letters. The awards and accolades go on and on. Kim Chernin's interest in Cecilia Bartoli's career did not develop in response to the widely publicized acclaim being bestowed upon the mezzo soprano. It was her own first experience of Ms. Bartoli's performance in a Berkeley, California concert hall in 1991 that captivated the author, predating the global recognition of the gifted opera singer. "I thought I was hearing one of the greatest voices I ever heard," she explained in her first meeting with Bartoli in Houston after a1993 performance of The Barber of Seville at the Houston Grand Opera. Chernin was swept away and set out to intimately know, and capture in writing, the source of her inspiration--an opera singer, a young woman, a legend in the making. Chernin is shameless in her adulation, which she recounts in her book, and admirably so. She manages to steer clear of force-feeding inspired moments upon the reader; instead she recreates the bursts of sensation and perception she experiences as she delves into--and surrenders to--the rapture that music has the power to evoke. She succeeds, partially because she is neither overbearing nor indulgent, but refreshingly vulnerable and thoughtful in the personal insights she chooses to share. She also succeeds because she varies the narrative, allowing it to flow from intimate, first-hand accounts of the opera singer in concert and teaching a master class with her mother, to insightful comparisons with other opera legends such as Maria Callas, to wonderful anecdotal accounts of singers and their audiences, to the nitty gritty, biographical details of building an opera career (choosing a manager, competing for public performances, coping with stardom, striving for open-throated perfection). I am not a music expert; I am a member of the audience and a critical reader, who thoroughly enjoyed this well-written, original, first portrait of the still-to-be-known Cecilia Bartoli. By Shana Penn

A beautiful, spiritual, passionate book
This is a beautiful book, and very informative for a student of the art of singing. People have written here that the book is too self-indulgent, not objective enough - I don't think it is meant to be objective. This is a book written by two people very much in love and moved by the voice and the person, Cecilia Bartoli. I love that they are not afraid to mention and explore the spiritual side of singing, something too often missing in music reviews and commentary. I have learned so much from this book. If you are looking for an analytical review or Bartoli, this is not for you, but for a deeper, more personal account read this book!

Take a rain-check...
If what you're after is a self-indulgent opus created by the representative of an elitist club apparently bent on rediscovering their own sexuality by squatting over a mirror, then The Passion of Song is for you.

One cannot help but feel that, not unlike Cecilia Bartoli's first TV appearances on Fantastico in her native Italy, this book was completely out of her control, and that that show, together with The Passion of Song, could go a long way towards creating completely the wrong perception of the singer.

Apart from the second half of the book, which dispenses mildly interesting details about what are presumably key performances in Bartoli's career, this publication has precious little to offer. For heaven's sake, we all know Bartoli is a beautiful, sensuous young woman, with an extraordinary voice and astonishing talent (they're not the same thing) - that's why we bought The Passion of Song... to find out where she came from, and where she's going! The book didn't say...

I should have given The Passion of Song to someone I don't like on or shortly after page 18, where the author buys her Bartoli CDs and then takes them home in order NOT to listen to them, while she replays the singer's Berkeley concert over and over in her mind. It was at that point that I started suspecting that what I was in fact reading was not a biography, but an autobiography, during the course of which the author was turning herself into a sort of operatic Nelson Mandela, with a monkey the size of the original Fafner on her back.

I am an unadulterated Bartoli fan, and I'm very sad about having bought and (partly) read The Passion of Song. It's going to be a long old time before I can listen to the Bartoli voice again without feeling like having a bath afterwards... and I have this author to thank for it. Incidentally, I never did finish reading it - I was dreading the moment I turned a page, only to be told that Bartoli is a Leo, with Mars (who is Female, now you come to mention it) in the ascendant in Aquarius, or something equally, well, shall we settle for "startling?"

Dreadful
This book could have been much better had the writers been not so blinded by Ms. Bartoli's voice. There are a few serious flaws with this title, the first being that Ms. Bartoli was too young to be the subject of a biography. She simply hasn't sung enough yet, nor has she hit her prime. These ladies fawn so much on her voice that I couldn't continue reading. Please, I know it's beautiful but get passed it! It further offers no critical insight and remains quite superficial. I wonder what Ms. Bartoli's take on this project was? Although an ardant fan of the lady, those looking for an exploration into the world of opera and what Ms. Bartoli hopes to achieve, will be sadly disappointed.

Perfect Harmony
This book achieves a remarkable balance between the authors' enthusiasm for Ms. Bartoli and their obvious knowledge of opera and music. What distinguishes this book from others of this genre is its well-modulated emotional timbre and the willingness of its authors to express their emotional as well as intellectual analysis of Ms. Bartoli's work.

This book is a treasure for current Bartoli fans and could tempt even the most devoted heavy metal rocker to venture with her into the intense and passionate world that Chernin and Stendhal so deftly portray. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (3)

Fascinating Criticism, Howls of Laughter
I have read almost all of Shaw's published works which have come within my reach. I see the deterioration in the quality of his work as the aging process set in, and of his defense of such people as Djerjinski and Stalin. When he is profound, he is very profound and when he is off the mark he is way out in zoonieland. This book, fortunately, shows more of his great skill at criticism and assimilation of background data than his equally great skill at polemics. Remember, the compositionof the _Ring_ was an event of the past for him, and he was able to use historical source material. But what caught my attention was that the London newspapers of his own day ran letters trying to reconcile the "Brunhilde problem" in _Gotterdamerung_. All of this was a burning issue to the London intelligentsia. But, to the point: BUY this book because it is HILARIOUS, in the best sense of that word. This is Shaw, maybe not at his level best, but close to it. Learn while you laugh! The ideas propounded in this book have been burned into my memory because I have read them over and over. Read this book if you can appreciate subtle jokes.

The Perfect Wagner Critic
If we're going to have a voice worthy of critiquing the great master, it might as well be Shaw. For those who have not read any Shaw, he's a wickedly entertaining writer, though a bit high brow at times. This is a book for the Wagnerite and the layman alike, but expect to get a little insulted if you belong to the latter category. As to the philosophies in this little book, just about everyone who likes the Ring has their own unique opinion about its deep political/spiritual meanings, including Shaw. And although everything he writes seems obvious enough to him, I can't say I'm completely convinced by all his ideas. The book is certainly worth reading, however, just to hear the Shaw's elegant take on the musical masterpiece. (also, at least some of his ideas must be right) Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the book is its attack on Gotterdammerung, the beloved finale of the Ring. Shaw argues it is nearly devoid of underlying meaning and is a superficial conclusion to an otherwise philosophically sound work. As a final note, I appreciate the Mark Twain-like ascerbic criticism of society which seems incorrigibly imprinted in Shaw's style. This book is entertaining, and in certain places, profound. I give it four stars. (maybe 5 if he hadn't criticized Brahms!)

A shining example of Shaw's art of musical criticism
About twenty years ago, the BBC World Service introduced me to readings from G. B. Shaw's musical criticisms. The readings showed me that critique is as much an art as the subject of the critique. This pamphlet is a shining example of Shaw's art of criticism. Shaw presents the story, he gives some musical analysis, but most of all he presents the "Ring" in a philosophical and politcal slant that only Shaw could do. I suspect that the philosophy and politics are more Shaw's than Wagner's. Great for thosw who like Wagner and G.B.Shaw. Good for someone new to Der Ring des Nibelungen. ... Read more

Book Description

This is the powerful memoirs which an ailing Dmitri Shostakovich dictated to a young Russian musicologist, Solomon Volkov. When it was first published in 1979, it became an international bestseller. This 25th anniversary edition includes a new foreword by Vladimir Ashkenazy, as well as black-and-white photos. "Testimony changed the perception of Shostakovich's life and work dramatically, and influenced innumerable performances of his music." - New Grove Dictionary ... Read more

Reviews (13)

An indispensable document
Testimony is 276 pages of a "shackled genius" (as Solzhenitsyn described him) being truly and 100% candid for the first time in his adult life. Compiled through interviews with the much-maligned Solomon Volkov, Shostakovich requested that they be published "after my death, after my death" for good reason.
For the more casual reader, a fabulous read; gripping, powerful, shattering. And educational, too.
For the historian or musicologist, one sees through "Testimony" the society Shostakovich and his colleagues lived in, and composed in.
For the musician, the groundwork is laid for gaining insight to Shostakovich the person, and thus the basic aspects of the composer's music: bitterness, sarcasm, satire, quotation, and a very direct, pointed language.
To consider the controversy regarding this book's "authenticity," I direct your attention to Ho & Feofanov's "Shostakovich Reconsidered," which is a truly enlightening work, both about "Testimony" and Shostakovich in general. Elizabeth Wilson's book is remarkable, too.

no more controversy...
He WAS a yurodivye - a divine and crazy fox! & there ISNT a growing body of opinion that Testimony is a fraud or hoax! On the contrary, the rare film evidence of Shostakovich alive, to see him move and speak, and HIS MUSIC ITSELF easily vouch for the provenance of this harrowing book -- which is, nothing less than the epic inner life of a colossus, one of the great composer beings of any age. Testimony (AND the film based on it, by the way!) is as rich a self-revelation as you'll EVER encounter. End the controversies for yourself and READ IT. The self-drawn Man revealed-- a person of humor and fears, an excruciating man of magisterial gifts not plumbed even today, and a man of Humility. That last is important to say, because it stands and speaks winningly against the calumny which has been rehearsed like a curse over this book. Not only is Shostakovich's voice pure and penetrating, it resonates in tone and content with Vishnevskaya's intimate portrait of the man who wrote Katerina for her. And Ben Britten's personal notes are still another source of affirmation. But dont waste your time in shadows... The second movement of the First Piano Concerto is proof of this book. The Fourteenth Symphony is proof. The 15th Quartet, the ballet suites, the 3rd movement (Eternal Memory) of the 11th Symphony.... THIS is what you hear when you read Testimony. It's one of the enduring books of a lifetime, a compendium of sorrow read, in the end, only as joy. The lesson in humanity given by Shostakovich in the pages of this book HAS no price. five spiky stars times a hundred!

It's All There In The Music
There is no question that this book represents the authentic
thoughts of Dmitry Shostakovich (DDS), the greatest composer of the Twentieth Century. There is no question his music is the one the most profound artistic forms of dissidence against the evil regime of the USSR that was ever produced. It is all there in the music, and as DDS himself said "He who has ears, will hear!"
Some examples:

Symphony No. 4 - written in 1936, after the horrors of farm collectivization and the first 5-year plan ("2+2=5"). Opens with a shriek of pain and is very cacophanous.
Symphony No. 5 - written in 1937, the height of the Great Terror.
Ends what seems to be triumphant note (like a speech which ends with "Long Live Comrade Stalin and the Communist Party of the USSR!"), but if played correctly, sounds like someone is being beaten over the head and told to rejoice against his will.
Symphony No. 7 - The famous "Leningrad symphony" has a march tune which ignorant apparatchiks said represents the approach of the German Army, but since it is in a major key and is most definitely NOT a military march, really represents the sweetness and light that Communism promises at first, but which later ends up becoming a nightmare.
Symphony No. 8 - The third movement represents (in my opinion) an agitprop session beating propaganda into people's heads.
Symphony No. 9 - written at the end of the war, instead of being a grotesque paean of praise to Stalin as was expected, has a light, humorous opening saying the joke is on all those who thought the situation in the USSR would improve after the war.
Symphony no. 12 - a piece in "praise" of Lenin. Sounds "bad"
and uninspired, but that was DDS's intention in saying what he really thinks about Lenin.
Symphony No. 13 - the "Babi Yar" symphony, openly dissident work
condemning state and personal anti-Semitism.

In this book, DDS tells us what he was trying to say in these pieces and others. His courage along with his self-admitted weaknesses make him a compelling figure in history. Read this and see how a hero coped living in one of the most nightmarish regimes in history.

The greatest composer of the 20th century tells all.
This is one of those rare autobiographies that one can return to again and again, dive into at any place, and come away with absolute jewels of insight about music, modern Russian history, and glimpses of one of the transcendent geniuses of the 20th century. Shostakovich's stories about Glazunov, his mentor and literal savior, are worth the price of the book alone. There is so much more! Shostakovich created such great art over so long a time with the full knowledge it could result in torture and a bullet in the back of his neck at any moment. This represents a sustained act of courage we in overfed and peaceful America cannot understand. He was a yurodivye - a divine and crazy fox.

Fascinating
But look, to say this is a definitive autobiography is to stretch truth to limits that one should not go to. This book may have been expressing some of Shostakovich's sentiments, but in general, most studies will argue that the book is Volkov's and Shostakovich was the vehicle by which he expressed the views. This is not necessarily the case, and some studies will argue otherwise...but it's the baggage that this book carries with it and always will...until some definitive work is published.

Regardless, it's still a great read...fiction or no ... Read more

Amazon.com

Written immediately after the end of World War II, this morally complex Holocaust memoir is notable for its exact depiction of the grim details of life in Warsaw under the Nazi occupation. "Things you hardly noticed before took on enormous significance: a comfortable, solid armchair, the soothing look of a white-tiled stove," writes Wladyslaw Szpilman, a pianist for Polish radio when the Germans invaded. His mother's insistence on laying the table with clean linen for their midday meal, even as conditions for Jews worsened daily, makes palpable the Holocaust's abstract horror. Arbitrarily removed from the transport that took his family to certain death, Szpilman does not deny the "animal fear" that led him to seize this chance for escape, nor does he cheapen his emotions by belaboring them. Yet his cool prose contains plenty of biting rage, mostly buried in scathing asides (a Jewish doctor spared consignment to "the most wonderful of all gas chambers," for example). Szpilman found compassion in unlikely people, including a German officer who brought food and warm clothing to his hiding place during the war's last days. Extracts from the officer's wartime diary (added to this new edition), with their expressions of outrage at his fellow soldiers' behavior, remind us to be wary of general condemnation of any group. --Wendy Smith ... Read more

Reviews (67)

A classic!
Its been years since I have read such a lovely and complete book. A story albeit very poignant and gripping offers so much more. It takes the reader through the struggle and triumph of one man, Szpilman, who defied fate and destiny and survived during the most toughest of times in the ghetto in Poland and the darkest in human history - the holocaust ! His writing is simplisitic and without any of the unnecessary exploration of character or literary verbosity..he tells it as he saw it and as he lived it! It is far more engrossing than any murder mystery because you want to know how he beat the odds and about how he survived without any martyr-like tactics. Miraculous though it might be..it gives way to a subtle yet knowing feeling that there is still someone up there, who can change your destiny and bless you with luck just when you have given up hope.It is a spiritual inspiration and exploration. An ordinary man with an extraordinary tale to tell..god bless him and the german officer, who showed that you can still wield power by saving lives and not by merely taking them!!

The Pianist- An Inspirational story of survival
The Pianist is a true and inspirational story of one mans survival in Warsaw during the German Occupation in WWII. Wladyslaw Szpilman was a young pianist who performed pieces on polish radio before the Germans invaded his home in Warsaw. Although Szpilman's endures prolific hardships he manages to forgo the fate of so many others around him and ultimately live to tell about it. While the world around him is desecrating Szpilman, a young musician, relays on intuition and talent to get him through each day. Despite the loss of his entire family Szpilman conjures the courage to survive, which was perhaps the hardest thing to do in the Jewish Ghetto.
The degree of hope that Szpilman has is displayed in many instances. One remarkable moment in the memoir occurs when Wladyslaw is being supervised by the Germans while working in the cold. Being so small he is worried about not being able to perform the work properly which could consequent