Moriz Rosenthal in Word and Music: A Legacy of the Nineteenth Century

by Mark Mitchell (Editor), Allan Evans (Editor)

This volume collects the engaging and richly informative writings of pianist Moriz Rosenthal (1862–1946). A student of Franz Liszt and of Chopin's pupil Karl Mikuli, and colleague and friend of Brahms and Johann Strauss II, Rosenthal is best remembered as one of the great performers of late-Romantic piano music and as an editor and teacher. Rosenthal's words offer a glimpse at this great age of piano performance and music history, which linked the 19th century with the modern era. World-renowned musicologist and pianist Charles Rosen—perhaps Rosenthal's most acclaimed student—has written the preface. The book also contains a detailed discography and a professionally mastered CD with recordings by Rosenthal.

Genres: Music

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Boris · Rating 4 out of 5]

If one were to ask 100 scholars of the piano who the ten greatest pianists of all time were, Rosenthal would probably make all one hundred's list.

This is not a biography but rather a collection of materials, from correspondence, to a fragmentary autobiography, to concert reviews, magazine articles and published and unpublished reminiscences that in montage-like fashion reconstruct the life and career of Rosenthal.

There were many fascinating and surprising facts that alone justified reading the book. It's a thrill to read about Rosenthal's first-hand encounters with immortals like Anton Rubinstein, Brahms, Liszt and Busoni. Of course Rosenthal is one of these immortals himself.

This is for piano aficionados only.