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

About this book

As a pianist Rosenthal was unparalleled: his legato touch came from Chopin through his pupil Mikuli; his awareness of composition was developed by Liszt; his Brahms interpretation shaped by the composer himself; and his ingeniously crafted piano-paraphrases memorialized his friendship with Johann Strauss II. Yet Rosenthals pianistic abilities were married to a rare intellectual eruditiona knowledge of literature history philology science philosophy and society that few pianists have ever matched let alone surpassed. In these striking pieces we see every facet of Rosenthal: memoirist social critic pedagogue and virtuoso. He could write with gravity and pathos yet his famous and sometimes devastating wit is legendary. This volume combines Rosenthals writings with critical assessments of the pianist by such contemporaries as Eduard Hanslick Edward Prime-Stevenson and Hugo Wolf. It is rounded out with an illuminating preface by Charles Rosen perhaps Rosenthals most renowned pupil; a discography and concertography; and a CD featuring never-before-released Rosenthal recordings.