Bruno Walter: A World Elsewhere - Hardcover

Ryding, Erik; Pechefsky, Ms. Rebecca

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300087136 ISBN 13: 9780300087130

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2001

Synopsis

Bruno Walter, one of the greatest conductors in the twentieth century, lived a fascinating life in difficult times. This engrossing book is the first full-length biography of Walter to appear in English.

Erik Ryding and Rebecca Pechefsky describe Walter's early years in Germany, where his successes in provincial theaters led to positions at the Berlin State Opera and the Vienna State Opera. They then tell of his decade-long term as Bavarian music director and his romantic involvement with the soprano Delia Reinhardt; his other positions in the musical community until he was ousted from Germany when the Nazi Party came to power in 1933; and his return to Vienna, where he was artistic director of the Opera House until he was again forced out by the Nazis. Finally they trace his career in the United States, where he led the New York Philharmonic and other orchestras and in his last years made numerous recordings with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble created especially for him. Ryding and Pechefsky are the first biographers to make extensive use of the thousands of unpublished letters in the Bruno Walter Papers, now in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. In addition to interviewing more than sixty people who knew Walter, they examined countless reviews to assess the popular and critical impact he had on his times. Authoritative and even-handed, this biography sheds new light on Walter, one of the great formative influences in musical interpretation.

About this title

About the Author

Erik Ryding is manager of catalog development at Sony Classical. Rebecca Pechefsky is a freelance harpsichordist.

Reviews

Conductor, composer, pianist, and writer Bruno Walter (1876-1962) studied with Mahler and championed his music and that of Wagner in both opera house and concert hall. Starting in Germany and making his name in Vienna, he left for America in 1939 to escape the Nazis. He was musical adviser to the New York Philharmonic and conducted the Metropolitan Opera's orchestra and many others. He dismissed atonal music as unappealing to the emotions and embraced anthroposophy, which shunned materialism and concentrated on ethics and the soul. With only the slightest guidance concerning his own view of a composition and its composer's intentions, he let the musicians he directed make music. His three books, many essays, and especially his many recordings keep his reputation fresh. Drawing on his collected papers and letters, numerous interviews, and reviews of his concerts, Ryding and Pechefsky trace Walter through Europe and America. They illuminate the honorable and ethical man that he was as well as his interpretive approaches as one of the best-loved conductors of the twentieth century. Alan Hirsch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Using information gathered from thousands of unpublished letters, concert reviews, interviews, and recordings, Ryding, manager of catalog development at Sony Classical, and freelance harpsichordist Pechefsky trace the life and career of Walter (1876-1962), one of the most influential conductors of the 20th century. The biography is deservedly full of praise for its talented subject, but the authors do not hide his faults or suppress the less favorable reviews or criticisms he received during a brilliant career. The book opens with Walter's early successes in turn-of-the-century Germany, where he was aided by Gustav Mahler (who also encouraged him to change his name from Schlesinger) and continues through his expulsion from Europe in the 1930s by the Nazis and his many triumphs in North America. The picture they paint is a vivid one, and the treatment is thorough and well documented. Highly recommended. Timothy J. McGee, Univ. of Toronto
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0300087136
• ISBN 13: 9780300087130
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 544