Search results for ""author james a. grymes""

" . . . a rare kind of biography and autobiography: a clear and elegant exposition of fact, as well as a humane portrait of a great piano virtuoso, composer, teacher, and democratic soul, as told to and seen through the eyes of one close to him." —Mark MitchellErnst von Dohnányi (1877–1960) was one of the most highly respected musicians of his time. The young Dohnányi enjoyed an international prestige that brought him into contact with such 19th-century masters as Johannes Brahms and Eugène d'Albert. He is remembered for his technique and interpretive skills as a pianist and conductor, as well as for the masterpieces he composed for piano, chamber ensembles, and orchestra. As a teacher and administrator, Dohnányi was responsible for the training of an entire generation of musicians in Hungary, and for helping to shape the country's musical culture. After World War II, his career foundered when he was falsely accused of being a Nazi sympathizer. In 1953, at the age of 76, Dohnányi returned to international prominence with a triumphant "re-debut" at Carnegie Hall. Ernst von Dohnányi: A Song of Life, written from a firsthand perspective by Dohnányi's widow, is the first full English-language biography of the artist.

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Although Ernst von Dohnányi (1877-1960) was considered by many of his contemporaries the greatest musician of his generation, his considerable musical legacy was largely ignored by the musical community in the latter half of the 20th Century. This was primarily the result of a regrettable trend in the arts that valued avant-garde compositional styles at the expense of the works of composers who remained faithful to the musical language of 19th Century Romanticism. Recent years, however, have brought revised assessments of Dohnányi, which disprove many of the misgivings and criticisms expressed by earlier scholars. Edited by a leading contemporary scholar, this work represents an essential next step in restoring Dohnányi to his rightful place in the annals of great musicians. Many of the essays collected here have been carefully selected from the finest papers presented at the 2002 International Ernst von Dohnányi Festival at The Florida State University and are in this volume available publicly for the first time, while others are reprints of writings that have made significant advances in the field. Of particular importance is Viktor Papp's essential 1927 biography of Dohnányi, available here in English for the first time.

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