Friend, favorite pupil, and secretary of Franz Liszt, Arthur Friedheim was the composer's closest associate during the 1880s. In this profound and scholarly study, Friedheim examines Liszt's life as a man, pianist, composer, conductor, teacher, and writer. His vibrant, richly textured prose recaptures a golden age of music that ended with the outbreak of World War I.
Friedheim's memoir evokes an era populated by giants of the keyboard and podium as well as scholars, writers, soldiers, and statesmen. A noted concert pianist and conductor in his own right, the author was the contemporary of Paderewski, Rachmaninoff, Kreisler, Rubinstein, and Caruso. His reminiscences revisit the opulent social and musical circles of Europe and North America during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Modern readers will find this volume a rich source of sound musical scholarship on the forerunners of twentieth-century music.