Table of Contents

Volume 1. 1. Childhood; 2. A student in Berlin; 3. Apprenticeship in Prague; 4. Hamburg: 'Himmelhoch jauchzend, zum Tode betrübt'; 5. Shipwreck; 6. Cologne: conversion and marriage; 7. Cologne: galley years; 8. Berlin beckons; 9. Wiesbaden: the world opens up; 10. The call comes; 11. Klemperer's Kroll opens; 12. The Kroll gets under way; 13. The Kroll in midstream; 14. The end of the Kroll; 15. The Kroll: an epilogue; 16. On Devil's Island; 17. Crossing the Red Sea; Notes; Appendix: the Berlin opera houses during the Weimar Republic; Biographical glossary; Discography Michael H. Gray; Bibliography; Notes. Volume 2. 1. The turbulent summer of 1933; 2. 'A cloudburst of non-sequiturs'; 3. Bread and work; 4. In the wrong place; 5. On the road to self-destruction; 6. 'Ajax fell through Ajax's hand'; 7. Europe remains Europe; 8. Behind the curtain; 9. Caught in the crossfire; 10. A sea of troubles; 11. The high ground regained; 12. Ordeal by fire; 13. Exit Legge; 14. The shadows lengthen; 15. The final years; Notes; Discography; Klemperer on film; Bibliography; Biographical glossary.

Promotional Information

Peter Heyworth's two-volume biography of the life of Otto Klemperer, available as a set.

Reviews

'This is a proper book, immaculately researched and lucidly written, a warts-and-all biography that none the less abides by the rule that, whatever a great man's foibles, he deserves, in the final analysis, to be judged by the strongest links in his chain. In Klemperer's case, some links, some chain.' Richard Osborne, Gramophone

'… superb and meticulously researched … It is a powerful and sobering tale, told with lucidity and force.' The Sunday Times

'Mr Heyworth tells Klemperer's heroic and tragic story with a fitting sense of drama and full human understanding and sympathy. It is difficult to see how any musical biography could be done better, and impossible to see how this particular one could.' Bernard Levin, The Observer

'… this fine and detailed study leaves us in no doubt as to Klemperer's heroic stature.' The Guardian

'He could not have hoped for a more devoted and percipient chronicler than Peter Heyworth. Always alive to the broader political and cultural context, Heyworth's biography is a landmark contribution to the story of musical life in our century. It would be hard to imagine a fairer assessment of the conductor; here we have the triumphs and disasters, the idiosyncrasies and even some of the elusive greatness of Klemperer's conducting.' Patrick Carnegy, The Times Literary Supplement

'… one of the finest accounts of a musician ever written. Heyworth's prose is unaffected and precise, his scholarship impeccable, his judgements fair and humane.' Michael Kennedy, The Sunday Telegraph

'This is a proper book, immaculately researched and lucidly written, a warts-and-all biography that none the less abides by the rule that, whatever a great man's foibles, he deserves, in the final analysis, to be judged by the strongest links in his chain. In Klemperer's case, some links, some chain.' Richard Osborne, Gramophone
'... superb and meticulously researched ... It is a powerful and sobering tale, told with lucidity and force.' The Sunday Times
'Mr Heyworth tells Klemperer's heroic and tragic story with a fitting sense of drama and full human understanding and sympathy. It is difficult to see how any musical biography could be done better, and impossible to see how this particular one could.' Bernard Levin, The Observer
'... this fine and detailed study leaves us in no doubt as to Klemperer's heroic stature.' The Guardian
'He could not have hoped for a more devoted and percipient chronicler than Peter Heyworth. Always alive to the broader political and cultural context, Heyworth's biography is a landmark contribution to the story of musical life in our century. It would be hard to imagine a fairer assessment of the conductor; here we have the triumphs and disasters, the idiosyncrasies and even some of the elusive greatness of Klemperer's conducting.' Patrick Carnegy, The Times Literary Supplement
'... one of the finest accounts of a musician ever written. Heyworth's prose is unaffected and precise, his scholarship impeccable, his judgements fair and humane.' Michael Kennedy, The Sunday Telegraph