Part 1 Acknowledgments Part 2 List of Photographs Part 3 Introduction Chapter 4 1 Early Childhood Chapter 5 2 Vienna Debut, Touring, First Compositions Chapter 6 3 Graz, Trieste, Frohnleiten, Vienna: November 1879 to November 1886 Chapter 7 4 Leipzig: December 1886 to September 1888 Chapter 8 5 Helsinki, Marriage, and Moscow: September 1888 to August 1891 Chapter 9 6 Boston and New York: August 1891 to April 1894 Chapter 10 7 Berlin: April 1894 to 1902 Chapter 11 8 Berlin, Return to the United States, Touring, Piano Concerto: 1902 to 1906 Chapter 12 9 Vienna, Die Brautwahl: 1906 to 1913 Chapter 13 10 Bologna, Berlin, United States: 1913 to 1915 Chapter 14 11 Zurich: 1915 to 1920 Chapter 15 12 Return to Berlin, Doktor Faust, Final Years: 1920 to 1924 Part 16 Selected List of Compositions Part 17 Bibliography Part 18 Index Part 19 About the Author
Della Couling serves as an advisor to various opera houses around the world on repetoire and singers.
This is the first full-length biography of Ferruccio Busoni since
1933. It contains a significant amount of material previously
unavailable and is not written under the restrictions imposed by
Busoni's widow. Drawing largely on Busoni's letters to his parents,
wife, and friends, this biography offers a full portrait of the
pianist, composer, family man, and seeker after solitude and
contemplation.
*Reference and Research Book News*
...this is the first full-length biography of Busoni since Edward
Dent's Ferruccio Busoni (1933), and it marks a major step in the
reconsideration of this intriguing 20th-century figure. As pianist,
and as defender of the new, Busoni deserves undying respect, a
judgment well-supported by Couling's biography. Highly
recommended.
*CHOICE*
Written in a highly accessible style, this first full-length
biography of Busoni in English since Edward Dent's Ferruccio Busoni
(1933) blends thorough scholarship with a steady stream of
observations about Busoni's character, motivations, talents, and
daily life as a composer and pianist.
*SymphonyNOW*
Amazingly to his many admirers, this is only the second full-length
biography of Busoni to appear in more than 70 years. The first, an
excellent but very partial account by EM Dent, was written within a
decade of Busoni's death at 58, and took shape under the watchful
and protective eye of the composer's widow and a number of other
members of Busoni's circle. Couling's portrait, nine years in the
making, was subject to no such restrictions and inhibitions, and it
shows....This is a fascinating, highly readable and wide-ranging
book, adding an extra dimension (indeed several) to our
understanding of Busoni's music.
*Piano*
The book was badly needed...Della Couling is an able linguist, and
that is an essential qualification; she also combines a knowledge
of music with a broad range of further cultural interests. As a
biographer she is thorough and thoughtful, and (to reassure readers
for whom opera is their prime, or exclusive, interest) is
particularly good on Busoni's late development as an opera
composer. From the allusive (and elusive) Die Brautwahl, through
the delightful Turandot and Arlecchino, to Doktor Faust ('the
climax of Busoni's art'), her book provides sound information and
commentary together with that element the reference books can't
provide—the full context.
*Opera Now*
...Della Couling's new biography does make amusing reading...
*Music & Letters*
Ms Couling is particularly perceptive about human problems and
child-parent relationships....her biography convincingly brings to
life an exceptional human being-warts-and-all.
*Musical Times*
Musical works are well and engagingly described...Ferruccio Busoni:
A Musical Ishmael turns out to be a good read on an engrossing
topic...
*Teaching History: A Journal of Methods*
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