Ferruccio Busoni
"Ferruccio Busoni: "A Musical Ishmael" is the first full-length biography of Busoni since Edward Dent's in 1933. It contains a significant amount of material unavailable to Dent and is not written under the restrictions imposed by Busoni's widow and the demands of others at the time. Drawing largely on Busoni's own letters to his parents, wife and many friends, as well as other material now available in manuscript or published form, Couling offers a picture of this complex genius, a Faustian figure torn between his allegiances to Germany and Italy and the pressure (and attractions) of life as a celebrity virtuoso pianist, composer, family man, and restless seeker after solitude and contemplation." "Busoni's radical ideas about music was, is, and could be drew fire from his more conservative contemporaries. His thoughts on musical notation, opera, and the division of the scale were well ahead of his time, but, in many cases, are common currency today. Busoni went into voluntary exile in Switzerland during World War I, unwilling to take sides, and only recently has the veil been gradually lifted from his work and theories. Ferruccio Busoni: "A Musical Ishmael" shines a revealing light on Busoni's life, concepts, and profound influence on contemporary musical aesthetics and practice."--Jacket.
