Music in 1853: The Biography of a Year

[Mark Thomas]

This isn't a recording, but a book, and I can't recommend it highly enough. In Music in 1853: The Biography of a Year Hugh Macdonald charts the musical events of a pivotal year which was of life-changing importance to a surprisingly large number of musical greats: Liszt, Wagner, Berlioz, Brahms and the Schumanns. He records the detail of their professional and private lives in a highly readable style, which is clearly based upon an expert knowledge of his subjects and their music, and explains the beginnings of the great stylistic rift which was to split the musical world in the next forty years. He also puts them in their wider social context illustrating, for example, how the newly-opened railways made contacts much easier and careers potentially more rewarding. Many unsungs, including Joachim, Spohr and Raff, also have sizeable walk-on parts in a narrative which ranges from Hamburg to Paris, London to Weimar. I can't think of a book on music which I've enjoyed so much. Indeed, my only criticism of it is that the type is rather small for me but as it is only 224 pages long, perhaps I should be grateful for that too. At the cost in the UK at least of a little over one full price CD it's thoroughly recommendable.

[obermann]

Thanks for the tip Mark - there have been quite a few books over the last few years entitled after the year under analysis so I suppose it makes complete sense to center one on a fascinating year in musical history. Over the last year I have been reading Alan Walker's three volume biography of Liszt, where many, many 'unsungs' have walk on parts. I cannot help feeling that Liszt (a composer who has gone up in my estimation tremendously due to this biography) for better or worse really did influence many unsungs throughout his time on Weimar. When you read about the various conflicts and clashes of ego between the two camps it is wonderfully entertaining and eyeopening.

[Jonathan]

Likewise, many thanks Mark, another one to add to the wishlist!

Obermann, have you seen the (sort of) 4th volume of Alan Walker's Liszt books - The Death of Franz Liszt?  It is an utterly sad but really interesting little book which is a translation of Lina Schmallhausen's diary from the last 2 weeks of Liszt's life and shows how appalingly badly he was treated at that time.  Here is a link:

www.amazon.co.uk/The-Death-Franz-Liszt-Schmalhausen/dp/0801440769/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1346521243&sr=8-16

I'm sure you can find it cheaper elsewhere though!

[eschiss1]

I think of some of the better-known musical events of 1853 and I'm intrigued already.