Vladimir de Pachmann : a piano virtuoso's life and art
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Vladimir de Pachmann : a piano virtuoso's life and art
Indiana University Press, c2002
Available at 1 libraries
Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Discography: p. [195]-199
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Piano virtuoso Vladimir de Pachmann (1848-1933) is remembered today more often than not for the comic and sometimes bizarre on-stage behaviour that earned him the epithet "Chopinzee." Yet during his years as a performer, Pachmann was regarded as one of the four or five greatest pianists in the world, and as the outstanding exponent of Chopin. Mark Mitchell's richly detailed biography-the first to be published-reconciles the personality with the playing by offering a thorough account of the pianist's life as well as a complete reappraisal of his musicianship. Beginning with Pachmann's childhood in Odessa, Mitchell follows the process by which the youngest of 13 children evolved into one of the finest-and most colorful-artists in the history of the piano, one who was able to fill London's Albert Hall for a recital. Particular emphasis is laid on the two principal relationships of Pachmann's life: with the pianist Marguerite Okey, to whom he was married for a decade, and with Francesco Pallottelli, the waiter-turned-impresario under whose influence he eventually settled in Fascist-era Italy.
Tracing an arc from Beethoven - an acquaintance of Pachmann's father - to Pierre Boulez - a pupil of Pachmann's son - Mitchell's biography urges a reassessment of a musician whose life and legacy have been too long in eclipse. Also of interest Virtuosi: A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists Mark Mitchell 0-253-33757-7 HB GBP18.95
Table of Contents
- Introduction A Citizen of the World
- One Becoming de Pachmann
- Two Building the Myth
- Three M. and Mme. de Pachmann
- Four "My Wife, Madame Labori"
- Five Colleagues
- Six The Demon
- Seven "The face of one's friend"
- Eight The Black Hand
- Nine "The sky is changed!"
- Ten Opium Ghosts
- Eleven The Exhaustless Genius
- Twelve The Vanishing Years
- Epilogue The Others
- Discography by Allan Evans
- List of Works Played: 1882 (Vienna)-1929 (Vienna)
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