Autobiographies/Diaries/Letters by famous Composers

[Solitary Wanderer]

I'm enjoying Richard Wagner's autobiography My Life so much I wish to investigate more of these. I'm also keen to read Letters and Diaries of famous composers and their families. I've ordered Cosima Wagners two volume set of diaries.

I'm less interested in biographies as I prefer to get the story straight from the horses mouth.

Any recommendations would be much appreciated

[MishaK]

Haven't gotten around to reading it yet, but Berlioz's Mémoires should be on your list. He always makes for a fascinating read.

[Mark]

I'm less interested in biographies as I prefer to get the story straight from the horses mouth.

Something else you and I share in common!

If I may be allowed to get off the subject of composers, but stay with the subject of art in general (and literature specifically), I very much enjoyed the letters of Vita Sackville West to Virginia Woolf. So sad to read how 'the love that dare not speak its name' played out between two women so obviously meant for one another.

[Lethevich]

A second strong recommendation for Berlioz's Mémoires. I cannot imagine a more entertaining autobiography.

[max]

I'm enjoying Richard Wagner's autobiography My Life so much I wish to investigate more of these. I'm also keen to read Letters and Diaries of famous composers and their families. I've ordered Cosima Wagners two volume set of diaries.

I'm less interested in biographies as I prefer to get the story straight from the horses mouth.

Any recommendations would be much appreciated

...I wouldn't mind knowing what you think of that autobiography in your readings so far. There aren't many - even on this site - who would even be interested in perusing such a work whose length is not unlike that of his operas.

You may also want to examine autobiographies contained in letters. The correspondence between Brahms and Clara Schumann may be very interesting. Maybe even Wagner is mentioned a few times.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

I don't own this one but it's proved itself a quality read whenever I visit Borders: Prokofiev diaries 1907=1914.

[val]

Isuggest two very interesting books:

"Tchaikovski, au miroir de ces écrits", with letters written to Tchaikovski to Mme von Meck, to his brother and to other persons, and gives a very good perspective of his personality and the serious problems he had to deal with all his life. The book is in French and presented by one of the greatest world specialists in Russian music, Andre Lischke.

"Erik Satie - correspondance presque complète", with presentation of Ornella Volta. Very curious, sometimes fun, with a lot of information regarding other musicians, in special Debussy.

[MishaK]

I don't own this one but it's proved itself a quality read whenever I visit Borders: Prokofiev diaries 1907=1914.

There is an extensive review of this in a recent edition of the NY Review. Unfortunately the whole article is no longer avilable for free online.

[Cato]

There are the books by Stravinsky and Robert Craft, although some people think the books are too finely crafted to be valid.

His lectures on music are collected in a book called "The Poetics of Music" which might be of interest.

[Solitary Wanderer]

Haven't gotten around to reading it yet, but Berlioz's Mémoires should be on your list. He always makes for a fascinating read.

A second strong recommendation for Berlioz's Mémoires. I cannot imagine a more entertaining autobiography.

Yep, this sounds promising. Its on my wishlist.

Something else you and I share in common!

If I may be allowed to get off the subject of composers, but stay with the subject of art in general (and literature specifically), I very much enjoyed the letters of Vita Sackville West to Virginia Woolf. So sad to read how 'the love that dare not speak its name' played out between two women so obviously meant for one another.

Mark, we are indeed cyber-brothers

The Vita Sackville letters definately interest me thanks.

...I wouldn't mind knowing what you think of that autobiography in your readings so far. There aren't many - even on this site - who would even be interested in perusing such a work whose length is not unlike that of his operas.

You may also want to examine autobiographies contained in letters. The correspondence between Brahms and Clara Schumann may be very interesting. Maybe even Wagner is mentioned a few times.

The Wagner autobiography isn't that long at 739 pages. I'm finding it to be a very rewarding experience.

The Brahams/Schumann letters will be worth exploring too.

I don't own this one but it's proved itself a quality read whenever I visit Borders: Prokofiev diaries 1907=1914.

Ah, yes Prokofiev's diaries are a must thanks

Isuggest two very interesting books:

"Tchaikovski, au miroir de ces écrits", with letters written to Tchaikovski to Mme von Meck, to his brother and to other persons, and gives a very good perspective of his personality and the serious problems he had to deal with all his life. The book is in French and presented by one of the greatest world specialists in Russian music, Andre Lischke.

"Erik Satie - correspondance presque complète", with presentation of Ornella Volta. Very curious, sometimes fun, with a lot of information regarding other musicians, in special Debussy.

The Tchaikovski/von Meck letters should be interesting.

Satie must have had an interesting life too?

Thanks

There are the books by Stravinsky and Robert Craft, although some people think the books are too finely crafted to be valid.

His lectures on music are collected in a book called "The Poetics of Music" which might be of interest.

Stravinsky lectures could be worth a look too.

Thanks everyone

[Kullervo]

Spied this on the last library trip:



I may check it out soon, but I don't know if I like Mahler or his wife enough to plow through 600+ pages of this.

[Cato]

Alma Schindler (Mahler-Werfel) is worth about a trilogy of novels!  Her list of lusts included, in her early years, Alexander Zemlinsky, Mahler, and then later Oskar Kokoschka, architect Walter Gropius, and novelist Franz Werfel.

For other lovers and more information:

http://www.alma-mahler.at/engl/almas_life/zemlinsky.html

See the intriguing comment about Zemlinsky's "magic fingers" !!!

[Solitary Wanderer]

The Alma book could be very interesting depending on how forthcoming she is

Shes looks quite attractive

[Joe Barron]

Well, if you like Wagner, you could do worse than Cosima Wagner's diaries. Mozart's letters are available in a Dover thrift edition, and there's also a great book called Beethoven:Letters, Journals and Conversations, which contains the master's letters (including the Heiligenstadt Testament), plus excerpts from his conversation books and contemporary accounts from other writers.

[Papy Oli]

I browsed through this one ages ago, seemed like an interesting one.

[Grazioso]

Contemporary American composer Ned Rorem is probably at least as well known for his frank series of diaries as for his music. I haven't read them myself so can't comment on their worth.

[The new erato]

I've read, and liked, Nielsen's "My Life".

[Mark G. Simon]

His lectures on music are collected in a book called "The Poetics of Music" which might be of interest.

The Poetics of Music is the text of Stravinsky's Norton Lectures, delivered at Harvard in 1939-40. He had it ghost written, but the opinions expressed are his alone. There's a lot of Wagner bashing.

[Joe Barron]

The Poetics of Music is the text of Stravinsky's Norton Lectures, delivered at Harvard in 1939-40. He had it ghost written, but the opinions expressed are his alone. There's a lot of Wagner bashing.

Stravinsky also had an "autobiography" ghost-written in the early 30s.

There's a lot of primary material on Ives now, too. His letters have just been published, and then there are his Memos, the closest he ever came to writing an autobiography, and Charles Ives Remembered, an oral history of interviews with folks who knew him.

Nieslen's book, My Childhood, is a short, delightful read.

[The new erato]

Nielsen's book, My Childhood, is a short, delightful read.

Yes, I mixed up the title in my previous post.