Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

For many reasons Hans Pfitzner was and remains controversial. This stems partly from his difficult personality, and partly from the nationalistic context in which are set his cultural beliefs. His music has also tended to be coloured by such labels as conservative and romantic. Yet he actually has a wide reputation for his `musical legend' Palestrina, and there is much in his output which sets him as the true heir of Wagner and Schumann. This is the first study in English of Pfitzner's output. It sets his music in the context of his cultural opinions, which, though conceived as reflections on music, have acquired a more political status to which the history of Pfitzner's times has contributed. It offers a revaluation of his music, partly in order to reveal the innate value of his stage works, chamber music, and songs, and also to illustrate the historical importance of his ideas, which reflect a German conservative tradition which was taken over and nearly destroyed by the Third Reich.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Williamson's book marks a good start in remedying the lack of studies in English on its enigmatic subject. An avowed anti-Semite with many Jewish friends, Pfitzner had an ambiguous political position relative to the Third Reich. The composer also wrote polemical essays; his music partook of both 19th- and 20th-century practices. The eight chapters of this book wend circuitously through Pfitzner's life and music: biography to 1916 (Chapter 1), intellectual and aesthetic views (Chapter 2), selected music to about 1920 by genre (Chapters 3-6), and music, biography, and politics from 1917 on (Chapters 7-8). The system works, however, and the final two chapters give as fascinating and objective a view as is likely to be within reach. Williamson examines only a few works from a total corpus of more than 60 pieces, but with good attention to detail and well-chosen musical examples. There is a worklist and bibliography (mostly German references), but unfortunately no photographs. Recommended to all undergraduate and graduate libraries for both its social and musical content. C. Adams; Franklin and Marshall College

Author notes provided by Syndetics

John Williamson, Senior Fellow since 1981, was on leave as Chief Economist for South Asia at the World Bank during 1996-99; Economics professor at Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio de Janeiro (1978-81), University of Warwick (1970-77), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1967, 1980), University of York (1963-68), and Princeton University (1962-63); Adviser to the International Monetary Fund (1972-74); & Economic Consultant to the UK Treasury (1968-70). He is author or editor of numerous studies on international monetary & developing world debt issues, including The Crawling Band as an Exchange Rate Regime (1996), What Role for Currency Boards? (1995), Estimating Equilibrium Exchange Rates (1994), The Political Economy of Policy Reform (1993), Latin American Adjustment: How Much Has Happened? (1990) & Targets & Indicators: A Blueprint for the International Coordination of Economic Policy with Marcus Miller (1987). (Bowker Author Biography)