| Contents |
Acknowledgement / William Rudolf -- Foreword / James Levine -- Preface / Gunther Schuller -- Introduction / Michel Stern -- On conducting, conductors, and musical life. A conversation with Max Rudolph: an interview by Barrymore Lawrence Scherer -- A question of musical allegiance -- On contemporary American music -- The conductor's dilemma or the hazards of being judged -- A medley of thoughts on conductors and composers -- Musical musings from Maine -- Selected correspondence. To George Szell 1/24/37 -- To Helen Thompson 6/14/60 -- To George Szell 7/10/62 and 7/16/65 -- To Irving Kolodin 10/21/67 -- To music editor, New York Times 7/8/70 -- To Edgar J. Mack 6/19/72 -- To Harold Schonberg 5/3/78 -- To Bathia Churgin 9/28/92 -- To Stephen M. Kidd 3/18/94 -- On performance practice, research, and musicianship. Good taste in music -- Authenticity in musical performance -- Inner repeats in the da capo of classical minuets and scherzos -- Brahms's German Requiem: a report on a composer annotated score -- Translation yes, betrayal no -- Selected correspondence. To Harold Schonberg 2/14/71 -- To Maurice J.E. Brown 7/4/73 -- To the New York Times 6/8/74 -- To Emil Kahn 7/8/75 -- To Rudolph Serkin 7/21/76, 1/1/78 -- To Sergiu Luca 12/19/78 -- To Rudolph Serkin 12/31/78 -- To Shin Augustinus Kojima 2/15/80, 3/13/80, 4/12/80 -- To Sylvia Olden Lee 3/22/82 -- To Louis Lane 8/10/82 -- To Bernard Jacobsen 2/16/86 -- To Gary Graffman 7/24/86 -- To Rudolph Serkin 9/6/87 -- To David Zinman 10/14/87 -- To Jahja Ling 12/30/87 -- To Isaac Stern 5/23/88 -- To William Meredith 9/12/88, 10/9/88, 11/21/88 -- To Bathia Churgin 12/21/88 -- To Peter Hauschild 12/28/88 -- To William Meredith 1/19/89 -- To Hugh Macdonald 7/8/89 -- To Mark Russell Smith 12/3/89 -- To Judy Ann Voois 9/11/90 -- To Bathia Churgin 7/5/91 -- To Jacques Voois 10/10/91 -- On Mozart and Beethoven. Pamina's Aria, a question of tempo -- On the performance of Mozart's minuets -- Contemporary Mozart performance: a diverse landscape -- A broadcast of Le Nozze di Figaro -- Monday, October 29, 1787: the Don Giovanni premiere -- The metronome indications in Beethoven's symphonies -- A question of tempo in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony -- The arietta in Beethoven's Piano Sonata, op. 111 -- Beethoven's "An die Freude" and two mysterious footnotes -- Fidelio, a unique experience in opera -- Beethoven's "characteristic overture" revisited -- On or before the beat, a matter of fashion? -- Improvised thoughts on the 33rd variation in Beethoven's op. 120 -- Selected correspondence. To Brigid Brophy 9/15/64, 10/30/70, 4/28/72, 5/27/72 -- To Maynard Solomon 1/14/73 -- To Leo Mueller 2/11/74 -- To Claude Frank 7/22/76, 9/8/76 -- To William Newman 3/27/77, 4/9/77, 11/13/78 -- To Erich Leinsdorf 3/17/80 -- To Sandra Rosenblum 5/23/80, 5/25/80, 6/10/80, 7/11/80 -- To Lydia Artymiw 8/21/80 -- To Dietrich Berke 5/31/82 -- To Erich Leinsdorf 12/26/82 -- To Maynard Solomon 1/23/83 -- To William Newman 8/3/85 -- To Louis Lane 8/14/85 -- To the editor of 19th Century Music 12/8/85 -- To Malcolm Frager 1/25/86 -- To Clemens von Gleich 10/27/87 -- To Martin Staehelin 11/10/87 -- To Malcolm Frager 5/16/88 -- To William Newman 3/1/89, 3/2/89 -- To Jean-Pierre Marty 3/7/89 -- To Bathia Churgin 4/2/89, 4/16/89, 5/2/89, 6/16/89 -- To Gary Graffman 7/9/89 -- To Michael Stern 7/17/89 -- To Bathia Churgin 2/18/90 -- To Frederick Neumann 2/23/90 -- To William Meredith 3/7/90 -- To Bathia Churgin 1/2/91 -- To Frederick Neumann 1/27/91 -- To Malcolm Frager 2/5/91 -- To Jean-Pierre Marty 5/25/91, 6/28/91, 11/23/91, 1/2/92, 3/4/92 -- To Maynard Solomon 4/24/92, 7/17/92, 9/15/92 -- To Michael Stern 5/22/93 -- Musical studies. Storm and stress in music -- A stroke of genius -- Verdi vs. Verdi -- The function of the [alla breve] sign in classic German music as seen by a concerned performer -- A musical comedy of errors -- Selected correspondence. To Edward Downes 12/9/62 -- To Rudolf Serkin 12/24/71 -- To Maynard Solomon 7/27/92. |
| Abstract |
This volume offers a collection of articles written by the renowned conductor and scholar, Max Rudolf, together with a selection of his correspondence relating to material in the articles. The author's conducting career spanned seventy years, from his first performances in 1920-21 to his last in 1990. His life was devoted to performing, scholarship, and teaching. He conducted at the Metropolitan Opera from 1945 to 1958 and was Musical Director of the Cincinnati Symphony from 1958 to 1970, after which he combined guest conducting with teaching opera and conducting at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. The articles reflect a lifetime of thought on the art of conducting, musical style, and performance practice. The author, known as an interpreter of the classical repertoire, freely shared his vast knowledge of Mozart's and Beethoven's scores with colleagues and students. His conducting book, The Grammar of Conducting, has been the leading college text in the field for many years. As such it has extended his influence on many generations of conductors. Throughout his life, he corresponded voluminously with other musicians. The letters included in this volume were selected because they shed a warm, personal light on the formal published articles thus providing an opportunity to share the mind and thoughts of an outstanding human being. |
