| Edition |
First Carroll and Graf edition. |
| Description |
383 pages : illustrations, music ; 24 cm |
| Note |
Previously published: Toronto : McClelland & Stewart, 2007. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 348-368) and index. |
| Contents |
Prelude : the strange case of Ervin Nyiregyházi -- Musical wonder child, 1903-1920 -- A young Liszt of the pianoforte, 1920-1928 -- A soldier of fortune, 1928-1972 -- The pianist who came in from the cold, 1972-1980 -- A great antithesis, 1980-1987 -- Postlude : the Nyiregyházi legacy. |
| Summary |
"Born in Budapest in 1903, Ervin Nyiregyhazi was a remarkable piano prodigy: composing at three, performing publicly at six, he became the subject of the first book devoted to the scientific study of a single prodigy at thirteen." "Managed by his super-domineering mother, he was paraded before Europe's artistic and social elite and praised by many of the great musicians of the day. As a teenager, his idiosyncratic, intensely Romantic playing electrified audiences and astounded critics in Europe and America. But by twenty-five he had all but disappeared. Exploited, mismanaged, and infantilized, he was reduced to penury, occasionally sleeping on the subway, or a park bench." "In 1928, he settled in Los Angeles, where he worked briefly for United Artists, playing in some of the early "talkies." Psychologically, he remained a child, and found the ordinary demands of daily life onerous - he struggled even to dress himself. He drank heavily, was insatiable sexually (he married ten times), and candidly declared himself "addicted to Liszt, oral sex, and alcohol - not necessarily in that order."" "He was rediscovered playing in an old church in the 1970s, and enjoyed a sensational and controversial renaissance, but by the time he died, in 1987, he had slipped back into obscurity."--Jacket. |
| Subject |
Nyiregyházi, Ervin, 1903-1987.
|
|
Nyiregyházi, Ervin, 1903-1987. (OCoLC)fst00012504
|
|
Pianists -- Biography.
|
|
Pianists. (OCoLC)fst01063351
|
| Genre/Form |
Biography. (OCoLC)fst01423686
|
| ISBN |
9780786720880 |
|
0786720883 |
|
