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Virtuosi: A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists
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Virtuosi: A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists Hardcover - 2000

by Mark Mitchell


From the publisher

Virtuosi
A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists
Mark Mitchell

A bravura performance!

"Vigorous, opinionated, and always entertaining, here is a personal essayist of great charm and sincerity. Mitchell's erudition--his collection of odd and illuminating bits of knowledge--is always a delight and adds a sauce piquanteto the whole dish!" --Edmund White

"...a literary work of real lan, vibrancy, and grace--the very qualities that in his view define the virtuoso. [Mr. Mitchell explores] the traditional linking of musical and sexual virtuosity, the ethical implications of the original instruments' movement, the near deification of Mozart in Anglo-Saxon culture, and, in a particularly witty section, the relationship of the virtuoso to his stool. Throughout, Mr. Mitchell's prose is humorous, intimate, and unapologeticaly polemical." --Cynthia Ozick

The artistic merit of performers with superior technique has long been almost ipso facto denied. At last, Mark Mitchell launches a counterattack. In essays crackling with pianistic lore, Mitchell takes on topics such as encores, prodigies, competitions, virtuosi in film and literature, and the erotics of musical performance. Liszt, Horowitz, and Argerich share these pages with the eccentric Pachmann, Ervin Nyiregyh ("the skid-row pianist"), and Liberace. The illustrations include rare portraits of long-forgotten girl prodigies, historic concert programs, and stills from a lost 1927 film on Beethoven. Punctuating this celebration of personal voice are vignettes, running from the beginnings of the author's obsession with the piano to the particularities of concert-going in Italy (where he now lives).

Mark Mitchell's piano studies led to a friendship with Vladimir Horowitz and other pianistic luminaries. With David Leavitt he co-authored Italian Pleasures and co-edited Pages Passed from Hand to Hand. He also edited The Penguin Book of International Gay Writing.

First line

Something there is that does not love a vistuoso, and the word itself has often been applied dismissively, as an accusation of superficiality.

Details

  • Title Virtuosi: A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists
  • Author Mark Mitchell
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition 1st Printing
  • Pages 224
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Indiana University Press, Bloomington
  • Date 2000-11-22
  • ISBN 9780253337573 / 0253337577
  • Weight 0.9 lbs (0.41 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.56 in (21.59 x 13.97 x 1.42 cm)
  • Library of Congress subjects Pianists, Piano - Performance
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 00038897
  • Dewey Decimal Code 786.219

Media reviews

Citations

  • Booklist, 01/01/2001, Page 898
  • Choice, 05/01/2001, Page 1638
  • Library Journal, 12/20/2000, Page 0
  • Publishers Weekly, 11/27/2000, Page 70

About the author

Mark Mitchell is the author of Virtuosi and Vladimir de Pachmann both published by Indiana University Press. He is the recipient of a John Simon guggenheim Fellowship for 2006-2007.

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Virtuosi: A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists
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Virtuosi: A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists

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Virtuosi: A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists

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Virtuosi: A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists
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Virtuosi: A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists

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Bloomington: Indiana Univ Pr, 2000. First printing. Hardcover. Fine/Near Fine. 2000, First printing, 193 pp. Hardcover, black cloth, 8vo. Fine copy in a Near Fine dust jacket. A tight, clean and unmarked book. DJ shows absolutely minor signs of handling and use.
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Virtuosi: A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists
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Virtuosi; A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists

Virtuosi; A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists

by Mitchell, Mark

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Bloomington: Indiana University Press [0-253-33757-7] 2000, 1st printing. (Hardcover) 193pp. Near fine in near fine dust jacket. Notes, photographs, illustrations, bibliography, index. "In illuminating essays rich with anecdote, Mark Mitchell explores the many domains of the virtuoso, taking on such subjects as music competitions, the phenomenon of the child prodigy, the virtuoso in literature and film, encores, seating habits, and the erotics of musical performance". Book about Performance--Piano. (Music, Concert Music, Cultural Studies, Essays, Music, Pianists, Piano).
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Virtuosi: A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists
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Virtuosi: A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists

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Hardback. New. Including essays, the author peers into the many domains of virtuoso lore such as the odd practice habits of the greats, child prodigies, encores, seating arrangements, portrayals of virtuosos in literature and on film, and the erotics of musical performance.
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Virtuosi: A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists
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Virtuosi: A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists

by Mark Mitchell

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Virtuosi: A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists
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Virtuosi: A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists

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Virtuosi: A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists

Virtuosi: A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists

by Mark Mitchell

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VIRTUOSI A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists

VIRTUOSI A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists

by Mark Mitchell

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