Ferruccio Busoni: A Musical Ishmael

The first full length biography of Busoni since Edward Dent's in 1933, this work contains a significant amount of material unavailable to Dent, and is not written under the restrictions imposed on Dent by Busoni's widow or the demands of others still living at the time. Drawing largely on Busoni's own letters to his parents, his wife, and his many friends, and much material published since his death on Busoni himself and on others with whom he came in contact. Couling offers a truer picture of the very complex genius, a Faustian figure torn between his allegiances to Germany and to Italy, between the demands (and attractions) of a life as a celebrity virtuoso pianist and those of a composer, between the family man and the restless seeker after solitude and contemplation.

Busoni was a forerunner in his ideas on what music was, is, and could be, which drew the fire of conservatives during his lifetime. His ideas on musical notation, the division of the scale, and opera were well ahead of his time, but in many cases are common practice today. Only recently has the veil of shadow been lifted from his work and ideas. Della Couling shines a deserving light on Busoni's life, ideas, and profound influence on contemporary musicology.