Corresponding with Carlos : a biography of Carlos Kleiber / Charles Barber.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barber, Charles.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Kleiber, Carlos, 1930-2004.

Kleiber, Carlos.

Conductors (Music)--Biography.

Conductors (Music).

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xix, 365 pages, 18 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 2011.

Summary:

Carlos Kleiber (1930-2004) was the greatest conductor of his generation. His reputation is legendary, and yet astonishingly-during five decades on the podium-he conducted only 89 concerts and some 600 opera performance, and produced 12 recordings. How did someone who worked so little compared to his peers achieve so much?

Between his relatively small output and well-known aversion to publicity, many came to regard Kleiber as reclusive and remote, bordering on unapproachable. But in 1989 a conducting student at Stanford University wrote him a letter, and an unusual thing occurred: the world-renowned conductor replied. And so began a 15-year correspondence, study, and friendship by mail.

Drawing heavily on this decade-and-a-half exchange, Corresponding with Carlos is the first English-language biography of Kleiber. Based on their long and detailed correspondence, Charles Barber offers unique insights into how Kleiber worked. This examination of one friend by another considers, among other matters, Kleiber's singular aesthetic, his playful and often erudite sense of humor, his reputation for perfectionism, his much-studied baton technique, and the famous concert and opera performances he conducted.

Comic and compelling, Corresponding with Carlos explores the great conductor's musical lineage and the contemporary contexts in which he worked. It repudiates the myths that inevitably surround his genius and reflects on Kleiber's contribution to modern musical performance. This biography is ideal for musicians, scholars, and anyone with a special love of the great classical music tradition. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Family 1

Parallax 6

Origins 8

The First Kleiber Debut 10

Wozzeck 11

South America 12

KLB Kleiber 12

Against the Swastika 15

Safe in the South 16

After the War 20

2 Career 27

Fables 38

How It Began 40

The First Walkout 47

Moving Ahead 58

Moving Abroad 70

At Bayreuth 72

Donkeys in Japan 74

Fledermaus 76

Two Emperors, No Kingdom 80

Paying a Price 83

Night and Perfect Love 85

Hand across the Sea 96

A Very Bad Year 109

Surviving Fame 112

The Seventh 113

Apogee 122

Carlos the Critic 129

Carlos the Teacher 134

The Long Goodbye 139

3 Correspondence, 1989-2003 181

It Begins 183.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references, discography, filmography, and index.

ISBN:

9780810881433

0810881438

9780810881440

0810881446

OCLC:

723530485