The Virtuoso Liszt

Dana Gooley is Assistant Professor of Music at the Case Western Reserve University, Ohio. He has presented numerous papers on virtuosity and on issues of gender and music, and has published in the journals 19th Century Music and the Journal of the American Liszt Society. Dana Gooley is also an accomplished pianist who plays in jazz clubs and concerts halls around the world.

• Acknowledgements; Note on periodical citations; Introduction: A virtuoso in context; 1. Liszt, Thalberg, and the Parisian publics; 2. Warhorses: virtuosity, violence, and the cult of Napoleon; 3. The cosmopolitan as nationalist; 4. Liszt and the German nation, 1840–43; 5. Anatomy of 'Lisztomania': the Berlin episode; Bibliography; Works cited.

'CUP is to be warmly applauded for its stalwart and enterprising series New Perspectives in Music History and Criticism … this is an historically and contextually rich exposition, elucidating aspects we think we already understand. Gooley's approach, while rigorous and erudite, makes few demands on the reader as regards technical know-how. The author's priorities are those of the thinking pianist, culturally inquisitive non-musician and alert listener.' Classical Music