Explore the vast range of titles available.

The American tours of five visiting virtuoso pianists — Leopold de Meyer (1845-7), Henri Herz (1846-50), Sigismund Thalberg (1856-8), Anton Rubinstein (1872-3), and Hans von Bülow (1875-6) — are examined in this book in regard to their management, itinerary, repertoire, performance style, and reception. The transformation of audiences from boisterous to reverent, the gradual acceptance of the piano recital, the establishment of a canon of masterworks for the piano, and the evolution of concert-giving into a highly organized commercial enterprise are documented. Appendices include the itineraries of these five pianists, totaling almost one thousand concerts in more than one hundred cities, and the repertoire of Rubinstein and Bülow.

In the course of the nineteenth century, German historiography increasingly freed itself from ancient models and established its independence. This had significant consequences for the evaluation of Thucydides, as can be seen in writers like Creuzer and Schlegel, who emphasize the differences between Thucydidean and modern historiography. However, they did not judge Thucydides negatively, but on the contrary virtually glorified him. This is the case for the “German Thucydideans” Niebuhr, Ranke, Roscher, and Meyer and for countless other authors including Gervinus, Droysen, Burckhardt, and Nietzsche. Thucydides was seen as inventor of the critical method, founder of scientific historiography, narrator of high artfulness, and greatest historian of all time.

McKnight reviews From Paris to Peoria: How European Piano Virtuosos Brought Classical Music to the American Heartland by R. Allen Lott.

Lott's examination of the dissemination of European piano music in the American heartland during the 19th century, which focuses on five European concert pianists - Leopold de Meyer, Henri Herz, Sigismond Thalberg, Anton Rubinstein, and Hans von Bülow - is reviewed (Oxford U Press, 2003).