Chopin: A Self-Portrait - Paperback

by David Whitwell (Author)

David Whitwell has drawn together a valuable collection of Chopin's own intimate revelations on his personality, his character and his health. Here too the reader will find Chopin's personal insights on his own musical studies, his creative process and his resulting compositions. Chopin has also left fascinating first-hand observations on other pianists, composers and personalities whom he knew. Added to this are the fascinating personal descriptions of Chopin by Franz Liszt and George Sand.

Author Biography

David Whitwell studied conducting at the Akademie für Musik, Vienna, with Hans Swarowsky, and with Eugene Ormandy. He has conducted resident ensembles in Austria, Switzerland, Israel, Japan, Wales, England, Germany, The Netherlands, Bolivia, Peru, Korea, Taiwan, Russia and the United States, among them the Philadelphia Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, the Czech Radio Orchestras of Brno and Bratislava, and The National Youth Orchestra of Israel. David Whitwell was named as one of six men who have determined the course of American bands during the second half of the twentieth century, in the definitive history, The Twentieth Century American Wind Band (Meredith Music), and he is one of nine men described by Paula A. Crider in The Conductor's Legacy (Chicago: GIA, 2010) as 'the legendary conductors' of the twentieth century.