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Biography & Autobiography Composers & Musicians

Eagle Minds

Selected Correspondence of Istvan Anhalt and George Rochberg (1961-2005)

edited by Alan M. Gillmor

Publisher
Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Initial publish date
Jul 2009
Category
Composers & Musicians, Letters, Personal Memoirs
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781554586899
    Publish Date
    Jul 2009
    List Price
    $48.95
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781554584734
    Publish Date
    Jul 2024
    List Price
    $41.99
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781554580187
    Publish Date
    Dec 2007
    List Price
    $89.99

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Description

Eagle Minds—a selection from the correspondence between the Canadian composer and scholar Istvan Anhalt and his American counterpart George Rochberg—is a splendid chronicle and a penetrating analysis of the swerving socio-cultural movements of a volatile half-century as observed by two highly gifted individuals.

Beginning in 1961 and spanning forty-four years, their conversation embraces not only music but other forms of contemporary art, as well as politics, philosophy, religion, and mysticism. The letters chronicle the deepening of their friendship over the years, and the openness, honesty, and genuine warmth between them provide the reader with an intimate look at their personalities. A fascinating intellectual tension emerges between the two men as they record their individual responses to musical modernism, to changing political and social realities, and to their Jewish heritage and sense of place, one as a son of Ukrainian immigrants to the United States, the other as a refugee from war-torn Hungary.

Allowing us a privileged glimpse into the private lives and thoughts of these fascinating men, Eagle Minds is a valuable tool for scholars interested in North American composers in the late twentieth century and essential reading for anyone interested in the cultural and social history of that era.

About the author

Editor Alan M. Gillmor taught at McGill University and Carleton University. He retired in 2003 as professor emeritus. His scholarly publications have appeared in professional journals both in North America and Europe, and his monograph on the French composer Erik Satie (1988, 1990) was shortlisted in 1990 for the Ottawa-Carleton Book Award for non-fiction.

Alan M. Gillmor's profile page