A composer and lyricist of enormous innovation and influence, Marc
Blitzstein remains one of the most versatile and fascinating figures in
the history of American music, his creative output running the gamut
from films scores and Broadway operas to art songs and chamber pieces. A
prominent leftist and social maverick, Blitzstein constantly pushed the
boundaries of convention in mid-century America in both his work and
his life.
Award-winning music historian Howard Pollack's new
biography covers Blitzstein's life in full, from his childhood in
Philadelphia to his violent death in Martinique at age 58. The author
describes how this student of contemporary luminaries Nadia Boulanger
and Arnold Schoenberg became swept up in the stormy political atmosphere
of the 1920s and 1930s and throughout his career walked the fine line
between his formal training and his populist principles. Indeed,
Blitzstein developed a unique sound that drew on everything
contemporary, from the high modernism of Stravinsky and Hindemith to
jazz and Broadway show tunes. Pollack captures the astonishing breadth
of Blitzstein's work--from provocative operas like The Cradle Will Rock, No for an Answer,and Regina, to the wartime Airborne Symphony
composed during his years in service, to lesser known ballets, film
scores, and stage works. A courageous artist, Blitzstein translated
Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera during the
heyday of McCarthyism and the red scare, andturned it into an off-Broadway sensation, its "Mack the Knife" becoming one of the era's biggest hits.
Beautifully
written, drawing on new interviews with friends and family of the
composer, and making extensive use of new archival and secondary
sources, Marc Blitzstein presents the most complete biography of this important American artist.
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