Research Catalog

Title

Lost genius : the curious and tragic story of an extraordinary musical prodigy / Kevin Bazzana.

Author

Bazzana, Kevin.

Publication

New York : Carroll & Graf, 2007.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

383 pages : illustrations, music; 24 cm

Summary

"Born in Budapest in 1903, Ervin Nyiregyhazi was a remarkable piano prodigy: composing at three, performing publicly at six, he became the subject of the first book devoted to the scientific study of a single prodigy at thirteen." "Managed by his super-domineering mother, he was paraded before Europe's artistic and social elite and praised by many of the great musicians of the day. As a teenager, his idiosyncratic, intensely Romantic playing electrified audiences and astounded critics in Europe and America. But by twenty-five he had all but disappeared. Exploited, mismanaged, and infantilized, he was reduced to penury, occasionally sleeping on the subway, or a park bench." "In 1928, he settled in Los Angeles, where he worked briefly for United Artists, playing in some of the early "talkies." Psychologically, he remained a child, and found the ordinary demands of daily life onerous - he struggled even to dress himself. He drank heavily, was insatiable sexually (he married ten times), and candidly declared himself "addicted to Liszt, oral sex, and alcohol - not necessarily in that order."" "He was rediscovered playing in an old church in the 1970s, and enjoyed a sensational and controversial renaissance, but by the time he died, in 1987, he had slipped back into obscurity."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject

• Nyiregyházi, Ervin, 1903-1987
• Pianists > Biography

Note

• Previously published: Toronto : McClelland & Stewart, 2007.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 348-368) and index.

ISBN

• 9780786720880
• 0786720883

OCLC

• 123284853
• SCSB-5367746

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries