From Paris to Peoria: How European Piano Virtuoso Brought Classical Music to the American Heartland - Book Review

American Music Teacher, Dec, 2003 by Ivan Frazier

From Paris to Peoria: How European Piano Virtuoso Brought Classical Music to the American Heartland, by R. Allen Lott. Oxford University Press (198 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016), 2003. 384 pp. $39.95.

This well-written volume holds special fascination for readers interested in the piano, those who play it with panache, virtuosity and notoriety, and the cultural history of nineteenth-century America.

R. Allen Lott, relying on archival sources, contemporary media accounts and periodicals, as well as recent historical research, tells in vivid detail the experiences of five of Europe's most important piano virtuosos as they braved precarious ocean voyages and rail and river excursions to bring their art to the New World. From 1845 to 1876 Leopold de Meyer, Henri Herz, Sigismund Thalberg, Anton Rubinstein and Hans von Bulow dazzled audiences; made and broke alliances with tour managers, other performers, newspapers and piano manufacturers; and considerably enriched their purses along the way.

The author delineates several important themes that directly impact concert and recital going in our day. For one, there is the transition from the almost "P. T. Barnum" approach to programming, publicity and audience manners in the earlier mid-century events to Thalberg's matinees, to the respectful, quiet attentiveness of audiences at solo recitals of Bulow at the end of the period. Another is the decline of improvisation in favor of museum-like performances of piano masterworks. The business and entrepreneurial aspects are fascinatingly explored, including the interplay between the virtuosos and piano manufacturers, Erard in Europe and Scherr, Steinway and Chickering in America, where endorsements and exclusive contracts for providing performance instruments presage procedures of our time.

Lott also provides an appealing array of illustrations, including contemporary newspaper cartoons, maps, sample programs, posters, sheet music covers and, in the case of de Meyer, Herz and Thalberg, musical examples in score of original compositions and transcriptions. Another welcome feature is what I am calling "windows" set off against the main narrative in contrasting print. These explore briefly in greater detail some phenomenon mentioned in the text. Some of these include: Spontaneous Applause, The Publicity Game, Audiences--The Fashionable and Rubinstein's Inaccuracies, among many others.

Although scholarly and meticulously documented, the writing is engaging and easy to follow, never pretentious or overly formal. Lott has provided a valuable resource for those desiring to know more about the cultural history of the United States and read some individual biographies about these five colorful and successful virtuoso pianists.