Bekker, Paul. (1882–1937) & Pollak, Egon. (1879–1933) [Perle, George. (1915–2009)]
[Music criticism] Kritische Zeitbilder - INSCRIBED WITH CHRISTMAS WISHES
Collection of essays (in German) by the eminent German critic, exiled from 1933. Berlin and Leipzig: Schuster & Loeffler, 1921. 336 pp. With inscription by Egon Pollak, "Dem Kritischsten aller Kritiker zur Erinnerung an das kritische Jahr 1923! Fröhliche Weihnachten wünscht Egon Pollak." (To the most critical of all critics in remembrance of the critical year 1923! Egon Pollak wishes Merry Christmas.) Original boards and cloth spine. 8 x 5.5 inches (20.3 x 13.5 cm). Browned and very brittle. Upper board worn; spine chipped. Otherwise in good condition. From the collection of American composer George Perle.Bekker was probably the leading music critic of his era in Germany. Championing new music and being the child of a Jewish father, he was a chief target of the right-wing press in Weimar Germany and in immediate danger when the Nazis accessed power. Egon Pollak was a Czech conductor, music director of the opera house in Hamburg from 1917 to 1931, after which he took the helm at the Chicago Civic Opera in its then new theater. The company shut down just a few months later as a consequence of the Great Depression. Pollak returned to Europe. The "most critical of critics" to whom the copy is inscribed (a journalist in Hamburg?) remains unidentified. The year 1923 was "critical" in Germany because of the French occupation of some western parts of the country and the subsequent hyperinflation. (22024)
Book Classical Music