Classical Music in America

An opinionated, stimulating account of how classical music failed to establish fruitful roots in America, Classical Music in America chronicles a cultural attitude that has produced many fine artists and striking momentsbut no institutional or intellectual support to sustain them (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). An admirable, scholarly volume (Times Literary Supplement), this formidable book ... shows how American classical music became a performance culture, an ersatz-European showplace for celebrity virtuosos, rather than a native-born genre (The New Yorker). As a comprehensive, convincing analysis of the contemporary dilemma of reconciling European heritage with American vision and a riveting portrait of the century and a half of events and personalities which brought it about, Mr Horowitzs account would be hard to beat (The Economist). Anyone seeking to understand why American classical music has come to so dead an endand wondering how it might yet escape a final descent into cultural irrelevanceshould read Classical Music in America with close attention (Commentary).