BAX: A COMPOSER AND HIS TIMES

"When the original edition of this book first appeared, more than twenty years ago, Bax (who had died in 1953) was out of fashion and little known. Now there are hundreds of recordings, and most of his huge output is available on CD, often in many versions. Furthermore, the papers of his mistress, the pianist Harriet Cohen, are now available for research and are explored here for the first time." "Arnold Bax was an astonishing figure. The son of a well-off Hampstead family, devoted to cricket and accepted as one of the leading British composers between the wars, he was knighted and became Master of the King's Musick. Behind this facade, however, was a restless nomad, whose travels, love affairs and commitment to the country and people of Ireland coloured a passionate life: his close personal association with the Irish rebels of 1916 and lifelong commitment to Ireland is reflected in a remarkable body of romantic music." "Building on the wider knowledge of Bax's music (in large part encouraged by Lewis Foreman's earlier work), and the recent availability of the Harriet Cohen archive, which includes another fifteen hundred letters from Bax to Harriet and his family, this new and fully updated book represents a lifetime's research. Material from the earlier edition, notable for having many of Bax's friends and contemporaries as sources, most of whom have since died, also appears here, confirming this volume as the essential guide to Bax and his musical milieu."--Jacket.