Harvey Sachs
Encyclopedia
Harvey Sachs, is an American
-Canadian
-Swiss writer who has written many books on musical subjects.
His books include the standard biography
of and a book of essay
s on the Italian
conductor Arturo Toscanini
, plus an edited collection of Toscanini's letters.
Sachs has also written books on great musical virtuosi, a history of music in Italy during the fascist period, the definitive biography of Arthur Rubinstein
, and, most recently, a book on Beethoven's Ninth Symphony that is part cultural history, part musical description, and part personal memoir.
Sachs co-authored the memoir
s of Plácido Domingo
and Sir Georg Solti.
Harvey Sachs has written over 600 articles and other pieces for periodicals that include The New Yorker
, The New York Times
, the Wall Street Journal, and the Times [London] Literary Supplement; record companies that include Deutsche Grammophon
and RCA
/BMG
; and many radio
and television
programs. His most recent job for television has been co-authoring (with director Larry Weinstein) the Ideale-Audience production, "Toscanini in His Own Words", was shown by BBC, Arte, and other major networks worldwide in 2009. He has lectured at educational and cultural institutions all over North America and Europe.
Sachs is on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and during the 2011-12 season he is the Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence of the New York Philharmonic. He also edits the online Articles & Essays column for the OREL Foundation which is dedicated to promoting music by composers who were suppressed under the Nazi and related regimes. He lived in Europe for more than 30 years, mostly in Italy but also in England and Switzerland. From 2004 to 2006 he was Artistic Director of the Societa' del Quartetto di Milano, Italy's oldest extant and most prestigious concert society. He is the father of two children: Julian (b. 1984), currently involved in cultural projects in New York City, and Lyuba (b. 1998), a middle school student in Switzerland. Harvey Sachs currently lives in New York City. His website is www.harveysachs.com.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
-Swiss writer who has written many books on musical subjects.
His books include the standard biography
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
of and a book of essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
s on the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
conductor Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
, plus an edited collection of Toscanini's letters.
- Toscanini, Philadelphia & New York: J. B. LippincottJ. B. Lippincott CompanyJ. B. Lippincott & Co. was an American publishing house founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1836 by Joshua Ballinger Lippincott.Formed by descendants of the Religious Society of Friends, Joshua Lippincott's company began selling a line of Bibles, prayer books and other religious works before...
, 1978. - Reflections on Toscanini, New York: GroveGrove PressGrove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1951. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United States. The Atlantic Monthly Press, under the aegis of its...
Weidenfeld, 1991. - The Letters of Arturo Toscanini, ed., New York: KnopfAlfred A. KnopfAlfred A. Knopf, Inc. is a New York publishing house, founded by Alfred A. Knopf, Sr. in 1915. It was acquired by Random House in 1960 and is now part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group at Random House. The publishing house is known for its borzoi trademark , which was designed by co-founder...
, 2002.
Sachs has also written books on great musical virtuosi, a history of music in Italy during the fascist period, the definitive biography of Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein KBE was a Polish-American pianist. He received international acclaim for his performances of the music of a variety of composers...
, and, most recently, a book on Beethoven's Ninth Symphony that is part cultural history, part musical description, and part personal memoir.
- Virtuoso, London, New York: Thames & HudsonThames & HudsonThames & Hudson is a publisher of illustrated books on art, architecture, design, and visual culture. With its headquarters in London, England it has a sister company in New York and subsidiaries in Melbourne, Singapore and Hong Kong...
, 1982. - Music in Fascist Italy, New York: W. W. Norton, 1988.
- Rubinstein: A Life, New York: Grove PressGrove PressGrove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1951. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United States. The Atlantic Monthly Press, under the aegis of its...
, 1995. - The Ninth: Beethoven and the World in 1824, New York: Random HouseRandom HouseRandom House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
, 2010.
Sachs co-authored the memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
s of Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
and Sir Georg Solti.
- Domingo, Plácido, My First Forty Years, New York: Knopf, 1983.
- Solti, Georg, Memoirs, New York: Knopf, 1997.
Harvey Sachs has written over 600 articles and other pieces for periodicals that include The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, the Wall Street Journal, and the Times [London] Literary Supplement; record companies that include Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
and RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
/BMG
BMG
Bertelsmann Music Group, , was a division of Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Japan's Sony Corporation of America on October 1, 2008. It was established in 1987 to combine the music label activities of Bertelsmann...
; and many radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
programs. His most recent job for television has been co-authoring (with director Larry Weinstein) the Ideale-Audience production, "Toscanini in His Own Words", was shown by BBC, Arte, and other major networks worldwide in 2009. He has lectured at educational and cultural institutions all over North America and Europe.
Sachs is on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and during the 2011-12 season he is the Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence of the New York Philharmonic. He also edits the online Articles & Essays column for the OREL Foundation which is dedicated to promoting music by composers who were suppressed under the Nazi and related regimes. He lived in Europe for more than 30 years, mostly in Italy but also in England and Switzerland. From 2004 to 2006 he was Artistic Director of the Societa' del Quartetto di Milano, Italy's oldest extant and most prestigious concert society. He is the father of two children: Julian (b. 1984), currently involved in cultural projects in New York City, and Lyuba (b. 1998), a middle school student in Switzerland. Harvey Sachs currently lives in New York City. His website is www.harveysachs.com.