Marc Blitzstein

This comprehensive book about the life and music of the sadly neglected composer Marc Blitzstein is, as well, an invaluable guide to the workings of American arts during the composer's lifetime. --Edward Albee, playwright Marc Blitzstein was a friend, from the moment we first met in 1946 until he died eighteen years later. Now he lives again in Howard Pollack's pages. As a composer he was one of a kind, with his whistleable tunes encased in wise formality, and his bodily presence, so happy and so sad. --Ned Rorem, composer / author A timely and invaluable study of a composer we need to know more about. I marvel at Howard Pollack's capacity--as with his biographies of Copland and Gershwin--to digest and synthesize a wealth of information, copiously gathered. --Joseph Horowitz, author of Classical Music in America: A History A strong biography. Playbill A brilliantly researched new biography. --Jewish Daily Forward Beautifully written, drawing on new interviews with friends and family of the composer, and making extensive use of new archival and secondary sources, Marc Blitzstein presents the most complete biography of this important American artist. --Newreads Now, Pollack has made Blitzstein happen, just as he succeeded in his comprehensive studies of Gershwin and Copland. --Jewish Herald Voice [An] exceptionally researched, detailed, and important study of this fascinating, complex, and still relatively unknown composer who well deserves a book of this quality. --Notes In this comprehensive, sensitive, and beautifully written biography, Howard Pollack scrutinizes every part of Blitzstein's complex personal as well as public life, sustaining his well-deserved reputation as our foremost biographer of American classical composers. --Judith Tick, Matthews Distinguished University Professor, College of Arts, Media, and Design, Northeastern University Pollack has already told us everything we need to know about Copland and Gershwin. Now he scrutinises Blitzstein in the context of his entire cultural and political scene in fascinating and impeccably researched detail. --Peter Dickinson, Emeritus Professor of Keele and London Universities A thorough biography. --DC Theatre Scene Now, Pollack has made Blitzstein happen, just as he succeeded in his comprehensive studies of Gershwin and Copland . --Jewish Herald Voice 26