Published here for the first time is the third book of memoirs of Max Maretzek (1821-1897), a Moravian conductor and composer of dramatic music who became a leading impresario of Italian opera in New York.  Following his immigration to the U.S. in 1848, Maretzek managed a series of New York-based opera companies that performed in the city and on tour in the eastern United States, Mexico City, and Havana.   His lively memoirs recount his fortunes and trials in this competitive profession, and those of the singers he hired.  Shrewd and enterprising, with a knack for both acquiring talent and satisfying the appetites of his audiences, Maretzek was instrumental in establishing Italian opera in New York prior to the formation of the Metropolitan Opera; it was also his aim to make opera affordable to the working classes.   Maretzek’s two earlier books of memoirs were published during his lifetime: Crotchets and Quavers (1855) and its sequel, Sharps and Flats (1890).  This third book of memoirs, discovered in an attic on Staten Island in 1981, is presented here in an annotated and illustrated edition.

About the Author

Ruth Henderson is Music Librarian at the City College of New York.  She earned the M.Mus and A.M.L.S. degrees from the University of Michigan.  She has held office in and served on the boards of directors of the Music Library Association and the United States Branch of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres

DMM/SM 48 / 178p / 0-89990-135-2 / Paperback / 2006 / $32.00

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REVIEW

“an informatively introduced and fully annotated third installment of Maretzek’s memoirs that was left in manuscript at his death…”

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