From Paris to Peoria: How European Piano Virtuoso Brought Classical Music to the American Heartland.(Book Review)(Brief Article)

From Paris to Peoria: How European Piano Virtuoso Brought Classical Music to the American Heartland, by R. Allen Lott. Oxford University Press (198 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016), 2003. 384 pp. $39.95.

This well-written volume holds special fascination for readers interested in the piano, those who play it with panache, virtuosity and notoriety, and the cultural history of nineteenth-century America.

R. Allen Lott, relying on archival sources, contemporary media accounts and periodicals, as well as recent historical research, tells in vivid detail the experiences of five of Europe's most important piano virtuosos as they braved precarious ocean voyages and rail and river excursions to bring their art to the New World. From 1845 to 1876 Leopold de Meyer, Henri Herz, Sigismund Thalberg, Anton Rubinstein and Hans von Bulow dazzled audiences; made and broke alliances with tour managers, other performers, newspapers and piano manufacturers; and considerably enriched their purses along the way.

The author delineates several important themes that directly impact concert and recital going in our day. For one, there is the transition from the almost "P. T. Barnum" approach to programming, publicity and audience manners in the earlier mid-century events to Thalberg's matinees, to the respectful, quiet attentiveness of audiences at solo recitals of Bulow at the ...