Kevin Sutton, he say:

>*auto* biography, i.e. a book written by the composer about himself? I am
>not sure that such a thing exists, and if so, it would be rare indeed.  I
>know of no composer who left an autobiography, although one might call some
>of the writings of such figures as Wagner and Berlioz autobiographical. ...

"That kind of thing" exists in sufficient quantity that Scarecrow Press
has issued a little hardcover bibliography of composers' autobiographical
writings.  I can pull down from where I sit Prokofiev, Honegger, and Arnold
Bax, all writing of their lives at book-length.  Berlioz Memoirs not
autobiographical? Ned Rorem's various diaries? Not many major composers
have done this, to be sure, but plenty of minor ones have, especially those
whose lives intersected arts other than music [Vladimir Dukelsky, Dmitri
Tiomkin, Paul Bowles].  Virgil Thomson even had the gall to title his
autobiography "Autobiography."

John Wiser
Jicotea Used Books & Music
[log in to unmask]