Roger Hecht recommended a few fiction works involving musical issues.  I
would like to add Thomas Mann's Dr Faustus, a fascinating exploration of
the links between music, madness, the rise of Nazism, and a whole lot of
other things.  It's a long and difficult read (I have to admit I only read
the first half in my 'teens, and haven't yet found the time to start again
and finish it), but what I read and could understand at the time was
unforgettable.  I don't know how well it works in translation, however.

More generally, the music criticism of Neville Cardus: this man heard
almost all the great musicians of the first three quarters of the century,
and was able to evoke the nature of their performances with a particular
vividness.  Also Speaking of Pianists by Abram Chasins, a man who knew the
playing of the piano titans of the 1st half of the century from the inside
(excepting Busoni), but who had, judging from this book, a broader and
deeper range of musical knowledge and interest than most 'golden age' piano
specialists seem to have, and could write about this musical world with
particular insight and critical penetration.

Felix Delbruck
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