Bad Boy of Music [Paperback]

George Antheil (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 378 pages
• Publisher: Samuel French (March 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0573606048
• ISBN-13: 978-0573606045
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,474,219 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bad Boy of Music, August 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Bad Boy of Music (Paperback)

This book is thoroughly entertaining. From tips on how to control and unruly audience(a pistol works well) to patents on guidance systems for torpedoes this book covers the gamut. Oh yes, he does talk about music. Get a copy of Ballet Mecanique and you will understand Mr. Antheil, bright mind, brilliant technique, tongue firmly in cheek and willing to be audacious 24/7. His music is really quite intriguing. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra played Symphony no. 5 'Joyous' during the 2000-2001 season and introduced me to this under-appreciated, under-performed American composer.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Entertaining Life, July 14, 2005

By 

D. A Wend (Arlington Heights, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bad Boy of Music (Paperback)

My interest in reading George Antheil's autobiography came from admiration for his music and what he could relate about Paris in the 1920's. Mr. Antheil was a very good writer and wrote quite a lot during his life, particularly for Esquire magazine. He gives his writing a conversational style that flows nicely. I liked the fact that he began his book with stories of his brief career as a pianist and how hard it is to be a traveling musician. Must amusing is that he had a gun concealed in a silk holster when he perform - except once in Budapest when he placed it on the piano. His performances had been greeted with so many riots that he felt he needed the option to shot his way out of the concert hall.

Mr. Antheil's book is more the story of his life than a review of his musical life and compositions. He does discuss the writing of his operas, sometimes in rather tedious detail, but he rarely talks about his compositions with any detail. One interesting comment in the book concerns his Fourth Symphony which had been compared to the music of Dmitri Shostakovich. Mr. Antheil revealed that a good portion of the music came from his opera "Transatlantic" and so pre-dated all of the Shostakovich symphonies. Therefore, any similarities in style are coincidental.

We learn a lot from Mr. Antheil about his life and loves and money worries, and there are some interesting anecdotes about Stravinsky, Hemmingway and James Joyce but Mr. Antheil seldom focuses on his realtionships with other famous people. The chapter about Mr. Antheil and Hedy Lamarr inventing a radio controlled torpedo is very interesting but one is left wondering how they set about designing such a thing.

The book also provides an interesting look at Europe, particularly Germany, after the First World War. "Bad Boy of Music" is entertaining if sometimes a bit rambling at times but if you have an interest in Mr. Antheil's music this book is a must read.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gem by a forgotten Wonderkind, September 19, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Seattlee) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bad Boy of Music (Da Capo Press music reprint series) (Hardcover)

If you like the legendary "Autobiography of Edwark Bok" I think you will like this. It is a wonderful and witty book by a man who had a meteoric career and then was, strangely, forgotten. Extremely entertaining, very well written. One of the top 100 books I've ever read.