Walking Freely on Firm Ground

From 1935 until his death in 1951, Artur Schnabel wrote over 400 letters to Mary Virginia Foreman. Like a diary, they trace Schnabel’s career after he left Germany, the catastrophe of World War II and its bitter consequences, as well as his thoughts on art, politics, and the academic research of his time. The topics addressed strike today’s readers as surprisingly relevant: the survival of the arts in an environment determined almost exclusively by economic interests; the goals of education; the question of how the individual can define their place in a globalized world; the relationship between the individual and the masses in a democratic society; and how to remain unique and human in a world that favors predictable, streamlined personalities.

Artur Schnabel, born in Austria in 1882, was one of the most important pianists of his time and famous for his interpretations of Beethoven, Schubert, and Mozart. More recently, he has been rediscovered as an innovative composer of both chamber and orchestral music. The publication of his collected writings and letters reveals him to be a profound thinker, a remarkable political commentator, and a sharp-witted critic of mass culture.

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