Lost Genius: The Curious and Tragic Story of an Extraordinary Musical Prodigy
Born in 1903, pianist Ervin Nyiregyházi was the subject of the first book devoted to the scientific study of a single prodigy. By twenty-five he had all but disappeared. Mismanaged, exploited, and unfashionably romantic, his career floundered in adulthood. He drank heavily, married ten times, and was reduced to penury, sometimes living on the subway. He settled in Los Angeles where he performed sporadically, counting many of Holly-wood's elite among his friends, including Gloria Swanson, a likely lover. Rediscovered in the 1970s, he enjoyed a sensational and controversial renaissance, before slipping back into obscurity.
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Lost Genius: The Curious and Tragic Story of an Extraordinary Musical Prodigy
Born in 1903, pianist Ervin Nyiregyházi was the subject of the first book devoted to the scientific study of a single prodigy. By twenty-five he had all but disappeared. Mismanaged, exploited, and unfashionably romantic, his career floundered in adulthood. He drank heavily, married ten times, and was reduced to penury, sometimes living on the subway. He settled in Los Angeles where he performed sporadically, counting many of Holly-wood's elite among his friends, including Gloria Swanson, a likely lover. Rediscovered in the 1970s, he enjoyed a sensational and controversial renaissance, before slipping back into obscurity.
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Lost Genius: The Curious and Tragic Story of an Extraordinary Musical Prodigy
Born in 1903, pianist Ervin Nyiregyházi was the subject of the first book devoted to the scientific study of a single prodigy. By twenty-five he had all but disappeared. Mismanaged, exploited, and unfashionably romantic, his career floundered in adulthood. He drank heavily, married ten times, and was reduced to penury, sometimes living on the subway. He settled in Los Angeles where he performed sporadically, counting many of Holly-wood's elite among his friends, including Gloria Swanson, a likely lover. Rediscovered in the 1970s, he enjoyed a sensational and controversial renaissance, before slipping back into obscurity.
Kevin Bazzana is the author of Wondrous Strange, a biography of Glenn Gould, winner of the Toronto Book Award and an ASCAP Deems Taylor Award. He lives in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia.
Table of Contents
Prelude: The Strange Case of Ervin Nyiregyhazi 1 Musical Wonder Child, 1903-1920 15 A Young Liszt of the Pianoforte, 1920-1928 81 A Soldier of Fortune, 1928-1972 147 The Pianist Who Came In from the Cold, 1972-1980 247 A Great Antithesis, 1980-1987 311 Postlude: The Nyiregyhazi Legacy 337 Notes on Sources and Acknowledgements 347 Index 369