# Literature on the topic of - Impresarios through history



## Allez (Aug 8, 2009)

I'm interested-can anyone recomend me some books that deal with the topic of ( famous) impresarios through history or with the impresario job in general?



Thank You very much!!!!


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## LvB (Nov 21, 2008)

My first recommendation is a fairly general history, but enjoyable and informative overall: _The Music Merchants_ by Milton Goldin. The subtitle says it all: "the colorful chronicle of the impresarios, entrepreneurs and patrons who popularized serious music in America." A fun book.

There are many detailed looks at specific promoters, including _Oscar Hammerstein, 1,: The Life and Exploits of an Impresario_, by Vincent Sheean and (less significant musically, but just as interesting as a story) _The Bishop of Broadway: The Life and Work of David Belasco_, by Craig Timberlake.

There are also memoirs by several major impresarios, among them: _Memories of the Opera_ by Giulio Gatti-Casazza and _Impresario_, by Sol Hurok (who was for many years the person who defined 'impresario' to the general public).


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## Allez (Aug 8, 2009)

Oh, thank you so much, but i forgot to mention I'm interested in classical and romantic period (XVIII., XIX., century). Like, Mozart's time...1st. operatic generation and both impresarios. 

Nevertheless, thank Yeee!


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## LvB (Nov 21, 2008)

Hammerstein (the father of the musicals guy) overlaps with the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries; he was the first person to bring Strauss's _Salome_ to America-- and what a scandal _that_ created! 

The Goldin book I mentioned above covers a sizable time span. but is limited to the U.S. Going back further you will find fewer impresarios in the modern sense, though one who you would definitely find interesting would be Lorenzo Da Ponte, Mozart's librettist and promoter of opera on two continents. His memoirs have been published in English, though whether or not they're still in print I don't know.


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