Béla Bartók's Last Years: The Naked Face Of Genius
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: First Ed.
Condition remarks:
Condition: Fair. Jacket: Chipped, torn with minor damage. Page Condition: Yellowed, tanning, some foxing. Markings: none. Binding condition: Binding intact. Usual shelf-wear.
Few accounts of artistic genius carry the intimacy and emotional weight of Agatha Fassett's memoir of her time alongside one of the twentieth century's most formidable composers. Béla Bartók's Last Years: The Naked Face of Genius chronicles the Hungarian master's final chapter — his years of exile in America during World War II — through the eyes of a close friend and confidante who witnessed his quiet dignity, creative struggle, and physical decline firsthand. Fassett presents a portrait of a man fiercely uncompromising in his art, navigating poverty and illness in a foreign land while continuing to produce some of his most profound and enduring work. Written with warmth, precision, and an insider's authenticity, this account illuminates the private Bartók — his wit, his silences, his unyielding standards — in a way that no formal biography could. Fassett's narrative style is intimate yet unsentimental, grounding the reader in lived moments rather than historical abstraction, allowing Bartók's extraordinary character to emerge organically. For those drawn to the intersection of music, biography, and human resilience, this book asks a quietly devastating question: what does it cost a genius to remain true to his vision until the very end?
Author: Agatha Fassett
Format: Hardback
Published: 1958, Victor Gollancz Ltd
Genre: Biography
Edition: First Ed.
Condition remarks:
Condition: Fair. Jacket: Chipped, torn with minor damage. Page Condition: Yellowed, tanning, some foxing. Markings: none. Binding condition: Binding intact. Usual shelf-wear.
Few accounts of artistic genius carry the intimacy and emotional weight of Agatha Fassett's memoir of her time alongside one of the twentieth century's most formidable composers. Béla Bartók's Last Years: The Naked Face of Genius chronicles the Hungarian master's final chapter — his years of exile in America during World War II — through the eyes of a close friend and confidante who witnessed his quiet dignity, creative struggle, and physical decline firsthand. Fassett presents a portrait of a man fiercely uncompromising in his art, navigating poverty and illness in a foreign land while continuing to produce some of his most profound and enduring work. Written with warmth, precision, and an insider's authenticity, this account illuminates the private Bartók — his wit, his silences, his unyielding standards — in a way that no formal biography could. Fassett's narrative style is intimate yet unsentimental, grounding the reader in lived moments rather than historical abstraction, allowing Bartók's extraordinary character to emerge organically. For those drawn to the intersection of music, biography, and human resilience, this book asks a quietly devastating question: what does it cost a genius to remain true to his vision until the very end?