Joseph Wechsberg

An earlier edition of ISBN 0897331346 is available here.There were, and still are, great restaurants all over Europe, but the greater part of Blue Trout and Black Truffles is devoted to the eating places and vineyards of France. It is a vicarious experience to read about the culinary wonders of the notable establishments of another era that have become the last epicurean haven in this materialistic, mechanized world of fast-food chains and frozen-food dinners. Mr. Wechsberg reaches back to the twilight days of the Habsburg monarchy, when those splendid monuments to the haute cuisine in central Europe, Meissl and Schadn of Vienna and Gundel's of Budapest, were in their prime.

This fascinating chronicle of the world's great financial families profiles the personalities behind seven legendary banking houses: Hambros, Barings, the Rothschilds, the Warburgs, Deutsche Bank, Lehman Brothers, and Banca Commerciale Italiana. Still resonating today, the candid history traces the decline of the Old World aristocracy and the post–World War I dominance of Wall Street's high-stakes investors.

Lovely 1945 hardcover lacking dustjacket. Front cover is decorated with black writing and red swirls, inside teh cover, publisher Houghton Mifflin tells us that this is a book published under a fellowship and it details their fellowship program, to bring forth promising new authors. Cant tel if this is a first or book club. Pages are not rough cut as in a book club, but book seems smaller than usual, which is a club indicator. Page ends have tanning, corners sharp, light discoloration from age along front edge.

black hardcover

Hardback book with dust jacket titled The Mystical City by Joseph Wechsberg. (ULG3-bottom-L)

Joseph Wechsberg, of Czechoslovakia but an American soldier, comes back to his home town in Moravia, now in the Russian zone of occupation. His account of his trip and of what he found...his family home and the synagogue he had worshipped in as a child were gone when he got back. But to his happy surprise, he found members of his wife's family living among the rubble. They could tell him very little about his own family. Taken away...no records...blankness.

Relates the circumstances of a deadly avalanche in Blons, Austria, in 1954.

A Moravian by birth, a musician by avocation, a writer by choice, and a bon vivant by instinct, Wechsberg was set squarely among a generation of mid-century writers that included A. J. Liebling, M. F. K. Fisher, Waverly Root, and Ludwig Bemelmans. Many of them found a home at the New Yorker and were routinely provided carte blanche to tackle any subject they found interesting. For Wechsberg, this meant the cultural life of the civilized world, which included music, food (especially classic French food, as prepared by such great chefs as Henri Soul and Fernand Point), travel, and the history of banking and finance. Always central to these essays were people of acknowledged accomplishments, whose lives he tried to understand both in the contexts of their own personality and of the cultures that shaped them.

During the nineteenth century and right up to World War I, the royalty and nobility of Europe, the members of high society, and the merely rich flocked annually to the sumptuous hotels and restaurants, the casinos and racetracks of towns like Bath and Brighton; Baden-Baden and Karlsbad; Saratoga Springs (New York) and Hot Springs (Virginia), USA. They came to "take the cure" - to recuperate from the effects of high living the rest of the year - and to see and be seen. Each watering place had is chronique scandaleuse. Glamour, intrigue, high fashion; theater, opera, ballet; music hall artistes and brass bands; espionage and diplomacy were as much a part of life as "taking the waters" of the mineral springs or hot sulphur springs, which were said to have health-giving and even rejuvenating effects. Today the golden age of the spa as a social Mecca is past, but many of them have adapted to more modern medical requirements by developing health centers and sports centers, and providing up-to-date treatments for stress and other "modern" diseases. Though the glamour is gone, the waters are still an essential part of the cure. In this beautifully illustrated book, Joseph Wechsberg takes an evocative look at the great spas of Europe and America, past and present, exploring their colorful histories and lively reputations, and telling the stories of the famous people who visited them and made their names.

Intimate biographical material on the Strauss family of Vienna is limited. As Wechsberg points out, the Strausses -- Father Johann, sons Josef, Edward and Johann the Great -- "had a hectic profession which completely occupied them. . . they kept no diary; they were disorderly people." Therefore Wechsberg follows their careers in rather an impressionistic fashion, pausing for critiques on their major compositions, lingering over the more important engagements and tours, touching briefly on the messy marriages. The rise of both father and son was fairly rapid and throughout his life the public adulation of Johann the son, particularly, remained constant. In Boston, Johann was confronted by an assignment to conduct 20,000 performers for an audience of 100,000. "Suddenly," he reported, "there is a cannon shot -- a subtle hint for us twenty-thousand to begin the Blue Danube." Wechsberg has accumulated commentary from some of Strauss the Younger's eminent contemporaries -- Wagner, Verdi, Berlioz, Offenbach, his friend Brahms, etc. -- to point up their respect for the Waltz King's musicianship, and Wechsberg offers his own analysis of some of the great waltzes and their "inner tension and beauty."

Soviet invasion of Czechoslovokia

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface.We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Legend and truth -- Schubert's Vienna -- The early years -- Friends, always friends -- The immortal lied -- 'A certain attractive stat' -- Opera : unhappy love affair -- 'Here, here is my end' -- The finished unfinished symphony -- Postscript. With 16 color plates and 100 illustrations in black and white.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 67-20221; Designed by Arnold Skolnick; a history of ancient to modern music in the western hemisphere; contains many illustrations throughout the book.

Book by Wechsberg, Joseph

Book by Wechsberg, Joseph

Book to read in the comfort of your own home. Own at a reduced price. Gentely pre read.

During the recent Cold War "thaw" Joseph Wechsberg, well-known writer for the New Yorker, was able to obtain one of the few visas given to foreign journalists by a reluctant East Germany. Ostensibly touring the area to compare it with the Germany he knew before the war, Wechsberg was accompanied by an official guide whose duty it was to see that he visited the most impressive factories, farms and housing projects, and to monitor, in so far as possible, his interviews. But beneath the flow of production facts and figures Joseph Wechsberg detected the vitally important story of the people themselves...

German

Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 75-108954Memoir of " fiddler, soldier, croupier, claquer, lawyer .. writer" for New Yorker, emigre to USA from Moravia