Max Brod as a Music Critic
Max Brod as a Music Critic

Summary/Abstract: The article is devoted to the presentation and interpretation of critical-musical works of Max Brod, Czech-born German-Israeli writer, composer and librettist, best known as a monographer of Franz Kafka. On the basis of the press articles (published, inter alia, in German-speaking daily "Prager Tagblatt"), the author analyzes and systematizes Brod's views on musical art. Significantly, in the center of the critic's interest were found to be such composers as Leoš Janáček, Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schönberg. The press articles concerning Jewish music, more specifically - the "Jewish element" ("Jewishness") in music are discussed in detail. The author also attempts to answer whether the Zionist element of Max Brod's worldview could have affected his professional evaluation of musical pieces. At the end of the article critical-musical skills of Max Brod are subjected to the technical analysis, and his artistic views (particularly on Neue Musik) are placed in a wider context of the thought of the era.

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