Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Part One Interviews
- Part Two A Memoir
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Ancestors
- Chapter 2 On Being Jewish
- Chapter 3 Growing Up in Postwar Socialist Hungary
- Chapter 4 Margit
- Chapter 5 Tapespondence
- Chapter 6 Birth and Demise of a (Counter)revolution: A Boy's-Eye View
- Chapter 7 Broadcasting 1
- Chapter 8 Broadcasting 2
- Chapter 9 Editio Musica Budapest
- Chapter 10 Interviewing: An Obsession
- Chapter 11 Ich war ein Berliner
- Chapter 12 Moving to Vienna
- Chapter 13 Universal Edition
- Chapter 14 Back Catalogue
- Chapter 15 The Psychology of Promotion
- Chapter 16 Farewell and After
- Notes in Retrospect
- Index
- Miscellaneous Endmatter
Chapter 16 - Farewell and After
from Part Two - A Memoir
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2014
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Part One Interviews
- Part Two A Memoir
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Ancestors
- Chapter 2 On Being Jewish
- Chapter 3 Growing Up in Postwar Socialist Hungary
- Chapter 4 Margit
- Chapter 5 Tapespondence
- Chapter 6 Birth and Demise of a (Counter)revolution: A Boy's-Eye View
- Chapter 7 Broadcasting 1
- Chapter 8 Broadcasting 2
- Chapter 9 Editio Musica Budapest
- Chapter 10 Interviewing: An Obsession
- Chapter 11 Ich war ein Berliner
- Chapter 12 Moving to Vienna
- Chapter 13 Universal Edition
- Chapter 14 Back Catalogue
- Chapter 15 The Psychology of Promotion
- Chapter 16 Farewell and After
- Notes in Retrospect
- Index
- Miscellaneous Endmatter
Summary
It was all kept a secret until the last minute.
In the autumn of 2007, I was looking forward to retirement. Daily work was becoming something of a strain; I was feeling exhausted and depleted. Early in November, I was casually asked if I would be free on the twenty-ninth. With no travels planned, I said yes. Some time toward the end of the month, I was told to show up at such and such a time in the afternoon and I noted it in my diary without the slightest idea what it was all about.
My wife and I arrived at the stage entrance of the Musikverein, which had been my access to the UE offices, and were confronted with a printed notice placed on a stand: “Konzert für Bálint András Varga. Musikverein, Steinerner Saal. Wiener Klaviertrio, Heinz Stolba, Reciter” (Concert for Bálint András Varga. Musikverein, Stone Hall. Vienna Piano Trio, Heinz Stolba, reciter).
In a state of excitement, we made our way to the hall and there, in the lobby, I caught sight of Friedrich and Gertraud Cerha, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Cristóbal Halffter, Georg Friedrich Haas, Johannes Maria Staud, Jay Schwartz, and Vykintas Baltakas, as well as the board of Universal Edition and all my colleagues. They were waiting for us, with a knowing smile on their faces: unlike me, they were fully informed—in fact, they had actively prepared the event.
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- Chapter
- Information
- From Boulanger to StockhausenInterviews and a Memoir, pp. 375 - 378Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2013