Brief Encounter: Ferruccio Busoni

Extract

It must have been in Hamburg during the winter of 1920–21 that I heard Busoni for the first time, as soloist in a concert directed by Werner Wolff-the son of the impresario Hermann Wolff, a former secretary of Hans von Bülow, who had also been at one time Busoni's manager. Werner Wolff, a fine musician and a conductor of the Hamburg Opera, was my teacher in harmony and counterpoint, and had invited me to be present during his rehearsals with the Hamburg Philharmonic. I was still at school - in my final year - and had to have special leave of absence for two days, something that was very rarely granted. But such was the reputation of Busoni as a world-famous virtuoso that the headmaster readily agreed.