Clive Paget Reviews Joseph Horowitz's Novel 'The Disciple' in Musical America

Clive Paget, a British critic, has reviewed Joseph Horowitz's new novel 'The Disciple: A Wagnerian Tale of the Gilded Age' in Musical America. The review praises the book as a richly detailed depiction of New York during the Gilded Age, focusing on its Wagnerian influences. Horowitz portrays conductor Anton Seidl's sudden death at 47 as a national cultural calamity, suggesting its impact surpasses later stories like those of Arturo Toscanini and Leonard Bernstein. The novel features a cast including Laura Langford, a proto-feminist and founder of the Seidl Society, who became a leading impresario in Brooklyn. Other characters include Henry Krehbiel, the dean of New York music critics at the New York Tribune, and composer Antonin Dvorak. Horowitz also depicts European singers brought to America by Seidl, Cosima Wagner, and a nuanced portrait of Richard Wagner as narcissistic and fiendish. The book conjures an America rich with potential, from Chicago to Manhattan, while exploring Seidl's personal tragedy and melancholy. Horowitz is noted for his scrupulous research and lively prose, which brings historical characters to life.