A comprehensive examination of Jewish influence and participation in the American popular music business, that weaves together cultural, political, musical and economic history.

David Conway analyses why and how Jews, virtually absent from Western art music until the end of the eighteenth century, came to be represented in all branches of the profession within fifty years as leading figures - not only as composers and performers, but as publishers, impresarios and critics. His study places this process in the context of dynamic economic, political, sociological and technological changes and also of developments in Jewish communities and the Jewish religion itself, in the major cultural centres of Western Europe. Beginning with a review of attitudes to Jews in the arts and an assessment of Jewish music and musical skills, in the age of the Enlightenment, Conway traces the story of growing Jewish involvement with music through the biographies of the famous, the neglected and the forgotten, leading to a new and radical contextualisation of Wagner's infamous 'Judaism in Music'.

There is a missing page in Jewish history. We tend to assume that Jewish history is to be found in the Middle East, Europe, North Africa, and the Americas - but not in the Far East. "Pepper, silk & ivory" has discovered that missing page, revealing the amazing stories of Jews who both benefitted from and contributed to the Far East. Consummate storyteller Marvin Tokayer, Lifetime Honorary Rabbi of Japan's Jewish community, draws on half a century of personal experiences and a wealth of knowledge as he, in concert with writer and television producer Dr. Ellen Rodman, weaves together the characters and history of the Jews of the Far East into this fascinating book.

Drawing on a mass of unpublished writings and archival sources from prerevolutionary Russian conservatories, this book offers an insightful account of the Jewish search for a modern identity in Russia through music, rather than politics or religion.

Vladimir Horowitz (1903-1989) was the measure of pianistic prowess for most of the twentieth century. Not since Liszt and Paderewski has any pianist created such a legend. When Horowitz condescended to perform, lines formed days in advance. His recordings, the most listened-to discography in history, are unique documents in the art of piano playing. Horowitz, the incomparable colorist, conjured in the mind's ear the spectrum of an orchestra with the expressive beauty of the greatest singing.