Max Graf (1 October 1873 – 24 June 1958) was an Austrian music historian and critic.
He was born in Vienna, the son of Josef and Regine (Lederer) Graf.[1][2] His father was a political writer and editor.[3]
Max was described as the "dean of music critics in Vienna" in the first part of the 20th century.[4]
Career
He is also notable for his role in the history of psychoanalysis as the father of Little Hans, whose treatment was described by Sigmund Freud.[5] Max's first wife and Little Hans' mother, Olga Hönig, was one of Freud's patients.[6]
Graf's book Composer and Critic is noted for its amicable style with M. A. Schubart of The New York Times stating: "Dr. Graf has written a charming, comprehensive, intelligent treatise on music criticism, drawing generously on his own large supply of knowledge and experience.... The only major issue which I cannot reach agreement with Dr. Graf is his manner. He is much too polite. No subject in the world deserves more rudeness than music criticism." Countering this impression, Graf published a deeply critical review of a Metropolitan Opera production produced by his son in 1946.[7]
In the introduction to Composer and Critic, Graf details his original interest in music criticism as having stemmed from attending the lectures of Anton Bruckner in Vienna.
Max was Jewish and fled Vienna for the United States in 1938, where he taught at the New School for Social Research in New York City until 1947, when he returned to Vienna. He died there in 1958.[8]
Works
Wagner-Probleme, und andere Studien, 1900
Die Musik im Zeitalter der Renaissance, 1905
Die innere Werkstatt des Musikers, 1910
Richard Wagner im "Fliegenden Holländer": ein Beitrag zur Psychologie künstlerischen Schaffens, 1911
Legend of a musical city, 1945
Composer and critic: Two hundred years of musical criticism, 1946
Modern music: Composers and music of our time, 1946
From Beethoven to Shostakovich: The psychology of the composing process, 1947
