Fritz Kreisler
Phil Hebblethwaite explores a history of hoaxes and controversies in classical music that challenges our understanding of creativity and originality.
Phil Hebblethwaite examines five classical musical hoaxes and controversies, from the early twentieth century to the modern day. These are origin stories that have fooled and perplexed some of the greatest experts. In an age of misinformation, when faking it has never been more prevalent, the series unravels the stories of some of the most brazen and confounding composer controversies. What is the appeal of engineering a hoax? And why do we fall for them so easily? It鈥檚 a journey that raises questions about scholarship, authenticity and our faith in expert opinion.
In the first essay, Phil tells the story of Fritz Kreisler - the virtuoso violinist who passed his own works off as compositions by forgotten Baroque composers. It took 30 years before the hoax was revealed. How did Kreisler manage to fool so many people for so long?
Written and presented by Phil Hebblethwaite
Producer: Jo Glanville
Editor: Joanne Rowntree
Researcher: Heather Dempsey
Studio Engineer: Dan King
A Loftus Media Production for 麻豆社 Radio 4
Last on
Broadcast
- Mon 28 Oct 2024 21:45麻豆社 Radio 3
Death in Trieste
A 1760s murder still informs ideas about aesthetics, a certain sort of sex, and death.
Watch: My Deaf World
Five compelling experiences of what it is like to be deaf in 21st-century Britain.
The Book that Changed Me
Five figures from the arts and science introduce books that changed their lives and work.
Download The Essay
Download all the episodes from the series and listen at your leisure.
Podcast
-
![]()
The Essay
Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.
