Beyond Busoni

Abstract Chapter 5 documents the lasting impact of Busoni’s compositions, arrangements, and interdisciplinary ideas on his mentees. This chapter primarily traces his influence on the pupils he invited to the Bauhaus exhibition of 1923: Wladimir Vogel, Kurt Weill, Egon Petri, and Stefan Wolpe. This “field trip” proved to be a climactic moment for Busoni’s closest mentees, helping them solidify their understanding of Busoni’s teachings about metatonality, spatialized sound, and montage forms. Some of Busoni’s earlier composition mentees, such as Edgard Varèse, also assimilated Busoni’s ideas about spatialized sound, thereby revealing continuity in his teachings. In addition, Busoni’s ideas and music became catalysts for some visual artists and early cubist film creators, such as Hans Richter, who knew Busoni in Switzerland during World War I, and Henrik Neugeboren, who studied with Busoni in Berlin in the 1920s.