ABSTRACT
That biography has been one of the most popular literary genres since the nineteenth century and a major publishing industry since the 1950s is not a secret, and, judging by the prominent presence of biography in the offerings of publishing houses, movie industry, and television programs, there is no sign that the interest in biography will subside any time soon. Biography satisfies the readers' curiosity about other people's lives and in the case of artistic lives it is supposed to provide a framework within which the creative output can somehow be related to the artist's life. The semantic vagueness of music, especially instrumental music, combined with the belief that an artistic product is somehow linked to its author, renders music more susceptible to biographical explanations and eventually makes biographical context more prominent, albeit often carefully hidden, in the construction of musical meaning. Musical biography does not have to be understood in the singular, David Gramit argues.
