Four Weeks in the Trenches
by Fritz Kreisler
Fritz Kreisler, one of the greatest violinists of hist time, talks about his experiences as an Austrian soldier during the First World War, if not of all time. "Four Weeks in the Trenches" is a short recording of his battles on the Eastern Front in the Great War, first published after he was honorably released when he was wounded in 1915. He spent the remaining years of the war in America. He returned to Europe in 1924, first living in Berlin, then moving to France in 1938. Soon after, at the beginning of World War II, he resettled in the United States as a naturalized citizen in 1943. This book is notable for being the first war book written by a famous violinist who served at the front. The material is presented with energy and simplicity. The author is interested in one of the phenomena of war - the sudden transformation of a highly emotional, neurotic person of literary or artistic pursuits, accustomed to the atmosphere of sophistication, culture and luxury, into an unspoiled savage in a few days.
