A vivid (and startling) example of the "new musicology, " this book is an interdisciplinary study of romantic pianism in relation to gender and sexuality. Discussing erotic anxieties of musical amateurs, sexual myths concerning child prodigies, prurient interests in virtuosos, castrating figurations of "maiden" piano teachers, and the phenomenon of Liberace, the author underscores the extent to which the piano resonates with homosexuality and mortality.