Sir William Glock has been one of the strongest influences on musical life and taste in Britain this century, and is especially known as a champion of contemporary music. A student of the piano under Arthur Schnabel in the Berlin of the 1930s, Glock founded the Summer School of Music, which achieved an international reputation for the quality of its teaching of composition and performance. From 1959 to 1973 he was Controller of Music at the BBC, where he initiated the Invitation Concerts, introduced adventurous programmes into the Proms, and was responsible for the controversial appointment of Pierre Boulez as chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Considering fundamental questions of composition and interpretation, public appreciation, and the future of music, Glock's revealing autobiography also recalls his relationships with such significant composers as Stravinsky, Britten, Maxwell Davies, and Birtwistle.