9 Year Old Teresa Carreño Teresa Carreño, had an overpowering personality, overpowering talent, physical strength, and technique. Besides that, she was one of the most beautiful women of her time. In 1872, she was on a tour of England with James Henry Mapleson, the impresario, as a piano soloist with his opera company. Mapleson persuaded... Continue Reading →
Other Pianists Post-Leschetizky
Even though Liszt and Leschetizky dominated the teaching during the latter half of the nineteenth century, this did not mean other teachers and other pianists were less important. Vladimir de Pachmann belonged to no school and had no followers. His fame came from his shenanigans. Vladimir de Pachmann Pachmann would talk, mutter, grimace and lecture... Continue Reading →
Other Liszt Giants
Eugene d'Albert For all of the brilliant talents that flocked to Liszt’s last classes at Weimar, he was particularly proud of Eugene (or Eugen) d’Albert. Liszt called him ‘our young lion’ or ‘Albertus Magnus’ was another pet name that Liszt gave him. He was the son of a French father and German mother. In 1876... Continue Reading →
Paderewski – The Lucrative Pianist
Leschetizky’s most famous student was the most publicized, most admired, and most legendary pianist after Liszt. Ignaz Jan Paderewski has been the headliner for more than half a century and had made ten million US dollars. He bought himself a house in Paris, a Château in Switzerland and indulged in expensive hobbies and habits. Rosenthal... Continue Reading →
Pianists of the Leschetizkians
Leschetizky died in 1915. Some of his famous students had careers extending past the middle of the twentieth century. Two of his earliest and most prominent male pupils were Mark Hambourg and Ossip Gabrilowitsch. Ossip Gabrilowitsch Mark Hambourg Hambourg was a Russian child prodigy who made his debut in Moscow at the age of nine... Continue Reading →
The Leschetizkianers
Leschetizksy In the first quarter of the twentieth century, was dominated by Liszt and Leschetizky. In comparison, Leschetizky has equal if not more impressive list of pupils. Paderewski who put Leschetizky successfully and securely on a map as a teacher. Paderewski was certainly not the best student of Leschetizky’s, but he is the most famous... Continue Reading →
The Elegant French
There was a boy from Paris who composed at six, played in the public at eight, and appeared at a formal debut at eleven playing a Mozart and Beethoven Piano Concerto, pieces by Handel and Kalkbrenner. He performed all these pieces from memory. He played Beethoven’s Thirty-Two Piano Sonatas. Soon the boy named Saint Saëns... Continue Reading →
The Iron Man
Could Beethoven have had a younger sibling or an illegitimate child? Anton Rubinstein was absolutely a Beethoven like figure, making the piano erupted volcanically, always played the wrong notes and broke the strings. The Russian with thick ugly hands and thickly padded fingers was recognized as the greatest pianist after Liszt. His pinky was a... Continue Reading →
Franz Liszt’s Pupils and his Associations
The 1850 and 1860s saw an emergence of Liszt atelier. Pianists would primarily go to other teacher first and clamor to get to the old master as soon as they completed their foundational preparation. The most popular preparatory teachers were Theodor Kullak and Carl Reinecke. Kullak was a pupil of Czerny. Kullak wrote many theoretical... Continue Reading →
The Passionate Intellect
By 1806, recital programs began to take place in a chronological program order with Bach, Scarlatti, Beethoven, Chopin, and many other romantic composers with Liszt’s Rhapsody as the finale. In 1830, several major schools began to emerge – German, Russian, elegant French, and the eclectic English one. Piano was being developed into the substantial instrument... Continue Reading →
Kim Chang's Piano Studio 