Integrated teaching & learning engagement for the contemporary music aficionado
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
There were all the showmen like Thalberg, Herz, Dreyschock, Gottschalk and other virtuosos who were the salonists, martinee idols, tinklers in their own ways. They were counter balanced by another group of great pianists, the real virtuous ones. The ones who dedicated themselves to be the best in music and the ideals of art. Initially,... Continue Reading →
When Liszt (1811 - 1866) played the piano, ladies flung their jewels on stage instead of bouquets. They rushed madly to the stage to fish out the stub of cigar that Liszt smoked and the ladies who recovered them carried them in their bosom to the day she died. Other ladies came away with priceless... Continue Reading →
Chopin detested public appearances, and thus he would seldom make appearances outside of the salons. He was fading away due to the onset of his tuberculosis, and his physical strength weakened to the point that he was unable to play forte. He came to compensate for this weakness by using pianissimo with an infinite degree... Continue Reading →
Chopin (1810 – 1849) was a slender, refined looking man, not weighing more than a hundred pounds, with a prominent nose, brown eyes and a pale complexion with beautiful hands. He was a snob but also a social butterfly. He dressed in the latest fashions, had a precise mind and manner, and could also be... Continue Reading →
Most Romanticism pianists were born around the same time. –Felix Mendelssohn in 1809, Chopin 1810, Liszt 1811, Thalberg 1812 and Henselt in 1814. Musicologist have done extensive work studying the baroque and pre-baroque music to the extent that they ignored the nineteenth century. Hence, musicians today are beginning to understand the eighteenth century value and... Continue Reading →
Carl Czerny (1791 – 1857), one of the greatest pianist, never played in the public, but did make occasional appearances as a young man. He was revolted by travel and the strain of performing in public. So he stayed at home in Vienna to teach and compose and do nothing else. Carl Czerny He was... Continue Reading →
Kim Chang's Piano Studio 