Pianist Arthur Schnabel Home Movie 1937

Filmed in 1937 by Karol Liszniewski in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Arthur Schnabel (April 17, 1882 -- August 15, 1951) was a classical pianist, who also composed and taught. Schnabel was renowned for his seriousness as a musician, avoiding anything resembling pure technical bravura. He was said to have tended to disregard his own technical limitations in pursuit of his musical ideals. However, Schnabel is widely considered to be one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, whose vitality, profundity and spiritual penetration in his playing of works by Beethoven and Schubert, in particular, have seldom if ever been surpassed.

Born in Lipnik, Poland, Schnabel studied piano from the age of seven in Vienna under Theodor Leschetizky who said to him "You will never be a pianist. You are a musician." Schnabel took these words to heart, and rather than playing the showy virtuoso pieces by composers like Franz Liszt which were popular in the late 19th century, he chose to concentrate on Germanic classics by Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. Later, Schnabel also studied composition under Eusebius Mandyczewski who was a friend of Johannes Brahms.

In 1900, Schnabel moved to Berlin where he began his career as a professional pianist. He gained some fame thanks to orchestral concerts he gave under the conductor Artur Nikisch as well as playing in chamber music and accompanying his future wife, the contralto Therese Behr, in lieder. It seems that Behr had some influence over Schnabel's repertoire, encouraging him to explore the sonatas of Schubert and the works of Brahms.
Following World War I, Schnabel toured widely, visiting the United States, Russia and England. From 1925 he taught at the Berlin State Academy where his masterclasses brought him great renown.

Schnabel was known for championing the then-neglected sonatas of Schubert and, even more so, Beethoven. At that time, Beethoven's piano music was little played and largely unappreciated by the public. While on a tour of Spain, Schnabel wrote to his wife saying that during a performance of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations he had begun to feel sorry for the audience. "I am the only person here who is enjoying this, and I get the money; they pay and have to suffer," he wrote. Schnabel did much to popularize Beethoven's music, giving the first complete cycle of his piano sonatas (that is, he played every piano sonata by Beethoven in a series of concerts) and also making the first recording of them all, completing the set in 1935. This set of recordings has never been out of print, and is considered by many to be the touchstone of Beethoven sonata interpretations, though occasional shortcomings in finger technique mar his performances of fast movements (Rachmaninoff is supposed to have referred to him as "the great adagio pianist"). He also recorded all the Beethoven piano concertos.

Despite his playing repertoire almost never leaving the works of Beethoven, Schubert, Mozart and Brahms, almost all of his compositions (none of which are in the active repertoire) are atonal. Schnabel left Berlin in 1933 after the Nazi Party took control. He lived in England for a time while giving master classes at Tremezzo on Lake Como in Italy, before moving to America in 1939. In 1944, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. There he took a teaching post at the University of Michigan, returning to Europe at the end of World War II. He continued to give concerts on both sides of the Atlantic until the end of his life; his list of compositions eventually included symphonies, a piano concerto and five string quartets amongst various smaller works. And he continued to make records, though he was never very fond of the whole studio process. He died in Axenstein, Switzerland.

Music on this home movie is Schnabel playing an excerpt from Beethoven's Sonata No. 14 In C Sharp Minor, Op. 27, No. 2 -- Moonlight and an excerpt Sonata No. 23 In F Minor, Op. 57 -- Appassionata. Available at:
http://www.amazon.com/Schnabel-plays-Beethoven-Named-Sonatas/dp/B00004U35D

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Pianist
• Arthur
• Schnabel

[pkt171]

No one-NO ONE-played the slow movements, in Beethoven, or Schubert, better than Schnabel. Kempff charms to no end, Goode dazzles, and the rest do this or that well enough to deserve notice, but Schnabel reveals the eternal element in the repertoire. One note or pause lasts a lifetime in his hands. No one else possessed that poise.

[Hindele]

Puns by Schnabel:

Ám Anfang war der Schnabel nur das Ende einer Nabelschnur

When he fled from the Nazis: 'Lieber im Wohnwagen als im Wahnwogen'

[Freudboy]

Schnabel has close competition these days from Paul Lewis, but he still reigns as King of Beethoven Pianists.

[jorgeliebermann]

One of the best pianists of XX Century..!

[77Merav]

thank you for sharing!:)

[pandorawasframed]

Schnabel is our last true link to the works of Beethoven, Liszt... far more than just a "pianist", he was a musical Rosetta Stone to the works of the past. My teacher, Tung Kwong-Kwong, was the disciple of Schnabel. I leaned the proper way of interpreting Beethoven, Mozart...and pass this on to my students. Thanks to Schnabel, the 21st Century can benefit from the teachings of this great line.

[mokitoot]

It's nice seeing, but I would have loved to hear too...

[fricoepolente]

...yes, yes. I must say that I'm agree with Schnabel... ;)

[francescaemc2]

thank you so much for posting this very rare treat.

[ejasiewicz]

Luckily, [good] pianists are a dime-a-dozen!

[chrish12345]

yeah good discussion :/

[BuckshotLaFunke]

Ha Leibo, a Dutchman as well, I see. I read it in an old Bruna paperback on musicians, back in the sixties. Best to you.