Schnabel, Artur (1882-1951). Austrian pianist. Having moved with his family to Vienna in 1889, he studied piano there with Leschetizky and music theory with Mandyczewski. He moved to Berlin in 1900, and between 1925 and 1933 taught at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. He left Berlin only when Hitler came to power in 1933, moving first to Switzerland and in 1939 emigrating to the U.S., eventually returning to Europe. He was celebrated especially as an interpreter of Beethoven and Schubert, and made many recordings; but also played contemporary music (he took part in one of the early performances of Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire ), and composed in a modernist idiom. His publications include My Reflections on Music (Manchester, 1933), Music and the Line of Most Resistance (Princeton, 1942) and My Life and Music (London, 1961). Schenker mostly recorded unfavorable or mixed comments about his playing in his diary. For example, on January 28, 1909: "Concert by A. Schnabel: errors; loud, without shading; lack of principal accents and principal breathing-points"; on November 4, 1929: "[Diabelli Variations]: basically a pianist devoid of the elements of what composers and performers would consider art." Schenker also made adverse remarks on Schnabel's Beethoven editing (WSLB 211). Only one letter, from Schabel to Schenker, survives (OJ 14/14). He is mentioned in: ( Baker's, NGDM, Federhofer Nach Tagebüchern, and other sources) |
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| Schnabel, Artur (1882-1951). Austrian pianist. Having moved with his family to Vienna in 1889, he studied piano there with Leschetizky and music theory with Mandyczewski. He moved to Berlin in 1900, and between 1925 and 1933 taught at the Hochschule... | |