Artur Schnabel facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Artur Schnabel
Schnabel c. 1906
Born	(1882-04-17)17 April 1882 Kunzendorf, Austria-Hungary (now Lipnik, Poland)
Died	15 August 1951(1951-08-15) (aged 69) Axenstein, Switzerland
Resting place	Schwyz, Switzerland
Occupation	Pianist and composer

Artur Schnabel (born April 17, 1882 – died August 15, 1951) was an Austrian-American classical pianist, composer, and teacher. Schnabel was famous for his deep understanding of music. He focused on the feeling and meaning of the music, rather than just showing off his playing skills. He was one of the most respected pianists of the 20th century. His playing of classical music, especially by Beethoven and Schubert, showed great energy, depth, and emotion.

Music critic Harold C. Schonberg once called Schnabel "the man who invented Beethoven." Between 1932 and 1935, Schnabel made the first-ever recordings of all of Beethoven's piano sonatas. In 2018, the Library of Congress chose these recordings for the National Recording Registry because they are so important to history.

Life and Music Journey

Early Days

Artur Schnabel was born Aaron Schnabel in Kunzendorf, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Poland). He was the youngest of three children. His family was Jewish.

When Artur was two, his family moved to Vienna in 1884. His mother noticed he had a natural talent for music. He started learning piano at age four, after showing interest in his older sister Clara's lessons. At six, he began studying with Professor Hans Schmitt. Three years later, he started lessons with Theodor Leschetizky, a famous piano teacher. Leschetizky once told him, "You will never be a pianist; you are a musician." This meant Schnabel was more focused on the music itself than just playing perfectly. Leschetizky encouraged him to focus on Schubert's sonatas, which were not very well known at the time.

Learning with Leschetizky

Schnabel studied with Leschetizky for seven years, from 1891 to 1897. Other students of Leschetizky at that time included famous pianists like Ossip Gabrilowitsch and Ignaz Friedman.

For his first year, Schnabel had strict technical training from Anna Yesipova, Leschetizky's wife and a great pianist herself. He also learned from Malwine Bree, Leschetizky's assistant. From age ten, he joined all of Leschetizky's main classes.

Schnabel also studied music theory and composition with Eusebius Mandyczewski. Mandyczewski was an assistant to Johannes Brahms, a very famous composer. Through Mandyczewski, Schnabel met Brahms and spent time with him. Schnabel once heard Brahms play his first piano quartet. Even with some missed notes, Schnabel said it was played "in the true grand manner."

Schnabel had his first official concert in 1897 in Vienna. Later that year, he played a series of concerts in other cities like Budapest and Prague.

Years in Berlin

In 1898, Schnabel moved to Berlin and made his debut there. After World War I, Schnabel traveled a lot, performing in the United States, Russia, and England.

He became well-known for his concerts with orchestras, led by conductors like Arthur Nikisch. He also played chamber music (music for small groups of instruments) and accompanied his future wife, the singer Therese Behr, in German songs called Lieder.

In chamber music, he formed the Schnabel Trio with violinist Alfred Wittenberg and cellist Anton Hekking from 1902 to 1904. In 1905, he started a second Schnabel Trio with Carl Flesch (violin) and Jean Gérardy (cello). When World War I began in 1914, Gérardy, who was Belgian, had to leave Germany. Hugo Becker replaced him, forming the third Schnabel Trio.

Later, Schnabel also played in a quartet with violinist Bronisław Huberman, violist Paul Hindemith, and cellist Gregor Piatigorsky. He also performed with other famous musicians like violinist Joseph Szigeti and cellists Pablo Casals and Pierre Fournier.

He was friends with and played alongside many great conductors of his time, including Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, and Otto Klemperer.

From 1925, Schnabel taught at the Berlin State Academy. His masterclasses there became very famous.

Later Years

Schnabel was Jewish, and he left Berlin in 1933 after the Nazi Party came to power. He lived in England for a while and taught masterclasses in Italy. In 1939, he moved to the United States. In 1944, he became an American citizen. He taught at the University of Michigan. After World War II, he returned to Europe and settled in Switzerland.

His mother, Ernestine Taube, stayed in Vienna. In 1942, at age 83, she was sent to a concentration camp where she died two months later. Artur Schnabel never went back to Germany or Austria after the war. He continued to give concerts, compose music, and make recordings until the end of his life. He passed away in Axenstein, Switzerland, and was buried in Schwyz, Switzerland.

Family Life

In 1905, Artur Schnabel married the singer Therese Behr (1876-1959). They had two sons. Karl Ulrich Schnabel (1909–2001) also became a classical pianist and a well-known piano teacher. Stefan Schnabel (1912–1999) became a respected actor. Artur Schnabel also had a daughter, Elizabeth Rostra, born in 1899 from a youthful relationship. Elizabeth became a pianist and teacher, and the family stayed close with her throughout their lives.

Music He Played

Schnabel was most famous for playing the works of important German composers. These included the Viennese classics by Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert. He was also known for playing music by Brahms and Schumann, and he recorded works by Bach.

However, he played more than just these composers. In his younger years in Berlin, he performed pieces by Liszt, Chopin, and Weber. On his early tours in America, he played works like Chopin's Preludes and Schumann's Fantasie in C. Other pianists who heard him in the 1920s recalled him playing Chopin's E minor Piano Concerto and Piano Sonata No. 2. Schnabel himself said he played Liszt's Sonata in B minor "very often."

It's not clear why Schnabel stopped playing these pieces after 1930. He said he wanted to play only "music which is better than it could be performed." This meant he wanted to play music that was so great, no performance could truly capture its full beauty. Some people think he focused on German composers to stay connected to his cultural roots after leaving Germany.

Schnabel was known for bringing attention to Schubert's sonatas and, even more so, Beethoven's sonatas, including the more difficult late works. He did a lot to make Beethoven's piano music popular. He made the first complete recording of all Beethoven's sonatas for the British label HMV in 1935. This set of recordings has always been available and is seen by many as the standard for how Beethoven's sonatas should be played. Some say his fast playing wasn't always perfect, but his slow movements were amazing. It's believed he got very nervous when recording. In private, his playing was said to be flawless. He also recorded all of Beethoven's piano concertos.

How He Performed

Schnabel was a very practical performer. For example, he never played encores (extra pieces after a concert), because he felt it would make the performance less special. He famously said, "I have always considered applause to be a receipt, not a bill." American composer Milton Babbitt said of Schnabel, "He was the thinking man's pianist, and in spite of that was very popular."

His Own Music

Even though Schnabel mostly played music by Beethoven, Schubert, Mozart, and Brahms, almost all of his own compositions are atonal. This means they don't follow traditional musical keys. It's interesting that Schnabel was a close friend of Arnold Schoenberg, another Austrian-American composer famous for pioneering atonal and twelve-tone music.

Schnabel's own works are complex and unique, showing real originality. Other composers like Ernst Krenek and Roger Sessions believed his compositions showed true genius. Schnabel wrote three symphonies, a piano concerto, a rhapsody for orchestra, a piano sonata, and five string quartets, along with other smaller pieces.

Recently, some of his compositions have been recorded and released on CD. These include three of his string quartets, the three symphonies, a rhapsody for orchestra, and four solo piano works. In 2019, pianist Jenny Lin released a recording of all of Schnabel's piano music.

Compositions by Artur Schnabel

Artur Schnabel's compositions are published by Peermusic Classical.

Chamber Music

• 3 Fantasiestücke (3 Fantasy Pieces) for violin, viola, and piano (1898)
• Piano Quintet (1914)
• Sonata for Solo Violin (1918)
• String Trio (1929)
• Sonata for Solo Cello (1931)
• Sonata for Violin and Piano (1935)
• String Quartet No. 1 (1915/16)
• String Quartet No. 2 (1921)
• String Quartet No. 3 (1922)
• String Quartet No. 4 (1930)
• String Quartet No. 5 (1940)
• Duodecimet, for chamber orchestra (1950)

Orchestral Works

• Piano Concerto in D minor (1901)
• Rhapsody for Orchestra (1946)
• Symphony No. 1 (1938/39)
• Symphony No. 2 (1941/43)
• Symphony No. 3 (1948/49)

Choral Works

• Dance and Secret
• Joy and Peace

Songs

• Ten Early Songs, Op. 11 (1901), for voice and piano
• Seven Early Songs, Op. 14 (1899-1902), for voice and piano
• Notturno, Op. 16 (around 1910), for voice

Solo Piano Music

• Three Piano Pieces (1898)
• "Three Fantasy Pieces" (1898)
• Dance Suite (1919)
• Sonata for Piano (1923)
• Piece in Seven Movements (1936-1937)
• Seven Piano Pieces (1947)

Writings

• My Life and Music. This book contains transcripts of twelve lectures Schnabel gave at the University of Chicago in 1945.
• Music and the Line of Most Resistance. This book contains transcripts of lectures Schnabel gave at Harvard University and the University of Chicago.

Recent Interest and Film

On September 11, 2016, a big international event began to bring Schnabel's compositions back into the spotlight. A concert was held in Berlin as part of the Musikfest Berlin. It featured pianist Markus Pawlik, the Szymanowski String Quartet, and singer Dietrich Henschel. German actor Udo Samel read some of Artur Schnabel's letters. This concert was repeated in Vienna and France.

The 2016 Berlin concert was broadcast on German radio and filmed for a documentary called Artur Schnabel: No Place of Exile. The film was directed by Matthew Mishory and premiered on Arte on February 4, 2018. The movie was filmed in Switzerland, Italy, Vienna, and Berlin. It used different film styles to show Schnabel's journey through Europe in the 20th century. It also included performances from the 2016 concert.

In May 2019, the Steinway & Sons music label released the first complete recording of Schnabel's piano works, performed by pianist Jenny Lin. In November 2019, the film had its premiere in Los Angeles at the Villa Aurora. This Villa was an important place for German-Jewish thinkers and artists during and after World War II.

See Also

In Spanish: Artur Schnabel para niños

• Artur Schnabel Piano Competition