Gustav Kross facts for kids
Gustav Kross (1831–1885) was a talented Russian pianist and teacher. He is mostly remembered for being the first person to play Tchaikovsky's famous Piano Concerto No. 1 in Russia. However, his performance of this piece was not well-received at the time.
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Who Was Gustav Kross?
Gustav Gustavovich Kross was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 1831. From the 1850s, he began giving piano concerts by himself. He was a big supporter of the Russian Musical Society from 1859 to 1867. This society helped promote music in Russia.
His Education and Teaching
In 1862, Gustav Kross was among the first students at the new Saint Petersburg Conservatory. This was a special school for music. There, he studied piano with famous teachers like Anton Rubinstein and Adolf von Henselt. In 1865, he was part of the first group of students to graduate from the Conservatory. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was also in this first graduating class.
After graduating, Kross began teaching piano at the Conservatory in 1867. Some of his students, like Vladimir Demyansky and Anna Ornatskaya, later taught the very famous composer Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Important Performances
Gustav Kross was the first person in Russia to perform Franz Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2. He also played Litolff's Concerto Symphonique No. 4.
However, his name is most connected to the first Russian performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. This concert happened in Saint Petersburg on November 13, 1875. This was just under three weeks after the piece was first played in Boston, USA. Kross played the piano, and Eduard Nápravník conducted the orchestra. Tchaikovsky himself was there to listen.
The Tchaikovsky Performance
Many people felt that Kross's performance of the concerto was not very good. Tchaikovsky said it "sounded terrible." The music critics also didn't like his playing. They even said that the concerto itself wasn't very good at first.
Because of this, Tchaikovsky chose a different pianist, Sergei Taneyev, for the next performance in Moscow. Tchaikovsky was very happy with Taneyev's playing. Taneyev then went on to perform many more of Tchaikovsky's piano pieces and his Piano Trio.
Gustav Kross passed away in 1885 in Saint Petersburg, the city where he was born. He was 54 years old.
