Karl Tausig facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Karl Tausig
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| Born | 4 November 1841 Warsaw, Congress Poland
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| Died | 17 July 1871 (aged 29) |
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Karl Tausig (born Karol Tausig; November 4, 1841 – July 17, 1871) was a Polish virtuoso pianist, arranger, and composer. A virtuoso is someone with amazing skill in music. Many people believe he was the best student of Franz Liszt. They also think he was one of the greatest pianists ever.
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Life of Karl Tausig
Karl Tausig was born in Warsaw, Poland. His parents were Jewish. He started learning piano from his father, Aloys Tausig. His father was also a pianist and composer.
When Karl was 14, his father introduced him to the famous composer Franz Liszt. This happened in Weimar, Germany. Karl quickly became one of Liszt's favorite students. He traveled with Liszt on concert tours. He also studied counterpoint, composition, and orchestration. These are all ways to create and arrange music. Karl even taught one of Liszt's students, Regina Watson.
At age 16, Karl met Richard Wagner, a very important composer. Karl became a loyal friend and follower of Wagner. He also became a great admirer of Johannes Brahms, another famous composer. Tausig made piano versions of many of Wagner's operas. He also introduced Wagner to his friend Peter Cornelius.
In 1858, Tausig played his first big concert in Berlin. Hans von Bülow conducted the concert. Some critics loved his amazing piano skills. Others thought his playing was too loud. Even those who liked his "Liszt-like" style felt he would improve with age.
Tausig toured German towns from 1859 to 1860. He made Dresden his home base. In 1862, he moved to Vienna. There, he gave concerts of new orchestral music. He even played some of his own symphonic poems. These concerts were not very successful financially.
After a few years away from the public, he married pianist Seraphine von Vrabely. He then started touring again. People now saw him as a pianist with great skill and a dignified style.
Tausig settled in Germany and opened a piano school in Berlin in 1865. However, the school closed soon after. He continued to tour across Europe. But all the travel made him sick. He died in Leipzig from typhoid at just 29 years old. His grave is in Berlin.
Karl Tausig's Piano Playing Style
Many critics thought Tausig was the best of Liszt's students. They believed he took pure virtuosity to new levels. Virtuosity means extreme skill. Anton Rubinstein, another famous pianist, called him "the infallible." This means he almost never made mistakes.
Tausig was different from his teacher, Liszt. Liszt was known for his showy movements while playing. Tausig, however, sat very still at the piano. He disliked what he called Spektakel, which means "spectacle" or "show." His fingers worked wonders on the keyboard without errors. The only sign of effort from Tausig was a slight tightening of his mouth.
Some experts believe Tausig had no equal as a pianist before his early death. He combined Liszt's power and range of sound with the intelligence of his fellow student Hans von Bülow. Another Liszt student, Eugen d'Albert, praised Tausig highly. He said Liszt's musical ideas were grander. But Tausig had better and more accurate technique. He also played with a lot of emotion and beauty.
Music Karl Tausig Performed
Karl Tausig knew a huge amount of music by heart. He could play works from composers like Domenico Scarlatti to Liszt. He was especially famous for how he played music by Frédéric Chopin, Carl Maria von Weber, and Ludwig van Beethoven. People admired both his perfect playing and the deep feelings he put into the music.
Karl Tausig's Compositions and Arrangements
Karl Tausig didn't write many original pieces of music. But he was very good at arranging music by other composers for the piano. He also created a book of exercises for learning and practicing piano.
Many of his original works are now lost. Some were orchestral pieces. He performed these himself, either playing the piano or conducting. Most of his works were never published.
Original Music by Karl Tausig
Tausig wrote some original pieces for solo piano. Here are a few examples:
- L'Éspérance (Hope), a Nocturne varié (a dreamy, varied night piece).
- Das Geisterschiff, Ballade (The Ghost Ship), a dramatic piano piece.
- Ungarische Zigeunerweisen (Hungarian Gypsy Airs), a fantasy piece. He wrote this for his wife, Seraphine von Vrabely.
- Tägliche Studien für Pianoforte (Daily Studies for Piano). This was a book of exercises to help pianists improve their skills. It included exercises for finger movement, chords, stretching, and double notes.
Music Karl Tausig Arranged for Piano
Tausig was famous for taking music written by other composers and changing it for the piano. These are called "paraphrases," "fantasies," or "transcriptions." He often made them more exciting or challenging for a concert performance.
He arranged music by many famous composers, including:
- Hector Berlioz: Gnomenchor und Sylphentanz from Fausts Verdammung.
- Johannes Brahms: He helped Brahms with some variations on a theme by Paganini.
- Frédéric Chopin: He made a version of Chopin's Étude (Op. 10 No. 2).
- Robert Schumann: Der Kontrabandiste (The Smuggler), a fast and exciting piece.
- Johann Strauss II: He created "Waltz-Caprices" based on Strauss's famous waltzes, like Nachtfalter (Moth Waltzes) and Man lebt nur einmal (You Live Only Once!).
- Richard Wagner: Tausig made many piano versions of Wagner's operas. These included the Vorspiel (Prelude) to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Der Ritt der Walküren (The Ride of the Valkyries) from Die Walküre. He also arranged pieces from Tristan und Isolde.
- Carl Maria von Weber: Aufforderung zum Tanz (Invitation to the Dance), a popular concert arrangement.
He also made piano versions of larger works:
- Johann Sebastian Bach: He arranged Bach's famous Toccata und Fuge in D minor for piano. He also arranged some of Bach's organ pieces.
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Tausig transcribed parts of Beethoven's string quartets and his Missa solemnis for piano.
- Franz Liszt: Tausig arranged many of Liszt's large orchestral pieces, called Symphonic Poems, for solo piano.
- Domenico Scarlatti: He made "concert arrangements" of five of Scarlatti's harpsichord sonatas for piano.
- Franz Schubert: Tausig arranged Schubert's Militär-Marsch (Military March) No. 1 for solo piano.
Recordings of Karl Tausig's Music
Many pianists have recorded Karl Tausig's compositions and arrangements.
In the 1970s, Michael Ponti was one of the first to record an entire album of Tausig's music. Later, Dennis Hennig recorded several albums of Tausig's works. These included his waltz arrangements and Wagner transcriptions. Artur Cimirro recorded all of Tausig's original piano pieces in 2016.
Famous pianists from the past also recorded Tausig's arrangements. Sergei Rachmaninoff and Ignacy Jan Paderewski recorded Tausig's version of Strauss's waltz You Only Live Once!. Rachmaninoff also recorded Tausig's arrangement of Schumann's Der Kontrabandiste. This piece was also recorded by Josef Lhévinne, Josef Hofmann, and Emil Gilels.
Tausig's arrangement of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor was very popular. So was his arrangement of Schubert's Marche Militaire. Many great pianists recorded the Marche Militaire, including Eugen d'Albert, Leopold Godowsky, Vladimir Horowitz, and György Cziffra.
Images for kids
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Tausig's grave in Berlin
See also
In Spanish: Carl Tausig para niños
