Alberto Jonás was a Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

, composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, and piano pedagogue. Although not much is known about his life, as a pianist he was regarded as a virtuoso on the level of Ignacy Jan Paderewski

Ignacy Jan Paderewski

Ignacy Jan Paderewski GBE was a Polish pianist, composer, diplomat, politician, and the second Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland.-Biography:...

, Moriz Rosenthal

Moriz Rosenthal

Moriz Rosenthal was a great Polish pianist. He was an outstanding pupil of Franz Liszt and a friend and colleague of some of the greatest musicians of his age, including Johannes Brahms, Johann Strauss, Anton Rubinstein, Hans von Bülow, Camille Saint-Saëns, Jules Massenet and Isaac...

, Leopold Godowsky

Leopold Godowsky

Leopold Godowsky was a famed Polish American pianist, composer, and teacher. One of the most highly regarded performers of his time, he became known for his theories concerning the application of relaxed weight and economy of motion in piano playing, principles later propagated by Godowsky's...

, Józef Hofmann

Józef Hofmann

Josef Casimir Hofmann was a Polish-American virtuoso pianist, composer, music teacher, and inventor.-Biography:...

, and Josef Lhévinne

Josef Lhévinne

Josef Lhévinne was a Russian pianist and piano teacher.Joseph Arkadievich Levin was born into a family of musicians in Oryol and studied at the Imperial Conservatory in Moscow under Vasily Safonov...

. He also ranked, during the 1920s and 30s, amongst the greatest and most sought-after keyboard pedagogues of the time.

Life and early career

Born in Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

 to German parents Julius Jonas, a businessman, and Doris Sachse, his musical talents were recognized at an early age. King Alfonso XII of Spain

Alfonso XII of Spain

Alfonso XII was king of Spain, reigning from 1874 to 1885, after a coup d'état restored the monarchy and ended the ephemeral First Spanish Republic.-Early life and paternity:Alfonso was the son of Queen Isabella II of Spain, and...

 received the young child in a private audience at the Royal Palace of Madrid

Royal Palace of Madrid

The Palacio Real de Madrid is the official residence of the King of Spain in the city of Madrid, but it is only used for state ceremonies. King Juan Carlos and the Royal Family do not reside in the palace, choosing instead the more modest Palacio de la Zarzuela on the outskirts of Madrid...

 in 1880 and Jonás was immediately hailed as a prodigy. He initially studied at the Madrid Royal Conservatory with Manuel Mendizábal in piano (Mendizábal had been Isaac Albéniz

Isaac Albéniz

Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual was a Spanish Catalan pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music idioms .-Life:Born in Camprodon, province of Girona, to Ángel Albéniz and his wife Dolors Pascual, Albéniz...

's piano teacher) and Ciriaco Olave in organ, graduating at the age of 12. For the next six years he travelled and lived in Belgium, England, Germany, and France studying business, in accordance to his parents' desires for a career in finance, and also giving some public performances. At this time, Jonás started also to become a polyglot

Multilingualism

Multilingualism is the act of using, or promoting the use of, multiple languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. Multilingualism is becoming a social phenomenon governed by the needs of...

, mastering fluently the French, Russian, German, English, and Spanish languages.

Brussels, 1886-1890

In 1886, at the age of 18 and against the will of his parents, who kept trying to dissuade him from pursuing a career as a concert pianist, he entered the Brussels Conservatory, where he studied for four years with noted Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...

 pupil Arthur De Greef

Arthur De Greef

Arthur De Greef was a Belgian pianist and composer.Born in Louvain, he won first prize in a local music composition when he was only 11, and subsequently enrolled at the Brussels Conservatoire...

 and composition with François-Auguste Gevaert

François-Auguste Gevaert

François-Auguste Gevaert was a Belgian composer.His father was a baker, and he was intended for the same profession, but better counsels prevailed and he was permitted to study music. He was sent in 1841 to the Ghent Conservatory, where he studied under Edouard de Sommere and Martin-Joseph Mengal...

.

St. Petersburg, Germany, Austria, 1890-1893

Upon graduating from Brussels in 1890, he entered the first international Anton Rubinstein Competition

Anton Rubinstein Competition

The original Anton Rubinstein Competition was staged by Rubinstein himself every five years from 1890 to 1910 . The winners of the piano competition usually received a white Schroeder piano as the prize. Winners include:...

, which was being held at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Even though he did not win the coveted First Prize in piano (it went to Nikolay Dubasov

Nikolay Dubasov

Nikolay Alexandrovich Dubasov was a Russian pianist and music teacher....

), he nevertheless made an extraordinary impression on Anton Rubinstein

Anton Rubinstein

Anton Grigorevich Rubinstein was a Russian-Jewish pianist, composer and conductor. As a pianist he was regarded as a rival of Franz Liszt, and he ranks amongst the great keyboard virtuosos...

, who immediately invited him to be one the handful of pianists who had the privilege of being his students. He then worked with Rubinstein in St. Petersburg for the next three years. During his sojourn there, he became a recognized pianist and teacher, and soon befriended fellow Rubinstein students Josef Lhévinne

Josef Lhévinne

Josef Lhévinne was a Russian pianist and piano teacher.Joseph Arkadievich Levin was born into a family of musicians in Oryol and studied at the Imperial Conservatory in Moscow under Vasily Safonov...

, Józef Hofmann

Józef Hofmann

Josef Casimir Hofmann was a Polish-American virtuoso pianist, composer, music teacher, and inventor.-Biography:...

, Felix Blumenfeld

Felix Blumenfeld

Felix Mikhailovich Blumenfeld was a Russian composer, conductor, pianist and teacher.He was born in Kovalevka, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire , the son of Austrian Mikhail Frantsevich Blumenfeld and the Polish Marie Szymanowska, and studied composition at the St...

, and Teresa Carreño

Teresa Carreño

María Teresa Carreño García de Sena was a Venezuelan pianist, singer, composer, and conductor.Born into a musical family, she was at first taught by her father, then by Mathias, Louis Moreau Gottschalk and Anton Rubinstein and her talent was recognized at an early age...

, who all held his playing in high esteem. During this period he also met Ignacy Jan Paderewski

Ignacy Jan Paderewski

Ignacy Jan Paderewski GBE was a Polish pianist, composer, diplomat, politician, and the second Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland.-Biography:...

, who acted as a mentor and gave him some lessons (in particular on his own Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 17, which Jonás would later often perform) and encouraged him to continue his studies in music. In 1891 he made his debut in Berlin as a soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic under Hans von Bülow

Hans von Bülow

Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. He was one of the most famous conductors of the 19th century, and his activity was critical for establishing the successes of several major composers of the time, including Richard...

, receiving rave reviews.

United States 1893-1904

In 1893 he moved to New York, soon making a debut with the Symphony Society of New York in Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

 playing the Paderewski Concerto conducted by Walter Damrosch. In 1894, he was named professor at the Music School of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, later becoming President and Director of the Michigan Conservatory of Music in Detroit, a post he held until 1904. In 1897 he debuted with the Boston Symphony Orchestra

Boston Symphony Orchestra

The Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...

 under Emil Paur

Emil Paur

Emil Paur was an Austrian orchestra conductor. Paur was born in Czernowitz, Austria, now Ukraine, and trained in Vienna before working as a conductor in Kassel, Königsberg and Leipzig. He then emigrated to the United States where he led the Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and...

, again with the Paderewski concerto. He also concertized in Canada, Mexico and Cuba at this time. In 1895 he married Elsa von Grave (he would later divorce her and marry Henrietta Gremmel in 1921).

Berlin 1904-1914

In 1904 Jonás decided he would return to Europe, settling in Berlin, where he soon became one of the most respected piano teachers. There he soon became a professor at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory

Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory

The Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory was a music institute in Berlin, established in 1893, which for decades was one of the most internationally renowned schools of music. It was formed from the existing schools of music of Xaver Scharwenka and Karl Klindworth, the Scharwenka-Konservatorium and...

 and befriended Leopold Godowsky

Leopold Godowsky

Leopold Godowsky was a famed Polish American pianist, composer, and teacher. One of the most highly regarded performers of his time, he became known for his theories concerning the application of relaxed weight and economy of motion in piano playing, principles later propagated by Godowsky's...

, Karl Klindworth

Karl Klindworth

Karl Klindworth was a German composer, pianist, conductor, violinist and music publisher.-Biography:Klindworth was born at Hanover in 1830. For a time he conducted a traveling opera troupe, but settled in Hanover as a teacher and composer. From there he went to Weimar, 1852, and studied the piano...

, James Kwast

James Kwast

James Kwast was a Dutch-German pianist and renowned teacher of many other notable pianists. He was also a minor composer and editor.-Biography:Jacob James Kwast was born in Nijkerk, Netherlands, in 1852...

 and Moritz Moszkowski

Moritz Moszkowski

Moritz Moszkowski was a German Jewish composer, pianist, and teacher of Polish descent. Ignacy Paderewski said, "After Chopin, Moszkowski best understands how to write for the piano"...

, who were also teachers and performers there. World War I caused him to return to New York, where he finally settled.

United States 1914-1943

From 1914 until his death in 1943, he lived in a New York apartment on the Upper West Side (19 West 85th Street), his apartment becoming a mecca for talented students and pianists from all over the world. Soon, Jonás also became professor at the Combs College of Music

Combs College of Music

Combs College of Music was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1885 as Combs Broad Street Conservatory of Music by Gilbert Raynolds Combs, celebrated pianist,organist and composer....

 in Philadelphia, where he kept a small apartment as well.

Master School of Modern Piano Playing and Virtuosity

It is during his period in New York when Jonás had the unprecedented idea of starting a correspondence with all of the great musicians and pianists he had met throughout his life as a wandering musician, asking them personally to collaborate with their own ideas on pianism towards the publication of a treatise on piano playing that would include the main currents in modern virtuosity. The pianists even agreed to write their own technical exercises specifically for Jonás book, as well as sharing their own ideas on technique, pedalling, fingering, practicing methods, phrasing, memorizing, etc., and also taking exclusive photographs of themselves and their hands playing in order to illustrate some points.

In the early 1920s he started putting together all the material he had amassed from the correspondence and began writing what he would later title Master School of Modern Piano Playing and Virtuosity, in seven volumes. It took him seven years to complete the vast undertaking (1922–1929), which in its final formed featured the unique distinction of having the collaboration of practically all the greatest living piano virtuosi. The final contributors were Arthur Friedheim

Arthur Friedheim

Arthur Friedheim was a Russian-born pianist, conductor and composer who was one of Franz Liszt's foremost pupils.Friedheim was born in Saint Petersburg in 1859. He began serious study of music at age eight...

, Ignaz Friedman

Ignaz Friedman

Ignaz Friedman Ignaz Friedman Ignaz Friedman (also spelled by languages Ignace or Ignacy; exactly Solomon (Salomon) Isaac Freudman(n), (February 13, 1882January 26, 1948) was a Polish pianist and composer. Critics (e.g. Harold C. Schonberg) and colleagues (e.g...

, Vasily Safonov, Ferruccio Busoni

Ferruccio Busoni

Ferruccio Busoni was an Italian composer, pianist, editor, writer, piano and composition teacher, and conductor.-Biography:...

, Katharine Goodson

Katharine Goodson

Katharine Goodson was an English pianist.Born in Watford, Goodson studied the piano at the Royal Academy of Music in London; she also worked with Theodor Leschetizky in Vienna. Her London debut took place on January 16, 1897. The tours of Europe which followed placed her in the front rank of...

, Leopold Godowsky

Leopold Godowsky

Leopold Godowsky was a famed Polish American pianist, composer, and teacher. One of the most highly regarded performers of his time, he became known for his theories concerning the application of relaxed weight and economy of motion in piano playing, principles later propagated by Godowsky's...

, Alfred Cortot

Alfred Cortot

Alfred Denis Cortot was a Franco-Swiss pianist and conductor. He is one of the most renowned 20th-century classical musicians, especially valued for his poetic insight in Romantic period piano works, particularly those of Chopin and Schumann.-Early life and education:Born in Nyon, Vaud, in the...

, Rudolph Ganz

Rudolph Ganz

Rudolph Ganz was a Swiss pianist, conductor and composer. He claimed direct descent from Charlemagne.-Biography:...

, Wilhelm Backhaus

Wilhelm Backhaus

Wilhelm Backhaus was a German pianist and pedagogue.Born in Leipzig, Backhaus studied at the conservatoire there with Alois Reckendorf until 1899, later taking private piano lessons with Eugen d'Albert in Frankfurt...

, Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler

Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler

Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler was an Austrian-born U.S. pianist.- Biography :Zeisler was born Fannie Blumenfeld on July 16, 1863, in Bielitz, Austrian Silesia. She emigrated to the United States with her family at the age of 4 in 1867. The family settled in Chicago, Illinois where they later changed...

, Ernő Dohnányi

Erno Dohnányi

Ernő Dohnányi was a Hungarian conductor, composer, and pianist. He used the German form of his name Ernst von Dohnányi for most of his published compositions....

, Ossip Gabrilowitsch

Ossip Gabrilowitsch

Ossip Gabrilowitsch was a Russian-born American pianist, conductor and composer.- Biography :...

, Josef Lhévinne

Josef Lhévinne

Josef Lhévinne was a Russian pianist and piano teacher.Joseph Arkadievich Levin was born into a family of musicians in Oryol and studied at the Imperial Conservatory in Moscow under Vasily Safonov...

, Isidor Philipp

Isidor Philipp

Isidor Philipp was a French pianist, composer, and distinguished pedagogue of Hungarian descent. He was born in Budapest and died in Paris.-Biography:...

, Moriz Rosenthal

Moriz Rosenthal

Moriz Rosenthal was a great Polish pianist. He was an outstanding pupil of Franz Liszt and a friend and colleague of some of the greatest musicians of his age, including Johannes Brahms, Johann Strauss, Anton Rubinstein, Hans von Bülow, Camille Saint-Saëns, Jules Massenet and Isaac...

, Emil von Sauer

Emil von Sauer

Emil Georg Conrad von Sauer was a notable German composer, pianist, score editor, and music teacher. He was a pupil of Franz Liszt and one of the most distinguished pianists of his generation...

, Leopold Schmidt, and Zygmunt Stojowski

Zygmunt Stojowski

Zygmunt Denis Antoni Jordan de Stojowski was a Polish pianist and composer.-Life:Born near the city of Kielce, Stojowski began his musical training with his mother, and with Polish composer Władysław Żeleński. In Kraków, as a seventeen-year-old student, he made his debut as a concert pianist...

, and included excerpts from more than one thousand examples drawn from the entire piano literature in order to illustrate specific points.

In breadth of scope, originality, and clearness of execution, the book is unprecedented. It was finally published in 1929 by Carl Fischer Music

Carl Fischer Music

Carl Fischer Music is a major publisher of sheet music based in New York City that has been in business since 1872. As one of the few remaining family-owned music publishers, it supplies educational materials to professional and beginning musicians of all ages, as well as new music works.Notable...

 in New York. Busoni considered it "the most monumental work ever written on piano playing". Lhévinne called it "the greatest and most valuable work on the subject", and Rosenthal called it a "Master-Work" (meisterarbeit). It was also admired by Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...

, who mentioned it in some of his letters.

Reception

Due to the impact of the Great Depression and World War II on the publishing industry in America, the Master School was never reprinted and quickly went out of print. The author and his ideas became somewhat forgotten after his death, but there are still pianists and teachers who use volumes of the "Master School" in their pedagogy. Even though he is the most important Spanish writer on pianism, he is practically unknown in his native country (where the Master School has never been published).

Some of Alberto Jonás's piano students include Pepito Arriola

Pepito Arriola

José “Pepito” Rodríguez Carballeira was a Spanish child prodigy pianist and eventual master violinist.-Origins:...

, Ellen Ballon, Anis Fuleihan

Anis Fuleihan

Anis Fuleihan was a Cypriot-born American composer, conductor and pianist.A native of Kyrenia, Fuleihan belongs to a Christian Lebanese family; he attended the English School in that town before coming to the United States in 1915...

, Eugenia Buxton, Vincent Persichetti

Vincent Persichetti

Vincent Ludwig Persichetti was an American composer, teacher, and pianist. An important musical educator and writer, Persichetti was a native of Philadelphia...

, Eloise Wood, Daniel Jones, Lewis L. Richards, David Earl Moyer, Leonard Heaton, Alfred Lucien Calzi, Elizabeth Zug, Reah Sadowsky, and Louis Loth.