Friedrich Kalkbrenner
Encyclopedia
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...
, piano teacher and piano manufacturer who spent most of his life in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Before the advent of Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
, Sigismond Thalberg
Sigismond Thalberg
Sigismond Thalberg was a composer and one of the most distinguished virtuoso pianists of the 19th century.- Descent and family background :...
and 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...
, Kalkbrenner was by many considered to be the foremost pianist in France and England, even Europe. The only serious rival he had was Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Johann Nepomuk Hummel or Jan Nepomuk Hummel was an Austrian composer and virtuoso pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era.- Life :...
. Kalkbrenner was a prolific composer of a multitude of piano works (altogether more than 200), piano concertos, and even operas.
Author of a famous method of piano playing (1831) which was in print until the late 19th century, he ran in Paris what is sometimes called a factory for aspiring virtuosos and taught scores of pupils from as far away as Cuba. His best piano pupils were Marie Pleyel and Camille-Marie Stamaty
Camille-Marie Stamaty
Camille-Marie Stamaty was a French pianist, piano teacher and composer predominantly of piano music and studies . Today largely forgotten, he was one of the preeminent piano teachers in 19th century Paris...
. Through Stamaty Kalkbrenner’s piano method was passed on to Louis Moreau Gottschalk
Louis Moreau Gottschalk
Louis Moreau Gottschalk was an American composer and pianist, best known as a virtuoso performer of his own romantic piano works...
and Camille Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
.
He was one of the few composers who through deft business deals became enormously rich. Chopin dedicated his first piano concerto
Piano Concerto No. 1 (Chopin)
The Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11, is a piano concerto written by Frédéric Chopin in 1830. It was first performed on 11 October of that year, in Warsaw, with the composer as soloist, during one of his "farewell" concerts before leaving Poland....
to him. Kalkbrenner published transcriptions of Beethoven's nine symphonies for solo piano decades before Liszt did the same.
Beethoven Symphonies (Liszt)
Beethoven Symphonies , S.464, is a set of nine transcriptions for solo piano by Franz Liszt of Ludwig van Beethoven's symphonies.-History:Liszt began the work in 1838, but at that time only completed the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Symphonies, of which the Fifth and Sixth were published by Breitkopf &...
He was the first one to introduce long and rapid octave passages in both hands – today so familiar from 19th century piano music - into his piano texture.
Today he is not so much remembered because of his music, but because of his alleged vanity. Kalkbrenner was convinced that, after the death of Mozart, Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
and Haydn, he was the only classical composer left, and he never hesitated to let the world know this. Although of humble origins, he had a lifelong aspiration to be an aristocrat and delighted in rubbing shoulders with the nobility in London and Paris. He is invariably described as a somewhat pompous, formal, overly polite, yet intelligent and business wise extremely shrewd man. He was the target of many anecdotes already during his own lifetime and bitingly satirized by the German poet Heinrich Heine
Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...
. There hardly is any other composer who lives on in so many anecdotes and stories as Kalkbrenner.
Virtually nothing of his huge output survived, although recently several pianists have taken some shorter works of his in their repertoire. A new recording of two of his piano concertos (No. 1 and No. 4) was released in 2005, an older (and abridged) recording of the piano concerto No. 1 is still available.
Descent and parents
Friedrich Wilhelm Kalkbrenner was the son of Christian KalkbrennerChristian Kalkbrenner
Christian Kalkbrenner was a German bandmaster or Kapellmeister, violinist, organ and keyboard player, and composer. Almost an exact contemporary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, he was a prolific composer in many fields and a force in the musical world. He rose to high honours at the courts of the...
and a (so far) unnamed mother. Kalkbrenner was born, allegedly in a post chaise, during a trip his mother made from Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. The exact date of his birth could never be established, not so much due to the fact that Kalkbrenner’s parents would not know, but simply because his birth could not be registered with the authorities as the mother was en route. Kalkbrenner’s father was going to be appointed Kapellmeister
Kapellmeister
Kapellmeister is a German word designating a person in charge of music-making. The word is a compound, consisting of the roots Kapelle and Meister . The words Kapelle and Meister derive from the Latin: capella and magister...
to Frederica Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, Queen consort of Prussia, in 1786. Thus it is possible that Kalkbrenner’s mother was on the way from Hesse to Berlin to join her husband who would shortly take up his new duties at the court of Potsdam.
1785-1798: Childhood and first education in Berlin
Kalkbrenner’s own father was his first teacher. The boy must have progressed rapidly. By the time he was six he played a piano concerto by Joseph HaydnJoseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
to the Queen of Prussia. When he was eight he spoke four languages fluently. Although his education must have been privileged and took part in beautiful, even dreamy surroundings in Potsdam
Potsdam
Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....
and Rheinsberg castle, Kalkbrenner retained the heavy Berliner argot, characteristic of working class people to this day, for the rest of his life.
1798-1802: At the Conservatoire de Paris
At the end of 1798 Kalkbrenner was enrolled at the Paris conservatoire. He was in the piano class of Alsatian pianist and composer Louis AdamLouis Adam
Louis Adam Johann Ludwig Adam, was a French composer, music teacher, and piano virtuoso....
, father of the now more famous opera composer Adolphe Adam
Adolphe Adam
Adolphe Charles Adam was a French composer and music critic. A prolific composer of operas and ballets, he is best known today for his ballets Giselle and Le corsaire , his operas Le postillon de Lonjumeau , Le toréador and Si j'étais roi , and his Christmas...
. Louis Adam was for 45 years the most influential professor for piano at the Paris Conservatory. According to French pianist and piano professor Antoine François Marmontel
Antoine François Marmontel
Antoine François Marmontel was a French pianist, teacher and musicographer.Marmontel entered the Paris Conservatory in 1827. His teachers were Pierre Zimmerman in pianoforte, Victor Dourlen in harmony, Jacques Fromental Halévy in fugue and Jean-François Le Sueur in composition...
, he put his pupils to work on great masters like Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, Haydn, Mozart, and Clementi - at that time a notable exception among piano teachers. In harmony and composition he was taught by Charles Simon Catel
Charles Simon Catel
Charles Simon Catel was a French composer and educator born at L'Aigle, Orne.-Biography:Catel studied at the Royal School of Singing in Paris. He was the chief assistant to François-Joseph Gossec at the orchestra of the National Guard in 1790...
. Kalkbrenner was a fellow student of opera and ballet composer Ferdinand Hérold.
Kalkbrenner did well at his studies. In 1800 he won second prize for piano (Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmermann
Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmermann
Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmermann, , known as Pierre Zimmerman and Joseph Zimmermann, was a French pianist, composer, and music teacher.Zimmermann was born in Paris, the son of a piano maker...
came in first), in the following year first prize. When he left Paris at the end of 1802 for Vienna to continue his studies, Kalkbrenner was not yet a finished artist, but he could already look back on a solidly musical education from recognized masters in their own fields.
1803-06: Studies in Vienna and concert tours in Germany
In the latter half on 1803 Kalkbrenner travelled to Vienna to continue with his education. It is not yet clear why he took this step, it could be that he assumed that he wanted to crown his studies with lessons from some representative of the Viennese Classical School. It must have been easy for him anyway because he spoke German as his native language and he probably had help from his father who was a known musical personality in the Austrian capital.In Vienna he took counterpoint lessons from Johann Georg Albrechtsberger
Johann Georg Albrechtsberger
Johann Georg Albrechtsberger was an Austrian musician who was born at Klosterneuburg, near Vienna.He originally studied music at Melk Abbey and philosophy at a Benedictine seminary in Vienna and became one of the most learned and skillful contrapuntists of his age...
, then already quite old, but the eminence in Austrian music theory and the finest contrapuntist of his day. Moreover, Albrechtsberger had been the teacher of Beethoven, Carl Czerny
Carl Czerny
Carl Czerny was an Austrian pianist, composer and teacher. He is best remembered today for his books of études for the piano. Czerny's music was profoundly influenced by his teachers, Muzio Clementi, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Antonio Salieri and Ludwig van Beethoven.-Early life:Carl Czerny was born...
, Hummel, Ignaz Moscheles
Ignaz Moscheles
Ignaz Moscheles was a Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso, whose career after his early years was based initially in London, and later at Leipzig, where he succeeded his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as head of the Conservatoire.-Sources:Much of what we know about Moscheles's life...
, Josef Weigl, and Ferdinand Ries
Ferdinand Ries
Ferdinand Ries was a German composer.- Life :Born into a musical family of Bonn, Ries was a friend and pupil of Beethoven who published in 1838 a collection of reminiscences of his teacher, co-written with Franz Wegeler...
, and he was a close friend of Josef Haydn. Who better was there to claim as his teacher for an impressive resume, especially for one like Kalkbrenner, who always had his eye on wealth and fame? Besides taking lessons in counterpoint he saw a lot of Haydn, Beethoven and Hummel, playing duets with the latter, his only serious rival as a pianist. Thus, it is not entirely without warranty when Kalkbrenner styled himself as the last classical composer for the rest of his life. He firmly maintained that he was of the old school, and the old school was Beethoven, Haydn, Ries and Hummel.
With his educaction finally ended, Kalkbrenner in 1805 and the year thereafter appeared as concert pianist in Berlin, Munich, and Stuttgart.
1814–23: Pianist, teacher and businessman in London
From 1814 to 1823 Kalkbrenner lived in England. He gave a good many concerts, composed and established himself as a successful piano teacher. It was here that Kalkbrenner, always the astute businessman, came across an invention made by one Johann Bernhard Logier. This invention was the so-called chiroplast or hand guide. The chiroplast was a contrivance made from two parallel rails of mahogany wood that were placed on two feet and loosely attached to the piano. This apparatus should restrict vertical motions of the arms thereby helping nascent pianists to attain the (perceived) correct position of the hands. Camille Saint-Saëns, who was put to work with it as a boy, describes it:- "The preface to Kalkbrenner's method, in which he relates the beginnings of his invention, is exceedingly interesting. This invention consisted of a rod placed in front of the keyboard. The forearm rested on this rod in such a way that all muscular action save that of the hand was suppressed. This system is excellent for teaching the young pianist how to play pieces written for the harpsichord or the first pianofortes where the keys responded to slight pressure; but it is inadequate for modern works and instruments."
Useful or not, this contraption became a runaway success. There are reports that it was still available for sale in London in the 1870s. In 1817 Logier teamed up with Kalkbrenner to found an academy where music theory and piano playing, of course with the help of the chiro-plast, were taught. The proceeds from the patent made Kalkbrenner a wealthy man. In 1821 Ignaz Moscheles had also settled in London. His powerful and finished playing had a great influence on Kalkbrenner, who used his time in London to hone his technical skills even more.
1823-24: Concerts in Austria and Germany
In 1823 and 1824 Kalkbrenner gave concerts in Frankfurt, Leipzig, Dresden, Berlin, Prague, and Vienna. Where he went he was received with loud applause. Considering the fact that Ignaz MoschelesIgnaz Moscheles
Ignaz Moscheles was a Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso, whose career after his early years was based initially in London, and later at Leipzig, where he succeeded his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as head of the Conservatoire.-Sources:Much of what we know about Moscheles's life...
, who was wider known, Kalkbrenner's equal as a pianist, and a better composer, was touring the same places at roughly the same time, this was quite an achievement. During the same period, he composed a variation on a waltz by Anton Diabelli
Anton Diabelli
Anton Diabelli was an Austrian music publisher, editor and composer of Italian descent. Best known in his time as a publisher, he is most familiar today as the composer of the waltz on which Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his set of thirty-three Diabelli Variations.-Early life:Diabelli was born in...
for Vaterländischer Künstlerverein
Vaterländischer Künstlerverein
Vaterländischer Künstlerverein was a collaborative musical publication or anthology, incorporating 83 variations for piano on a theme by Anton Diabelli, written by 51 composers living in or associated with Austria. It was published in two parts in 1823 and 1824, by firms headed by Diabelli. It...
.
1825-49: Pianist, teacher and piano manufacturer in Paris
Kalkbrenner returned to Paris a rich man. Here he became a partner in Pleyel's Fortepiano Factory, which by the of time Kalkbrenner’s death (1849) had risen to a place second only to Erard in prestige and output.Kalkbrenner, although of German birth, became the ranking head of the modern French pianoforte school. The 1830ies were his greatest time. He was at the pinnacle of his pianistic powers and his virtuosity aroused the greatest enthusiasm in the years 1833, 1834, and 1836 on his trips to Hamburg, Berlin, Brussels, and other places.
After the arrival of Liszt and Thalberg, Kalkbrenner’s fame was on the wane. What he lost in pianistic reputation he compensated trough a happy marriage to a much younger, titled and wealthy French heiress, descendant of aristocrats of the ancien régime. The couple entertained in a grand fashion and did all it could to copycat the resurgent Bourbon aristocracy of the 1830ies.
Kalkbrenner died in 1849 in Enghien-les-Bains
Enghien-les-Bains
Enghien-les-Bains is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the département of Val-d'Oise....
from cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
which he attempted to treat himself.
Notable pupils
It would be wrong to classify Kalkbrenner as the Theodor Leschetizky of his time, but he had quite a few pupils and some of them became fine pianists and sometimes also good composers. Through Arabella GoddardArabella Goddard
Arabella Goddard was an English pianist of great renown in the middle to late 19th century.She was born and died in France. Her parents, Thomas Goddard, an heir to a Salisbury cutlery firm, and Arabella née Ingles, were part of an English community of expatriates living in Saint-Servan near...
and Camille Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
– who studied with Kalkbrenner’s star product Camille-Marie Stamaty
Camille-Marie Stamaty
Camille-Marie Stamaty was a French pianist, piano teacher and composer predominantly of piano music and studies . Today largely forgotten, he was one of the preeminent piano teachers in 19th century Paris...
– Kalkbrenner’s influence reached well into the first half of the 20th century. This is a list of Kalkbrenner’s most famous students:
- Cornelius ÁbrányiKornél ÁbrányiKornél Ábrányi, or Ábrányi Kornél in Hungarian iteration was a Hungarian pianist, music writer and theorist, and composer...
(1822-1903: Hungarian pianist and composer and a lifelong friend of Franz Liszt, was Kalkbrenner's pupil from 1843 until 1844. During the same time he also had lessons from Chopin. In 1845 he returned to his native Hungary to devote himself to composition and the build up of the Hungarian national school of composition. - Arabella GoddardArabella GoddardArabella Goddard was an English pianist of great renown in the middle to late 19th century.She was born and died in France. Her parents, Thomas Goddard, an heir to a Salisbury cutlery firm, and Arabella née Ingles, were part of an English community of expatriates living in Saint-Servan near...
(1836–1922): English pianist. She began to study with Kalkbrenner at the age of 6 and also had lessons from Sigismond Thalberg. She made tours of Germany and Italy (1854–55); later toured the U. S., Australia, and India (1873–76). Harold C. Schonberg calls her the most important British pianist from 1853 until 1890. At her London debut (1853) she played BeethovenLudwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's Hammerklavier SonataPiano Sonata No. 29 (Beethoven)Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106 is a piano sonata widely considered to be one of the most important works of the composer's third period and among one of the great piano sonatas...
from memory which in those days took a great deal of courage. - Ignace LeybachIgnace LeybachIgnace Xavier Joseph Leybach was a teacher, pianist and organist, and a composer of salon piano music....
(1817–1891): Alsatian pianist and composer. He studied in Paris with Pixis, Kalkbrenner, and Chopin; in 1844 he became organist at the cathedral of Toulouse. - Marie-Felicite-Denise Pleyel (1811–1875): was a pianist with a German mother and a Belgian father. She studied with Henri HerzHenri HerzHenri Herz was a pianist and composer, Austrian by birth, and French by domicile.Herz was born Heinrich Herz in Vienna...
, Ignaz MoschelesIgnaz MoschelesIgnaz Moscheles was a Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso, whose career after his early years was based initially in London, and later at Leipzig, where he succeeded his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as head of the Conservatoire.-Sources:Much of what we know about Moscheles's life...
, and Kalkbrenner. By the time she was 15 her virtuosity created a sensation in Belgium, Austria, Germany, and Russia. Before her marriage, Hector BerliozHector BerliozHector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
was madly in love with her (1830). From 1848-72 she was professor of piano at the Brussels Conservatory. - Ludwig SchunckeLudwig SchunckeLudwig Schuncke was a German pianist and composer, and close friend of Robert Schumann. His early promise was eclipsed by his death from tuberculosis at the age of 23....
(1810–1834): German pianist. He studied with his father, the horn player Gottfried Schuncke (1777–1840). From there he went to Paris, where he was a pupil of Kalkbrenner and Anton ReichaAnton ReichaAnton Reicha was a Czech-born, later naturalized French composer. A contemporary and lifelong friend of Beethoven, Reicha is now best remembered for his substantial early contribution to the wind quintet literature and his role as a teacher – his pupils included Franz Liszt and Hector Berlioz...
. He settled in Leipzig in 1833, and became the intimate friend of Robert Schumann. He was co-founder of the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. - Camille-Marie StamatyCamille-Marie StamatyCamille-Marie Stamaty was a French pianist, piano teacher and composer predominantly of piano music and studies . Today largely forgotten, he was one of the preeminent piano teachers in 19th century Paris...
(1811–1870): French pianist, teacher and composer of piano music and studies (études). He was one of the preeminent piano teachers in 19th century Paris. His most famous pupils were Louis Moreau Gottschalk and Camille Saint-Saëns. - Thomas TellefsenThomas TellefsenThomas Dyke Acland Tellefsen was a Norwegian pianist and composer.Thomas Tellefsen was born in Trondheim, Norway, where he studied with his father, the organist Johan Christian Tellefsen, and with Ole Andreas Lindeman. Thomas gave his first public concert in his home town at age 18...
(1823–1874): Norwegian pianist and composer. In 1842 he went to Paris, where he studied with Kalkbrenner. In 1844 he became a pupil of Chopin, and accompanied him to England and Scotland in 1848. He published an edition of Chopin's works, and played Chopin's music at recitals in Paris and in Scandinavia.
Louis Moreau Gottschalk: father of a wunderkind (ca. 1828)
This is no incident the American pianist and composer could have witnessed, as he himself arrived in Paris from his native New Orleans only in 1843. It is one of the many anecdotes about Kalkbrenner’s larger than life figure that Gottschalk would have heard in Paris salons. He wrote it down, yearning for his Paris days, either in a hotel room or in a railway carriage in May 1864 during a disastrous concert tour through Canada.- "Kalkbrenner had a son whom he hoped to make the inheritor of his glory, but who, after having been a child prodigy, aborted and became a prodigious nullity. One night after having boasted before the French court of the improvisations of his child, then eight years old, the king expressed his desire to hear one of these marvellous inspirations. The child placed himself at the piano and played for some minutes, then, stopping all at once, turned toward his father and artlessly said to him: "Papa, I have forgotten –".
Frédéric Chopin: almost a pupil (1831)
For a few hectic weeks in the autumn and winter of 1831, Frédéric ChopinFrédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
considered becoming Kalkbrenner’s pupil in earnest. Kalkbrenner, though, had demanded that Chopin study three years with him. Chopin's deliberations, whether he should or should not study with Kalkbrenner, caused a flurry of letters between Chopin’s native Poland and Paris:
- Warsaw, November 27, 1831, Józef ElsnerJózef ElsnerJózef Antoni Franciszek was a composer, music teacher and music theoretician, active mainly in Warsaw...
(Chopin’s piano teacher) to Chopin in Paris: "I was pleased to see, by your letter, that Kalkbrenner, the first of pianists, as you call him, gave you such a friendly reception. I knew his father, in Paris, in 1805; and the son, who was then very young, had already distinguished himself as a first-rate virtuoso. I am very glad that he has agreed to initiate you into the mysteries of his art, but it astonishes me to hear that he requires three years to do so. Did he think the first time he saw and heard you, that you needed all that time to accustom yourself to his method? or that you wished to devote your musical talents to the piano alone, and to confine your compositions to that instrument?"
- Paris, December 14th, 1831, Chopin to Józef Elsner in Warsaw: "Three years of study is a great deal too much, as Kalkbrenner himself perceived after he had heard me a few times. From this you can see, dear Mons. Elsner, that the true virtuoso does not know what envy is. I could make up my mind to study three years, if I felt certain that would secure the end I have in view. One thing is quite clear to my mind; I will never be a copy of Kalkbrenner; he shall not destroy my resolution - bold it may be, but sincere - of creating a new era in art. If I take any more lessons now, it will only be that I may become independent in the future."
- Paris, December 16, 1831, Chopin to Titus Woyciechowski in Poland: "I wish I could say I play as well as Kalkbrenner, who is perfection in quite another style to Paganini. Kalkbrenner's fascinating touch, the quietness and equality of his playing, are indescribable; every note proclaims the master. He is truly a giant, who dwarfs- all other artists. (...) I was very much amused by Kalkbrenner, who, in playing to me, made a mistake which brought him to a standstill; but the way in which he recovered himself was marvellous. Since this meeting we have seen each other every day; either he comes to me, or I go to him. He offered to take me as a pupil for three years, and to make a great artist of me. I replied that I knew very well what were my deficiencies; but I did not wish to imitate him, and that three years were too much for me. (...) But many friends advise me not to take lessons ; they think that I play as well as Kalkbrenner, and that he only wants to have me as a pupil out of vanity. That is absurd. Anybody who understands music must appreciate Kalkbrenner's talents, although he is personally unpopular, as he will not associate with everybody. But I can assure you there is something superior about him, to all the virtuosi whom I have hitherto heard. I told my parents so, and they quite understood it, but Elsner did not; he considered that Kalkbrenner found fault with my playing out of jealousy."
Charles Hallé: almost a pupil (1836)
The German-British pianist, conductor and founder of the Hallé Orchestra, Charles HalléCharles Hallé
Sir Charles Hallé was an Anglo-German pianist and conductor, and founder of The Hallé orchestra in 1858.-Life:Hallé was born in Hagen, Westphalia, Germany who after settling in England changed his name from Karl Halle...
, had as a very young man of seventeen called on Kalkbrenner to inquire about lessons. At first he seriously intended to become Kalkbrenner’s pupil, but he changed his mind after this encounter with the celebrated man:
- "Kalkbrenner and Hummel were at that time considered the greatest pianists, and even Chopin had come to Paris a few years before to learn from Kalkbrenner. I therefore approached him with considerable trepidation, and great was my disappointment when he told me that he no longer took pupils. He, however, kindly invited me to play something, to which he listened carefully, and then made some unpleasant remarks and advised me to take lessons from one of his pupils. As I was about to leave him he offered to play for me, saying that it might prove useful to me to hear him. I accepted eagerly and was full of expectation, when he sat down and played a new piece of his composition, entitled ' Le Fou,' one of the most reasonable and dullest pieces ever perpetrated. I admired the elegance and neatness of his scales and legato playing, but was not otherwise struck by his performance, having expected more, and wondering at some wrong notes which I had detected."
Clara Schumann: "smiling sweetly" (1839)
Clara SchumannClara Schumann
Clara Schumann was a German musician and composer, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era...
, wife of composer Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
, and herself an eminent pianist and composer, spent several months in Paris during the year 1839. She met many of the Parisian pianists, Kalkbrenner among them. In a letter home to her father, piano pedagogue Friedrich Wieck
Friedrich Wieck
Johann Gottlob Friedrich Wieck was a noted German piano teacher, voice teacher, owner of a piano store, and music reviewer. He is remembered as the teacher of his daughter, Clara, a child prodigy who was doing international concert tours by age eleven and who later married Robert Schumann...
, she wrote:
- "A sextet of Kalkbrenner's was played yesterday, which is miserably composed, so poor, so feeble, and so lacking in all imagination. Of course Kalkbrenner sat in the front row smiling sweetly, and highly satisfied with himself and his creation. He always looks as if he were saying, "Oh God, I and all mankind must thank Thee that Thou hast created a mind like mine" (Probst's words and interpretation very good, aren't they?)."
Heinrich Heine: "a bon-bon fallen into the mud" (1842)
German poet and satirist Heinrich HeineHeinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...
in his Letters on Music from Paris (1840–47) wrote with biting wit on musical life and musicians in the French capital. Kalkbrenner was the target of some of Heine’s more famous squibs.
- "Kalkbrenner reappeared this winter in the concert of a pupil; there still plays on his lips that embalmed and balmy smile which we lately noted in an Egyptian Pharaoh when his mummy was unrolled in the museum here. After an absence of more than twenty-five years, M. Kalkbrenner lately revisited London, the scene of his earliest success, and harvested a great crop of fame. The best is that he returned with his neck unbroken, and we now need no longer put faith in the mysterious report that M. Kalkbrenner avoided England so long on account of the unhealthy law which there prevails of punishing the gallant crime of bigamy with the halter. (...) Koreff said as wittily as neatly of him that he looked like a bon-bon which had fallen into the mud."
Marmontel: a fish free of charge (ca. 1844)
"One day Kalkbrenner gave a dinner for a group of society celebrities, among them several famous artists. During the first course a magnificent fish caught the eye of his guests. They asked Kalkbrenner whence he had procured this beautiful specimen. Kalkbrenner was only too glad to explain. He himself had visited the famous Paris market in the morning to search for the best and freshest fish. Upon spotting the fish his guests were now eating, he was inconsolable to learn that the fish vendor had already promised the beauty to the personal chef of an archbishop. Kalkbrenner, devastated, nevertheless pulled out his card; on handing it to the vendor the lady cried: Oh you are Kalkbrenner, the famous master, well in this case I not only will give the fish to you, I will also give it to you absolutely free of charge."Louis Moreau Gottschalk: "classical pieces" (1845)
The American pianist Louis Moreau GottschalkLouis Moreau Gottschalk
Louis Moreau Gottschalk was an American composer and pianist, best known as a virtuoso performer of his own romantic piano works...
was a pupil of Camille Stamaty, Kalkbrenner’s substitute teacher and heir to his piano method. Kalkbrenner was in the audience when Gottschalk gave his debut concert in the Salle Pleyel playing Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1
Piano Concerto No. 1 (Chopin)
The Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11, is a piano concerto written by Frédéric Chopin in 1830. It was first performed on 11 October of that year, in Warsaw, with the composer as soloist, during one of his "farewell" concerts before leaving Poland....
. After the concert Chopin went backstage and congratulated Gottschalk on his success. Kalkbrenner, who deigned it beneath his dignity to seek out a mere debutant, chose not to go backstage, but rather waited for Gottschalk to come and see him. Gottschalk dutifully obliged the next day. This is what Gottschalk relates about their memorable encounter:
- "In 1844, then very young, I gave in Paris a soirée to which all the illustrious pianists of the period were invited, among others Kalkbrenner. I played Chopin’s concerto in E Minor, Thalbergs Fantasia on Semiramide, and that of Liszt on Robert le Diable. The next day I went to thank Kalkbrenner for having come to hear me. This attention softened a little the generally sour disposition of the old pianist, who did not forgive the new school for knowing something; he took my hand and said with the air of majestic condescension: The style is good, as for the rest there is nothing astonishing; you are my grandchild (alluding to Stamaty, who was his pupil), but for god's sake, who advised you to play such music. Chopin! I hardly pardon you; but Liszt and Thalberg, what rhapsodies! Why did you not play one of my pieces? They are beautiful, please everybody and are classical".
Sources
- Chopin, Frédéric. Chopin's Letters. Unabridged and slightly corrected Dover Reprint (1988) of the original Knopf Edition. Edited by E.L. Voynich. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1931. ISBN 0486255646
- Gottschalk, Louis Moreau. Notes of a Pianist. Reprint of the 1964 edition, ed. Jeanne Behrend, with a New Foreword by S. Frederick StarrS. Frederick StarrStephen Frederick Starr is the founder and Chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute. He is also a noted musician.-Academic career:...
. Princeton: Princeton University PressPrinceton University Press-Further reading:* "". Artforum International, 2005.-External links:* * * * *...
, 2006. ISBN 0691127166 - Hallé, C.E. Hallé and Marie. Life and Letters of Sir Charles Hallé. London (GB): Smith, Elder, & Co., 1896.
- Heine, Heinrich. The Works of Heinrich Heine. Translated by Charles Godfrey Leland (Hans Breitmann). Vol. 4. London: William Heinemann, 1893.
- Hiller, Ferdinand. Erinnerungsblätter (Leaves of Remembrance). Köln (Cologne), 1884.
- Karasowski, Moritz. Frédéric Chopin - His Life and Letters. London: William Reeves, 1881? New Edition: ISBN 1113727918
- Liszt, Franz. Letters of Franz Liszt. Edited by La Mara. Translated by Constance Bache. Vol. 1 From Paris to Rome. Covent Garden: H. Grevel & Co., 1894.
- Litzmann, Berthold, ed. Clara Schuman an Artist’s Life. Translated by Grace E. Hadow. Vol. 1. 2 vols. London: Macmillan & Co., 1913.
- Marmontel, Antoine Francois. Les Pianistes Célèbres. Paris: Imprimerie Centrale des Chemins de Fer A. Chaix et Cie, 1878.
- Nicholas, Jeremy. “Liner Notes to Hyperion CD recording of Kalkbrenner Piano Concertos No. 1, Op. 61 and No. 4, Op. 127.” Published by Hyperion RecordsHyperion RecordsHyperion Records is an independent British classical record label.-History:The company was named after Hyperion, one of the Titans of Greek mythology. It was founded by George Edward Perry, widely known as "Ted", in 1980. Early LP releases included rarely recorded 20th century British music by...
Ltd., London, 2006. - Saint-Saëns, Camille. Musical Memoirs. Translated by Edward Gile Rich. Boston: Small, Maynard & Company, 1919.
- Saint-Saëns, Camille. Musical Memoirs. Newly annotated edition by Roger Nichols. Oxford (GB): Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
2008. ISBN 0195320166 - Schonberg, Harold C. The Great Pianists. Revised and Updated Edition. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984.
- Slonimsky, Nicolas, ed. Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. 5th Edition. New York: Schirmer, 1958.
- Starr, S. Frederick. Bamboula - The Life and Times of Louis Moreau Gottschalk. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995 ISBN 0-19-507237-5
- Walther Killy, Rudolf Vierhaus, Hrsg. (ed.) Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopäde (German Biographic Encyclopaedia). Bde. (Vol.) 5. K-G. 10 Bde. (Vols.) Munich: KG Saur, 1999. ISBN 3598231865
- Weitzmann, C. F. A History of Pianoforte-Playing. 2nd augmented and revised edition. Translated by Dr. Th. Baker. New York: G. Schirmer, 1897.