Theodor Leschetizky

Theodor Leschetizky

Theodor Leschetizky ; 22 June 1830 in Łańcut, Lemberg~ November 1915 in Dresden) was an Austrian pianist, professor and composer.
He was born in Łańcut, Lemberg in Poland (at the time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire).

Life

Theodor Leschetizky was born on the estate of the family of Count Potòcka. His father was a gifted pianist and music teacher of Viennese birth. His mother Therèse (von) Ulmann was a gifted singer and of German origin. Leschetizky's father gave him his first piano lessons and then took him to Vienna to study with Czerny. At age eleven he performed in Lemberg (near Lancut) a Czerny piano concerto with W. A. Mozart conducting (son of the immortal Mozart). At age fourtheen, he started to tutor his first pupils. By the age of eighteen he was a well-known virtuoso in Vienna and beyond.His teacher for composition was Simon Sechter; subsequently the teacher of Anton Bruckner).
At an invitation of his friend Anton Rubinstein, he went to St. Petersburg to teach in the court of the Grand Duchess Helen. Remaining there from 1852 to 1877, he was one of the founders of the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music in 1862. While in Russia he married one of his most famous pupils, Annette Essipoff (the second of his four wives), and had two children (one of them Robert Leschetizky).
In 1878 he returned back to Vienna and began teaching there, creating one of the most eminent private piano studios in history, besides Franz Liszt in Weimar. He taught literally thousands of students, in the Weimarerstraβse (formerly the Carl Ludwigstraβe) XIX. Bezirk Wien, Vienna. They came from all over the world, many from the United States.
Leschetizky kept teaching until high age, leaving for Dresden in 1915, not to return back.
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Leschetizky's descendants

He was survived by a son, Robert (Dresden) who's family returned to Bad Ischl after his death.
His descendants still live in Bad Ischl and there is a Leschetizky Villa at the Leschetizky Straβe, the summer resort, where Theodor Leschetizky often vacationed with his friend Johannes Brahms. Leschetizky had surviving by a grand daughter Ilse Leschetizky (1910-1997), who was a distinguished pianist and teacher. One of her daughters Margret Tautschnig, keeps on with the Leschetizky tradition with the Leschetizky Verein Ősterreich in Bad Ischl. The organisation was co-founded by the Belgian pianist Peter Ritzen

Herr Professor & his famous students

Among his celebrated Vorbereiter (assistants who prepared students to play for him) were Katherine Goodson, Annette Hullah, Marie Prentner, and Malwine Brée, author of The Leschetizky Method (a title which he approved, while stating that there "was no method!"). The list of virtuoso concert artists he trained includes Annette Essipoff, Ignaz Friedmann, Ignacy Paderewski, Arthur Schnabel, Mark Hambourg, Alexander Brailowsky, Benno Moiseivitch, and Mieclaw Horszowski.
Perhaps the secret of his successful teaching was that he worked with each student's personality and technical abilities in an individual way. His famous weekly classes provided his students the opportunity to try out their pieces, prior to public performances, before a discerning audience of their fellow students and invited guests.
Until his death, Leschetizky espoused a philosophy of music-making and enjoying life to the fullest, captured in one of his most famous sayings (translated from the German),
"No art without life, no life without art."

Leschetizky the composer

Theodor Leschetizky possessed a distinct talent for composition. He wrote over one hundred charateristic piano pieces, two operas: Die Bruder von San Marco & Die Erste Falte, thirtheen magnificent songs, and a one-movement piano concerto. Combined in 49 Opus numbers alltogether.
Although his piano pieces are primarily smaller works in the genre of salon music, they display an expressive lyric gift while exploiting the piano's capabilities to great effect. Most of Leschetizky's music has been out of print since the early twentieth century, with the exception of the Andante Finale (a paraphrase on the famous sextet from the Opera Lucia di Lammermoor by G.Donizetti) , Op. 13; a transcription for the left hand only, besides Les deux alouettes, Op. 2, No. 1.

Recordings

• On February 1906, Theodor Leschetizky recorded twelve piano rolls for Welte-Mignon including seven of his own compositions.
  
• Leschetizky Piano Concerto op.9/ Overture "Die erste Falte/ Contes de Jeunesses Peter Ritzen, piano Naxos Records Catalogue No: 8.223803
  
• Leschetizky Piano Works (with the famous left hand piece Andante Finale op.13) Peter Ritzen, piano Naxos Records Catalogue No: 8.223525
  
• Leschetizky Piano Music Centaur Records Catalogue No: CRC2319

Literature

• Malwine Brée: The groundwork of the Leschetizky method: issued with his approval / by Malwine Brée; with forty-seven illustrative cuts of Leschetizky's hand; translated from the German by Dr. Th. Baker. Mayence (Mainz), 1903.
• Malwine Brée: The Leschetizky method: a guide to fine and correct piano playing. English translation by Arthur Elson; introduction by Seymour Bernstein. Mineola, Dover Publications, 1997.
• Theodor Leschetizky: Das Klavierwerk. Köln (Cologne), Haas 2000.
• Comtesse Angèle Potocka: Theodore Leschetizky, an intimate study of the man and the musician. New York, The Century co., 1903
• Annette Hullah: Theodor Leschetizky. London, Lane, 1906 (Reprinted 1923).

External links

• Free scores by Theodor Leschetizky at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
• Theodor Leschetizky today playing his 1906 interpretations (The Welte Mignon Mystery vol. XIII)
• Piano Rolls (The Reproducing Piano Roll Foundation)
• Leschetizky Piano Concerto op. 9 /Overture/ Piano Pieces (Peter Ritzen, Piano) link
• Leschetizky Piano Works (Peter Ritzen, Piano) link
  
• Leschetizky Piano Music (Clara Park, Piano) link