Arthur Rubinstein

Arthur Rubinstein Polish Artur Rubinstein 28 January 1887 20 December 1982 was a PolishAmerican pianist He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time He received international acclaim for his performances of the music written by a variety of composers and many regard him as one of the greatest Chopin interpreters of his time He played in public for eight decades Artur Rubinstein was born in ?ód? Congress Poland part of the Russian Empire for the entire time Rubinstein resided there on 28 January 1887 to a Jewish family He was the youngest of seven children of Felicja Blima Fajga née Heiman and Izaak Rubinstein His father owned a small textile factory Rubinsteins birth name was to be Leo but his eightyearold brother claimed that His name must be Artur Since Artur X a neighbours son plays the violin so nicely the baby may also become a great musician Thus he was called Artur although in Englishspeaking countries he preferred to be known as Arthur Rubinstein His United States impresario Sol Hurok however insisted he be billed as Artur and records were released in the West under both versions of his name At age two Rubinstein demonstrated absolute pitch and a fascination with the piano watching his elder sisters piano lessons By the age of four he was recognised as a child prodigy His father had a predilection for the violin and offered Rubinstein a violin but Rubinstein rejected it because he thought his instinct was for harmony and polyphony The Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim on hearing the fouryearold child play the piano was greatly impressed telling Arthurs family This boy may become a very great musicianhe certainly has the talent for it When the time comes for serious study bring him to me and I shall be glad to supervise his artistic education On 14 December 1894 sevenyearold Arthur Rubinstein had his debut with pieces by Mozart Schubert and Mendelssohn When he became ten years of age Rubinstein moved to Berlin to continue his studies and gave his first performance with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1900 at the age of 13 Joseph Joachim recommended Karl Heinrich Barth as the boys piano teacher As a student of Barth Rubinstein inherited a renowned pedagogical lineage Barth was himself a pupil of Liszt who had been taught by Czerny who had in turn been a pupil of Beethoven In 1904 Rubinstein moved to Paris to launch his career in earnest where he met the composers Maurice Ravel and Paul Dukas and the violinist Jacques Thibaud He also played Camille SaintSaëns Piano Concerto No 2 in the presence of the composer Through the family of Juliusz Wertheim whose understanding of Chopins genius inspired Rubinstein he formed friendships with the violinist Paul Kochanski and composer Karol Szymanowski Source Article Arthur Rubinstein from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30