Look up chopine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Line art drawing of a chopine.

A chopine is a type of women's platform shoe that was popular in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. Chopines were originally used as a patten, clog, or overshoe to protect the shoes and dress from mud and street soil.

Chopines were popularly worn in Venice by both courtesans and patrician women from ca. 1400-1700. Besides their practical uses, the height of the chopine became a symbolic reference to the cultural and social standing of the wearer; the higher the chopine, the higher the status of the wearer.^[1] High chopines allowed a woman to literally and figuratively tower over others. During the Renaissance, chopines became an article of women's fashion and were made increasingly taller; some extant examples are over 20 inches (50 cm) high.^[2] Shakespeare joked about the extreme height of the chopines in style in his day by using the word altitude (Hamlet 2.2, the prince greets one of the visiting players, - the adolescent boy who would have played the female parts in the all-male troupe - by noting how much "nearer to heaven" the lad had grown since he last saw him — "by the altitude of a chopine.")

Surviving chopines are typically made of wood, or cork, and those in the Spanish style were sometimes banded about with metal. Extant pieces are covered with leather, brocades, or jewel-embroidered velvet. Often, the fabric of the chopine matched the dress or the shoe, but not always.

According to some scholars, chopines caused an unstable and inelegant gait. Women wearing them were generally accompanied by a servant or attendant on whom they could balance themselves.^[3] Other scholars have argued that with practice a woman could walk and even dance gracefully.^[4] In his dancing manual Nobilità di dame (1600), the Italian dancing master Fabritio Caroso writes that with care a woman practiced in wearing her chopines could move “with grace, seemliness, and beauty” and even "dance flourishes and galliard variations".^[5] Chopines were usually put on with the help of two servants.

In the 15th century, chopines were also the style in Spain. Their popularity in Spain was so great that the larger part of the nation's cork supplies went towards production of the shoes. Some argue that the style originated in Spain, as there are many extant examples and a great amount of pictorial and written reference going back to the 14th century ^[6] Chopines of the Spanish style were more often conical and symmetric, while their Venetian counterparts are much more artistically carved. That is not to say, however, that Spanish chopines were not adorned; on the contrary, there is evidence of jeweling, gilt lettering along the surround (the material covering the cork or wooden base), tooling, and embroidery on Spanish chopines.

There are a great deal of cognates of the word chopine (chapiney, choppins, etc.), however neither the word chopine nor any word similar to it (chioppino, cioppino, etc.) appears in either Florio's 1598 or 1611 dictionary. The Italian word, instead, seems to be "zoccoli," which likely comes from the Italian word "zocco," meaning a stump or a block of wood. Florio does, however, use the word "chopinos" in his English definition of zoccoli.

Sources[link]

• http://www.aands.org/raisedheels
• http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~ebernhar/index.shtml
• http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/08/eustn/hod_1973.114.4a,b.htm

References[link]

Martha Argerich at the age of 21 in 1962

Martha Argerich (born June 5, 1941 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is an Argentine pianist.

Early life[link]

Argerich was born in Buenos Aires and started playing the piano at age three (the provenance of the name Argerich is uncertain: some say it is Catalan, while others maintain it originates from Croatia).^[1] At the age of five, she moved to teacher Vincenzo Scaramuzza who stressed to her the importance of lyricism and feeling. Argerich gave her debut concert in 1949 at the age of eight. The family moved to Europe in 1955 where Argerich studied with Friedrich Gulda in Austria. Juan Perón, then the president of Argentina, made their decision possible by appointing her parents to diplomatic posts in the Argentine Embassy in Vienna. She later studied with Stefan Askenase and Maria Curcio.^[2] Argerich also seized opportunities for brief periods of coaching with Madeleine Lipatti (widow of Dinu Lipatti), Abbey Simon, and Nikita Magaloff.^[3] In 1957, at sixteen, she won both the Geneva International Music Competition and the Ferruccio Busoni International Competition, within three weeks of each other. It was at the latter that she met Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli whom she would later seek out for lessons during a personal artistic crisis at the age of twenty, though she only had four lessons with him in a year and a half.^[4] Her greatest influence was Gulda, with whom she studied for 18 months.

Professional career[link]

Argerich rose to international prominence when she won the seventh International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1965, at age 24. In 1965, she debuted in the United States in the Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series. In the same year, she also made her first recording, including works by Chopin, Brahms, Ravel, Prokofiev, and Liszt, which received critical acclaim. In 1965, she recorded Chopin's Scherzo No. 3, Polonaise, Op. 53, and other short works in the later years.

Argerich has often remarked in interviews of feeling "lonely" on stage during solo performances.^[5] Since the 1980s, she has staged few solo performances, instead focusing on concertos and, in particular, chamber music, and accompanying instrumentalists in sonatas. She is noted especially for her recordings of 20th century works by composers such as Rachmaninoff, Messiaen and Prokofiev. One notable compilation pairs Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 (recorded in December 1982 with the Radio Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under direction of Riccardo Chailly) with Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 (February 1980, Symphonie Orchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Kirill Kondrashin).

Argerich is also famous for her interpretation of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3, Ravel's Piano Concerto in G, and Bach's Partita No. 2 in C minor, which she has recorded several times and continues to perform.

Argerich has also promoted younger pianists, both through her annual festival and through her frequent appearances as a member of the jury at important competitions.^{[citation needed]} The pianist Ivo Pogorelić was thrust into the musical spotlight partly as a result of Argerich's actions: after he was eliminated in the third round of the 1980 International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Argerich proclaimed him a "genius" and left the jury in protest.^[6] She has supported several artists including Gabriela Montero, Mauricio Vallina, Sergio Tiempo, Gabriele Baldocci and others.^[7][8]

Argerich is president of the International Piano Academy Lake Como and performs each year at the Lugano Festival, Switzerland. She also created and has been General Director of the Argerich Music Festival and Encounter in Beppu, Japan, since 1996.

Her aversion to the press and publicity has resulted in her remaining out of the limelight for most of her career. Nevertheless she is widely recognized as one of the greatest pianists of her time.^[9]

Personal life[link]

Argerich has been married three times. Her first marriage was to composer-conductor Robert Chen, with whom she had a daughter, Lyda Chen, who is a violist. From 1969 to 1973, Argerich was married to conductor Charles Dutoit, with whom she had a daughter, Annie Dutoit. Argerich continues to record and perform with Dutoit. Her third husband was pianist Stephen Kovacevich, with whom she had a daughter, Stephanie.^[10]

In 1990, Argerich was diagnosed with malignant melanoma. After treatment, the cancer went into remission, but there was a reoccurrence in 1995, eventually metastasizing to her lungs and lymph nodes. Following aggressive treatment at the John Wayne Cancer Institute, which included the removal of part of her lung and use of an experimental vaccine, Argerich's cancer went into remission again. In gratitude, Argerich performed a Carnegie Hall recital benefiting the Institute.^[11] As of 2012^[update], Argerich remains cancer-free.^{[citation needed]}

Awards[link]

• The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette 2005 Japan
• Praemium Imperiale 2005 Japan
• Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra):
  • Claudio Abbado (conductor), Martha Argerich and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra for Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3 (2006)
• Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance:
  • Martha Argerich and Mikhail Pletnev for Prokofiev (Arr. Pletnev): Cinderella Suite for Two Pianos/Ravel: Ma Mere L'Oye (2005)
• Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra)
  • Charles Dutoit (conductor), Martha Argerich and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra for Prokofiev: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 3/Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3 (2000)
• Claudio Arrau Memorial Medal (1997)
• International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition: 1st prize (1965)
• Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition: 1st prize (1957) ^[12]
• Geneva International Music Competition: 1st prize (1957)
• Voted into Gramophone's Hall of Fame in 2012.^[13]

See also[link]

Piano portal

• Great Pianists of the 20th Century - Martha Argerich
• Great Pianists of the 20th Century - Martha Argerich II
• List of Argentines

References[link]

External links[link]

• "Argerich--Discography," (August 11, 1999)
• Ross, Alex; 'Madame X', November 12, 2001, a profile of Argerich in The New Yorker
• Martha Argerich, evening talks, the award-winning documentary film about Argerich by Georges Gachot - (imdb link)
• Orga, Ates, River Plate Queen (1978, 2006), an interview with Argerich first published in the 1979 International Music Guide
• MUSIC FESTIVAL Argerich's Meeting Point in Beppu, a music festival sponsored by the Argerich Arts Foundation of Beppu, Japan
• The Martha Argerich Project
• Argerich Music news, concert schedule, articles, recordings
• Argerich's repertoire through the years
• Martha Argerich biography, CD and concert review by cosmopolis.ch
• Martha Argerich Project Brings Talent to Lugano by Euro News, June 15, 2009

Yundi Li
Born	(1982-10-07) October 7, 1982 (age 29) Chongqing, Sichuan, China
Occupation	Classical pianist
Parents	Li Chuan Zhang Xiaolu
Awards	International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition 2000 1st in place 2000 The Fryderyk Chopin Society and Warsaw City Council ex aequo prize for the best performance of a polonaise
Signature

Li Yundi (simplified Chinese: 李云迪; traditional Chinese: 李雲迪; pinyin: Lǐ Yúndí) (born October 7, 1982) is a Chinese classical pianist. He is also popularly known as Yundi and formerly Yundi Li. Born in Chongqing, Li is most well known for being the youngest pianist to win the International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition, in 2000, at the age of 18. He currently resides in Hong Kong.

Childhood[link]

His father, Li Chuan, and his mother, Zhang Xiaolu, both worked for the Sichuan Chongqing Steel and Iron Company.^[1] Although coming from a family of non-musicians, Li took to music early. When he was three years old, his parents bought him an accordion after he was so entranced by an accordion player in a shopping mall that he refused to leave.^[2] He mastered the instrument by the age of four, studying with Tan Jianmin, a music professor in China. Only one year later, he won the top prize at the Chongqing Children's Accordion Competition.^[3] Li began studying piano at the age of seven years. Two years later, his teacher introduced him to Dan Zhaoyi, one of China's most renowned piano teachers, with whom he would study for nine years.^[4] Li's ambition was to become a professional pianist. In 1994, he entered the Shenzhen Arts School, Shenzhen, China. He later studied at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover in Hanover, Germany.

Awards[link]

Li has received top awards at various competitions. He won the Children's Piano Competition in Beijing in 1994.^[3] In 1995, he was awarded first place at the Stravinsky International Youth Competition. In 1998, he won the 1998 Missouri Southern International Piano Competition (Junior Division). The next year, he took Third Prize at the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition of Utrecht, as well as being a major winner in the China International Piano Competition. He also won first place at the Gina Bachauer Young Artists International Piano Competition.^[5]

In October 2000, at the urging of the Chinese Culture Ministry, Li participated in the 14th International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. He was the first participant to be awarded First Prize in 15 years. At 18 years of age, he was the youngest winner – and the first Chinese – in the competition's history. Li was given the "Polonaise award" by the Chopin Society for his performance at the competition.^[3]

Soon after, Li sought out pianist Arie Vardi as an instructor, and therefore left his parents' home to live and study at a music school in Hannover, Germany ("Hochschule für Musik und Theater").^[3]

Performing and recording career[link]

Li's debut in the United States took place in June 2003 at Carnegie Hall, as part of Steinway and Sons' 150th Anniversary Gala. His United States concerto debut took place the next month, when he performed Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1. He was also honoured at a special reception at the home of the Chinese Ambassador to the United States, where he performed for various officials of the US State Department.

Li's second recording of Liszt for Deutsche Grammophon, for whom he exclusively recorded until November 2008, was released in August 2003 and was named "Best CD of the Year" by The New York Times. His third recording, comprising Chopin's four Scherzi and three Impromptus, was released in late 2004. He is scheduled to release a recording of Beethoven sonatas in late 2012 for Deutsche Grammophon.^[6] He has also given a recital in the renowned Musikverein in Vienna, performing works by Mozart, Scarlatti, Schumann, and Liszt.

Li obtained Hong Kong residentship in November 2006 under the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme, among the first batch of people to do so under the scheme.^[7]

Li is the subject of a 2008 feature-length documentary, The Young Romantic: Yundi Li, directed by Barbara Willis Sweete.^[4] He appeared as a Pennington Great Performers series artist with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, also in 2008.

In January 2010, Li signed an exclusive recording contract with EMI Classics with plans to record the complete works for solo piano by Frédéric Chopin.^[8]

Li performed a solo recital at the Royal Festival Hall in London on the March 16, 2010. He played a repertoire of Chopin pieces to a sold-out crowd.^[9]

Recordings[link]

Chopin

• Complete Nocturnes (EMI Classics)

Chopin Recital

• Piano Sonata in B minor No. 3 op. 58
• Andante spianato et Grande Polonaise brillante op. 22
• Études op. 10 Nos. 2 + 5 op. 25 No. 11 »Winter Wind«
• Nocturnes op. 9 Nos. 1 + 2 op. 15 No. 2
• Impromptu op. 66

CD |D|D|D| 4714792

Franz Liszt

• Piano Sonata in B minor
• La Campanella
• Widmung after Schumann: Liebeslied
• Liebestraum No. 3
• Tarantella from Venezia e Napoli
• Rigoletto-Paraphrase

CD |D|D|D| 471 585–2 SACD |D|D|D| 474 2972 Awards: Echo Award 2003

Chopin: Scherzo & Impromptus

• 4 Scherzi:
• No. 1 op. 20 · No. 2 op. 31
• No. 3 op. 39 · No. 4 op. 54
• 3 Impromptus
• No. 1 op. 29 · No. 2 op. 36
• No. 3 op. 51

SACD |D|D|D| 474 8782 CD |D|D|D| 474 5162

Vienna Recital

• Liszt: Rhapsodie espagnole
• Mozart: Piano Sonata KV 330
• D. Scarlatti: Sonatas K. 380 + K. 13
• Schumann: Carnaval op. 9

CD |D|D|D| 477 557–1 |G|H|

Chopin & Liszt Piano Concerto No.1

• Liszt: Concerto for piano no.1 in E-Flat,S.124
• Chopin: Concerto for piano no.1 in E-minor,op.11

CD |D|D|D| 00289 477 6402 |G|H|

Prokofiev/Ravel: Piano Concertos

• Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor
• Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major

CD |D|D|D| 477 659–3 |G|H|

Yundi – The Young Romantic

• Frédéric Chopin: Scherzo in B minor, op.20 Scherzo in B flat minor, op.31 Scherzo in C sharp minor, op.39 Scherzo in E major, op.54; Franz Liszt: Grandes Études de Paganini: La Campanella
• Bonus: Yundi Li plays at La Roque d’Anthéron

DVD 3079058 EuroArts/Ideale Audience

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Li Yundi

• Li Yundi at Deutsche Grammophon
• Li plays Chopin Scherzo No. 1 Op. 30
• Biography of Li Yundi (written by Richard Dyer, Globe Newspaper Company, 4/10/2004)
• 'The young romantic: A portrait of Yundi Li'
• "Why Yundi Li Got Cut," Wall Street Journal, November 29, 2008

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2011)

Amir Katz, born 1973 in Ramat Gan, Israel, is a pianist who lives in Germany. He began piano lessons at the age of 11 and won his first national competitions in Israel four years later. He received scholarships to study in Europe, including at the International Piano Foundation at Lake Como, where he had lessons with Leon Fleisher, Karl Ulrich Schnabel and Murray Perahia. These led him to Munich, Germany, where he finished his studies with Elisso Wirssaladse and Michael Schäfer.

He has won 1st prize in these piano competitions: the Maria Canals in Barcelona, the Robert Casadesus in Cleveland, the Viotti Valsesia in Italy, and the International Schubert in Dortmund.

Amir Katz has played all over the world, including at Alice Tully Hall New York, at the Théâtre du Châtelet Paris, at the Tonhalle Zurich, and in concert in Japan and China. Among the orchestras he has worked with are the Munich Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic, conducted by Zubin Mehta.

External links[link]

• Homepage of Amir Katz
• International Schubert Piano Competition

Photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1937

Arthur Rubinstein (January 28, 1887 – December 20, 1982) was a Polish-American classical pianist who received international acclaim for his performances of the music written by a variety of composers; many regard him as the greatest Chopin interpreter of his time.^[1][2] He is widely considered one of the greatest classical pianists of the twentieth century.^[1]

Early life[link]

Rubinstein grew-up on Piotrkowska street, Łódź, Poland

Rubinstein was born in Łódź, Congress Poland (part of the Russian Empire for the entire time Rubinstein resided there) on January 28, 1887, to a family of assimilated Jews. He was the youngest of eight children,^[3] and his father was a wealthy factory owner.^[4]

Rubinstein's birth name was Artur Rubinstein, although in English-speaking countries, he preferred to be known as Arthur Rubinstein. However, his United States impresario Sol Hurok insisted he be billed as Artur, and records were released in the West under both versions of his name.^[5]

At the age of two, Rubinstein demonstrated perfect pitch and a fascination with the piano, watching his elder sister's piano lessons. By the age of four, he was recognised as a child prodigy. Rubinstein first studied piano in Warsaw. His early piano training came from Karl Heinrich Barth.

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. The Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim, on hearing the four-year-old child play, was greatly impressed, and began to mentor the young prodigy. In 1894, at the age of 7, Rubinstein had his first public performance.^[6]

At the age of ten, Rubinstein moved to Berlin to continue his studies, and made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1900, at the age of 13.^[1]

Career[link]

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 Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto No. 2 in the presence of the composer. Through the family of Juliusz Wertheim (to whose understanding of Chopin's genius Rubinstein attributed his own inspiration in the works of that composer) he formed friendships with the violinist Paul Kochanski and composer Karol Szymanowski.^[7]

Rubinstein in 1906

Rubinstein made his New York debut at Carnegie Hall in 1906, and thereafter toured the United States, Austria, Italy, and Russia. According to his own testimony and that of his son in François Reichenbach's film L'Amour de la vie (1969), he was not well-received in the United States. By 1908, Rubinstein, destitute and desperate, hounded by creditors, and threatened with being evicted from his Berlin hotel room, made a failed attempt to hang himself. Subsequently he said that he felt "reborn" and endowed with an unconditional love of life. In 1912, he made his London debut, and found a home there in the Edith Grove, Chelsea, musical salon of Paul and Muriel Draper, in company with Kochanski, Igor Stravinsky, Jacques Thibaud, Pablo Casals, Pierre Monteux and others.^[7]

During World War I, Rubinstein stayed in London, giving recitals and accompanying the violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. In 1916 and 1917, he made his first tours in Spain and South America where he was wildly acclaimed. It was during those tours that he developed a lifelong enthusiasm for the music of Enrique Granados, Isaac Albéniz, Manuel de Falla, and Heitor Villa-Lobos. He was the dedicatee of Villa-Lobos's Rudepoêma and Stravinsky's Trois mouvements de Petrouchka.

Rubinstein was disgusted by Germany's conduct during the war, and never played there again. His last performance in Germany was in 1914.^[7]

In the fall of 1919 Rubinstein toured the English Provinces with soprano Emma Calvé and tenor Vladimir Rosing.^[8]

In 1921 Rubinstein gave two American tours, travelling to New York with Karol Szymanowski and his close friend Paul Kochanski, who died in 1934. The autumn voyage was the occasion of Kochanski's permanent migration to the USA.^[7]

In 1932, the pianist, who stated he neglected his technique in his early years, relying instead on natural talent, withdrew from concert life for several months of intensive study and practice.

During World War II, Rubinstein's career became centered in the United States. He became a naturalized United States citizen in 1946.

A cast of the pianist's hands, at the Łódź museum

Although best known as a recitalist and concerto soloist, Rubinstein was also considered an outstanding chamber musician, partnering with such luminaries as Henryk Szeryng, Jascha Heifetz, Pablo Casals, Gregor Piatigorsky, and the Guarneri Quartet. Rubinstein recorded much of the core piano repertoire, particularly that of the Romantic composers. At the time of his death, the New York Times in describing him wrote, "Chopin was his specialty . . . it was [as] a Chopinist that he was considered by many without peer".^[1] With the exception of the Études, he recorded most of the works of Chopin. ^[9] He was one of the earliest champions of the Spanish and South American composers and of French composers who, in the early twentieth century, were still considered "modern" such as Debussy and Ravel. In addition, Rubinstein was the first champion of the music of his compatriot Karol Szymanowski. Rubinstein, in conversation with Alexander Scriabin, named Brahms as his favorite composer, a response that enraged Scriabin.^[10]

Rubinstein, who was fluent in eight languages,^[11] held much of the repertoire, not simply that of the piano, in his formidable memory.^[11] According to his memoirs, he learned César Franck’s Symphonic Variations while on a train en route to the concert, without the benefit of a piano, practicing passages in his lap. Rubinstein described his memory as photographic, to the extent that he would visualize an errant coffee stain while recalling a score.^[12]

Rubinstein also had exceptionally developed aural abilities, which allowed him to play whole symphonies in his mind. "At breakfast, I might pass a Brahms symphony in my head" he said. "Then I am called to the phone, and half an hour later I find it's been going on all the time and I'm in the third movement." This ability was often tested by Rubinstein's friends, who would randomly pick extracts from opera and symphonic scores and ask him to play them from memory.^[1]

By the mid-1970s, Rubinstein's eyesight had begun to deteriorate. He retired from the stage at age eighty-nine in May 1976, giving his last concert at London's Wigmore Hall, where he had first played nearly seventy years before.

Personal life[link]

Rubinstein in 1963

Family[link]

Of his youth, Rubinstein once said: "It is said of me that when I was young I divided my time impartially among wine, women and song. I deny this categorically. Ninety percent of my interests were women."^[1] At the age of forty-five, in 1932, Rubinstein married Nela Młynarska, a twenty-four-year-old Polish ballerina (who had studied with Mary Wigman). Nela was the daughter of the Polish conductor Emil Młynarski and his wife Anna Hrynewicz, who was from a Lithuanian aristocratic family. Nela had first fallen in love with Rubinstein when she was eighteen, but when Rubinstein began an affair with an Italian princess she married Mieczysław Munz.^[13][14] Nela subsequently divorced Munz and three years later married Rubinstein.^[14] They had five children (one died in infancy), including daughter Eva, who married William Sloane Coffin, and son John Rubinstein, a Tony Award-winning actor and father of actor Michael Weston.^[15] Nela subsequently authored Nela's Cookbook, which included the dishes she prepared for the couple's legendary parties.^[16]

Both before and during his marriage, Rubinstein carried on a series of affairs with women, including Irene Curzon. In 1977, at age 90, he left his wife for the young Annabelle Whitestone, though he and Nela never divorced. Rubinstein also fathered a daughter with a South American woman,^[6] and he may have been the father of Muriel Draper's son, Sanders, who perished in World War II.^[6]

Jewish affiliation[link]

While he was an agnostic, Rubinstein was nevertheless proud of his Jewish heritage.^[17] He was a great friend of Israel,^[18] which he visited several times with his wife and children, giving concerts with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, recitals, and master classes at the Jerusalem Music Centre.

Polish affinity[link]

Throughout his life, Rubinstein was deeply attached to Poland. At the inauguration of the UN in 1945, Rubinstein showed his Polish patriotism at a concert for the delegates. He began the concert by stating his deep disappointment that the conference did not have a delegation from Poland. Rubinstein later described becoming overwhelmed by a blind fury and angrily pointing out to the public the absence of the Polish flag. He then sat down at the piano and played the Polish national anthem loudly and slowly, repeating the final part in a great thunderous forte. When he had finished, the public rose to their feet and gave him a great ovation.^[19]

On practice[link]

Rubinstein believed that a foremost danger for young pianists is to practice too much. Rubinstein regularly advised that young pianists should practice no more than three hours a day. "I was born very, very lazy and I don't always practice very long," he said, "but I must say, in my defense, that it is not so good, in a musical way, to overpractice. When you do, the music seems to come out of your pocket. If you play with a feeling of 'Oh, I know this,' you play without that little drop of fresh blood that is necessary – and the audience feels it." Of his own practice methods, he said, "At every concert I leave a lot to the moment. I must have the unexpected, the unforeseen. I want to risk, to dare. I want to be surprised by what comes out. I want to enjoy it more than the audience. That way the music can bloom anew. It's like making love. The act is always the same, but each time it's different."^[1][20]

Pupils[link]

Rubinstein was reluctant to teach in his earlier life, refusing to accept William Kapell's request for lessons. It was not until the late 1950s that he accepted his first student Dubravka Tomšič Srebotnjak. Other students of Rubinstein include François-René Duchâble, Avi Schönfeld, Ann Schein Carlyss, Eugen Indjic, Dean Kramer, and Marc Laforêt. Rubinstein also gave master classes towards the end of his life.^[21]

Death and legacy[link]

Rubinstein died in his sleep at his home in Geneva, Switzerland, on 20 December 1982, at the age of ninety-five, and his body was cremated.^[1] On the first anniversary of his death, an urn holding his ashes was buried in Jerusalem — as specified in his will — in a dedicated plot now dubbed "Rubinstein Forest" overlooking the Jerusalem Forest. This was arranged with Israel's chief rabbis so that the main forest wouldn't fall under religious laws governing cemeteries.^[23]

In October 2007, his family donated to the Juilliard School an extensive collection of original manuscripts, manuscript copies and published editions that had been seized by the Germans during World War II from his Paris residence. Seventy-one items were returned to his four children, marking the first time that Jewish property kept in the Berlin State Library was returned to the legal heirs.^[24]

In 1974, Jan Jacob Bistritzky established the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, held every three years in Israel, intended to promote the careers of young and outstanding pianists. The Arthur Rubinstein Award and other prizes are presented to the winners. The Rubinstein Competition also commissions works by Israeli composers.^[25]

Recordings[link]

In 1910, Rubinstein recorded Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 10 for the Polish Favorit label.^[6] The pianist was displeased with the acoustic recording process, saying it made the piano sound "like a banjo" and did not record again until the advent of electrical recording. However, Rubinstein made numerous player piano music rolls for the Aeolian Duo-Art system and the American Piano Company (AMPICO) in the 1920s.

Beginning in 1928, Rubinstein began to record extensively for RCA Victor, making a large number of solo, concerto and chamber music recordings until his retirement in 1976. As recording technology improved, from 78-rpm discs to LPs and stereophonic recordings, Rubinstein re-recorded much of his repertoire. All of his RCA recordings have been released on compact disc and amount to about 107 hours of music.

Rubinstein preferred to record in the studio, and during his lifetime approved for release only about three hours of live recordings. However, since the pianist’s death, several labels have issued live recordings taken from radio broadcasts.

Honors[link]

Sculpture of Arthur Rubinstein on Piotrkowska Street, in Łódź, Poland, where Rubinstein once lived

• Sonning Award (1971; Denmark)
• On April 1, 1976, Arthur Rubinstein was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Gerald Ford.
• In 1977, he was made an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE).^[26]
• Grand Officier of the Legion of Honour.
• Kennedy Center Honors (1978)
• Officer's Cross (Krzyż Oficerski) of the Order of Polonia Restituta.
• Commendatore of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
• Member of the Order of Alfonso X the Wise.
• Officier of the Order of Leopold of Belgium.
• Voted into Gramophone's Hall of Fame in 2012.^[27]

Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance:

• Pierre Fournier, Arthur Rubinstein & Henryk Szeryng for Schubert: Trios Nos. 1 in B-flat, Op. 99 and 2 in E-flat, Op. 100 (Piano Trios) (Grammy Awards of 1976)
• Pierre Fournier, Arthur Rubinstein & Henryk Szeryng for Brahms: Trios (Complete)/Schumann: Trio No. 1 in D Minor (Grammy Awards of 1975)

Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra):

• Arthur Rubinstein for 'Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 18 in E-flat/Schumann: Fantasiestücke, Op. 12 (Grammy Awards of 1978)
• Arthur Rubinstein for Beethoven: Sonatas No. 21 in C (Waldstein) and No. 18 in E-flat (Grammy Awards of 1960)

Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1994)

Bibliography[link]

• Rubinstein, Arthur (1973). My Young Years. New York: Knopf. ISBN 0-394-46890-2. 
• Rubinstein, Arthur (1980). My Many Years. New York: New York. ISBN 0-394-42253-8. 

See also[link]

• List of Polish people (music)
• Arthur Rubinstein – The Love of Life

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Arthur Rubinstein

• Arthur Rubinstein at Allmusic
• Arthur Rubinstein profile at PBS American Masters
• (Italian) Arthur Rubinstein Musical Association – Italy
• Homage to Arthur Rubinstein (Fansite)
• The Arthur Rubinstein International Competition
• The Presidency Project – Remarks Upon Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Arthur Rubinstein.