Josef Lhévinne

Josef Lhévinne

Josef Lhévinne (. Originally Russian Иосиф Аркадьевич Левин / Iossif Arcade Malevich Lewin ; * 1 ^{. Jul} / 13. December  1874 ^greg. In Orel , Central Russia , † 2 December 1944 in New York ) was a Russian - American pianist .

Life

Lhévinne, the ninth of eleven children of a musical family, began playing the piano at the age of 3 and was considered a child prodigy . At the age of 11 he was able to study at the Moscow Conservatory with Vasily Safonov . Anton Rubinstein conducted his debut with Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto . In 1892 he graduated with a gold medal; other winners this year were Rachmaninoff and Scriabin . In 1898 he married Rosina Bessie (1880–1976), also a pianist and a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory. Later he often played in a duo with her.

From 1899 to 1901 Lhévinne was a professor at the later Tbilisi Conservatory . In 1902 he made his debut in Berlin. 1902–1906 he taught at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1906 he made his successful debut at Carnegie Hall , followed by a tour of over 100 concerts. From 1907, the Lhévinnes chose Berlin as their center of life , which was then one of the most important music centers in the world.

When the First World War broke out, Lhévinne and his family were interned in their villa in Wannsee. A tour of America planned for 1914 was canceled. In addition to daily reporting obligations, he was ordered not to give concerts while Germany and Russia were at war. Nonetheless, in 1915 he was allowed to appear in charity and benefit concerts. During the war, Lhévinne kept himself and his family afloat primarily through teaching.

Although their situation quickly improved after the end of the First World War, the Lhévinnes emigrated to America in 1919.

In 1922 Josef and Rosina Lhévinne became teachers at the Juilliard School . Josef died of a heart attack in New York in 1944 . Rosina survived him by more than 30 years and died in 1976 at the age of 96; her most famous students were Van Cliburn and the composer John Williams .

Josef Lhévinne on the piano

There are very few solo recordings of Josef Lhévinne on vinyl, as he saw his role more as a teacher. The existing ones, however, show an extraordinarily powerful pianist with excellent technique. His style is relatively sober, the time of the mannerisms of the 19th century was over. Lhévinne is one of the few pianists who has recorded Welte-Mignon several times for the reproduction piano . On October 6, 1906, he recorded 10 pieces in Leipzig, 11 pieces on July 7, 1911 in Freiburg and again 7 pieces in Welte's New York recording studio in 1914.

His book Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing (1924) has long been considered a standard work on the technique of piano playing.

Works

• Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing . Dover Publications, New York 1972, ISBN 0-486-22820-7 (Repr. Of Ed. Philadelphia, Penn. 1924)

Web links

• Works by and about Josef Lhévinne in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gerhard Dangel and Hans-W. Schmitz: Welte-Mignon piano rolls: Complete catalog of the European recordings 1904 - 1932 for the Welte-Mignon reproduction piano / Welte-Mignon piano rolls: complete library of the European recordings 1904 - 1932 for the Welte-Mignon reproducing piano , p. 486. Stuttgart 2006 . ISBN 3-00-017110-X