Vladimir Horbowski

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Wladimir von Horbowski-Zaranek (born January 19, 1905 in Tbilisi , † February 28, 1989 in Munich ) was a Georgian-born piano teacher who worked in Germany.

Wladimir von Horbowski-Zaranek (who only called himself Wladimir Horbowski in Germany) came from a family of Polish and Ukrainian-Georgian nobility who left their homeland as a result of the October Revolution in 1921 and went into exile in Brussels. After studying at the local conservatory, he moved to Berlin, where he was a student and assistant to Leonid Kreutzer and was a member of Ferruccio Busoni's circle ; he also played Rachmaninoff . Horbowski later stated again and again that he owed the most sustained artistic support and intellectual stimulation to these personalities.

Since the highly talented pianist was denied a concert career due to an accident in his youth, he turned to educational work at an early age. When Kreutzer was expelled from his teaching post by the Nazis in 1933 and emigrated to Japan, Horbowski took over his piano class at the Berlin University of Music . From 1934 to 1945 he also led a piano class at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory in Berlin . He developed a teaching method that inspired his students to practice more concentrated, to memorize the original text of the compositions and, above all, to pay close attention to the phrasing, dynamics and pedaling. In addition, he “invented” a type of fingering that makes it possible to interpret even pianistically complicated pieces without technical tension.

After the Second World War, Horbowski took over a professorship for piano at the Stuttgart University of Music . There his lessons became the epitome of pianistic training, which, starting with Bartók's microcosm , conveyed everything that was required in terms of technical ability and stylistic knowledge, right through to studying concert literature. Pianists from all over the world came to Stuttgart to rethink the art of piano playing under his guidance and to get advice from him. The number of his students is large, who have won prizes and awards in international competitions, have become known as concert pianists or teach as respected teachers at conservatories and music academies. Horbowski's musical taste and his sure judgment were also valued beyond the borders of Germany; He has been a member of the jury for the piano at the Concours Reine Elisabeth in Brussels, one of the world's most important music competitions.

After his retirement, Horbowski moved to Munich, where he continued to work as a teacher and advisor to many pianists for a long time and died at the age of 85 after severe suffering.