Vladimir von Pachmann

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Pachmann around 1906, photo from a Welte-Mignon catalog

Wladimir von Pachmann , also de Pachmann or Pachmann (born July 27, 1848 in Odessa , Ukraine , † January 6, 1933 in Rome ) was a Russian pianist with German or Austrian, possibly also Jewish roots. Pachmann was famous for his particularly sensitive Chopin playing as well as for his unusual behavior on stage and at other public appearances.

Origin and family

Pachmann's father Valentin († 1878) was a professor of Roman law at the Lyceum in Odessa. He had studied at the University of Vienna or Prague and was a talented amateur cellist . Its origin is unknown. Pachmann's mother, Anastasia, is referred to as a Turkish countess who was captured by Russian troops in the Turkish wars at the age of six and given to a Russian countess for education. The couple married when she was 14 and Valentine was 24. The couple had 13 children, 9 of whom survived.

Wladimir Pachmann had probably acquired the title of nobility from or later de Pachmann himself. Three of his brothers were Russian officers; none of them had this attribute in their name.

Pachmann married his pupil in April 1884, the Australian-born English pianist Annie Louisa Margaret (Maggie) Okey (1865-1952). The couple had three sons, the youngest, Victor, died as a child in St. Petersburg as well as Adrian (* 1886 † 1937) and Lionel (* 1887). The marriage was divorced on August 3, 1895. In her second marriage, she married the French lawyer Fernand Labori, who became known through the Dreyfus affair . From 1905 Pachmann lived with his secretary Francesco Pallottelli.

life and work

Vladimir de Pachmann around 1915

Pachmann received his first music lessons from his father. From 1867 he studied at the Conservatory of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna (today University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna ), piano with Josef Dachs and theory with Anton Bruckner . He performed Liszt's piano concerto at the conservatory, and the master praised him with encouraging words. However, when Pachmann heard Carl Tausig play, he retired eight years to continue practicing.

In 1878 he went to Leipzig, where he gave performances and also played with the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Carl Reinecke . But his appearances in Leipzig and others in Berlin also left him dissatisfied, so that he did not appear for another two years. It was not until 1882 that he made regular and very successful tours through Europe and the United States. After his triumphant tour of America in 1890, he returned regularly and gave his last concert at Carnegie Hall in 1925.

Pachmann's unique touch and sound were the result of a technique that resulted from completely free wrists and fingers without tension, and the independence of the fingers themselves. His fingers looked like rubber in a 1920 silent movie.

He was a very successful pianist, but controversial during his lifetime and to this day. His pianistic qualities are documented, but so is his tendency to exaggerate self-expression. He received visitors at home in an old dressing gown that he wanted to have inherited from Chopin, but which was replaced by another, similar one when it was worn out.

In order to cope with his stage fright, he had got into the habit of talking to the audience during his lecture. These bizarre interludes at his concerts earned him the nickname "Chopinzee" in English-speaking countries, a play on words from Chopin and Chimpanzee , that is, chimpanzees , which the American critic James Huneker gave him. On the one hand, he managed to make listeners cry with his gentle and extremely sensitive piano playing, on the other hand, he enraged and amused parts of the audience with his capers. George Bernard Shaw characterized him as follows: "He gave his well-known pantomime performance, accompanied by Chopin's music".

He was a great admirer of Leopold Godowsky and when he finished Chopin's Étude Op. 10 No. 5 played in Godowsky style, he shouted "Godowsky was the author!" The anecdotes about Pachmann are legion. If he made a mistake, he sometimes patted himself on the hand and shouted: “Ugh, Vladimir! Ugh left hand! "

Numerous historical recordings by Pachmann have been preserved. In February 1906 he recorded 22 pieces for the Welte-Mignon reproduction piano . He was the first major pianist to record gramophone records with the Gramophone and Typewriter Company in London as early as 1907 . He then recorded in America with the Victor talking machine company and also for Columbus records.

Honors

swell

  1. ↑ Francesco Pallotelli: Vladimiro de Pachmann . Rome: Novissima, 1916
  2. ↑ Riemann's Musik-Lexikon, 4th edition, Leipzig 1894
  3. ↑ Highlights from the August 1912 Victor Records Catalog

literature

  • Mark Mitchell: Vladimir de Pachmann: A Piano Virtuoso's Life and Art . Publisher: Indiana University Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0-2533-4169-3
  • Vladimir de Pachmann: Seeking originality . In Francis Cooke: Great Pianists on Piano Playing: study talks with foremost virtuosos. Publisher: Theo. Presser & Co., Philadelphia 1917.- page 182

Recordings

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Pachmann, Vladimir von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pachmann, Vladimir von; Pachmann, Vladimir de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION pianist
DATE OF BIRTH July 27, 1848
PLACE OF BIRTH Odessa , Ukraine
DATE OF DEATH January 6, 1933
Place of death Rome