Moriz Rosenthal

A student of <a href="spotify:artist:1385hLNbrnbCJGokfH2ac2">Liszt</a>, Moriz Rosenthal was likened to his illustrious teacher for the stormy temperament of his playing. During a career that lasted into his eighties, Rosenthal seduced other musicians as readily as he did audiences in Europe and America, gradually developing a sensitivity and musicianship to match his rampant virtuosity. All of this is clearly evident in his recordings made when he was already in his sixties.

Beginning his piano studies at age eight, Rosenthal found himself two years later under the wing of the director of the Lemberg Conservatory, Karel Mikuli. At the age of ten, he made his debut playing a <a href="spotify:artist:7y97mc3bZRFXzT2szRM4L4">Chopin</a> Rondo for two pianos. Excited over the prospects of becoming a concert artist, Rosenthal walked one day from his hometown to Vienna in order to play for Rafael Joseffy, a pupil of <a href="spotify:artist:1385hLNbrnbCJGokfH2ac2">Liszt</a> and regarded as one of the nineteenth century's finest artists, "The Patti of the Piano," as he was called. Joseffy was sufficiently impressed by the youth's playing that he urged the Rosenthal family to move to Vienna to facilitate regular lessons with him. A year's concentration produced astounding results. When Rosenthal was presented in his first full-length recital in 1876, the success was so complete that a concert tour was immediately arranged.

When <a href="spotify:artist:4OpmlNFluv2wUDzQeIgQDr">Franz Liszt</a> heard Rosenthal the following year, he offered to instruct him, to put in place the final degree of finish. Thus, while traveling the length and breadth of Europe and Russia for the next three years, Rosenthal spent all his time between recitals working with <a href="spotify:artist:1385hLNbrnbCJGokfH2ac2">Liszt</a> at Weimar and in Rome. In 1880, Rosenthal returned to Vienna, not to perform, but to begin the study of philosophy. Temporarily setting aside his concert work, he completed his course work in three years.

When Rosenthal felt ready to return to the concert stage in 1886, he reintroduced himself with a recital in Vienna. The response was thunderous, reviews asserting that he was among the greatest pianists before the public. Joining in the acclamation were such figures as <a href="spotify:artist:5wTAi7QkpP6kp8a54lmTOq">Brahms</a>, Hanslick, Johann Strauss, and <a href="spotify:artist:7xH3VOMwOjnqGu7NERNUx1">Busoni</a> (no minor pianist himself). Another successful concert tour followed.

When Rosenthal was introduced to America in 1888, he was as rapturously received as he had been in the centers of Europe. His Boston debut on November 9 was described in ecstatic terms: "He is a hurricane, a thunderbolt, a tempest" was one critic's assessment. His New York debut four days later drew more superlatives, the Tribune critic wondering if any artist had ever brought so "experienced and discriminating" an audience to "such a pitch of excitement." In the Sun, he was described as "a demi-god, a perfect pianist."

Rosenthal's successes continued unabated for more than half a century. Composers voiced words of unqualified admiration. <a href="spotify:artist:0Pz79wagKnssEZImEgGGFv">Goldmark</a> inscribed a photograph to the pianist he felt had "no equal and no superior among pianists, deceased or living." Even <a href="spotify:artist:7Im00DCJCJrFrC1Ho6vjD6">Paderewski</a> genuflected before Rosenthal's playing of <a href="spotify:artist:7y97mc3bZRFXzT2szRM4L4">Chopin</a>. Vienna, in 1912, honored him with the highest award Austria could confer on an artist: it made him Kammervirtuoso to the Emperor.

On November 13, 1938, the golden jubilee of Rosenthal's New York debut was celebrated with a recital at Carnegie Hall. On a specially produced piano from Baldwin (gilded, no less), Rosenthal performed before an audience of devoted followers and esteemed artists, winning yet again the roaring acclaim that had been his due for decades and offering a still deeper, more profound measure of musicianship.