Oh yeah! Well my teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher was Franz Liszt himself!
(Me -> Roger Price -> Sequeira Costa -> Vianna da Motta -> Franz Liszt)
And in a way..... that means that my teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher was Haydn!
(Me -> Roger Price -> Sequeira Costa -> Vianna da Motta -> Franz Liszt -> Czerny ->
Beethoven -> Mozart -> Haydn)
I am really sorry to disappoint you guys, but I hate when merit is not given where it is due. You are all the great great great students of Gottlob Neefe.
Neefe who?
I know, I know, it does not sound so glamorous to be linked to a completely unknown figure, a modest and humble music teacher who never aspired to fame or celebrity, and during his lifetime hardly attained any. But my blood boils when I see such humble and modest individuals not given the credit they deserve.
Christian Gottlob Neefe was Beethoven’s teacher (Beethoven always acknowledged that and always respected and appreciated him as such). Not Mozart (he met Beethoven only once, heard him play and said at the end: “watch out for this boy, he has a future!” or something to this effect – and even this story may be apocryphal), and certainly not Haydn, who tried to teach Beethoven a few composition rules when Beethoven was already a fully formed composer. In fact, Beethoven was livid when Haydn criticised his compositions. And eventually they departed as teacher and pupil, the teacher complaining that the pupil would not learn anything, and the pupil complaining that the teacher had nothing to teach him. In fact, as Beethoven fame started to eclipse Haydn, Haydn begged for Beethoven to dedicate a work to him saying “to my master, Haydn”. You see, he knew that posterity might remember him only as Beethoven’s teacher. Yet Beethoven would not bulge and although he did dedicate the three Op. 2 sonatas to Haydn, he never acknowledged him as his teacher (the dedication reads simply: “Dedicated to Joseph Haydn”). They never saw eye to eye after that, although they treated each other politely.
As for Czerny, Beethoven was hardly his teacher. Czerny’s real teacher was his father (and later Werner Krumpholz). When Czerny started lessons with Beethoven he was already an established concert pianist at 10 (he was a child prodigy). Beethoven’s lessons, if one could call them that, consisted in coaching Czerny in the performance of his own works, many of which Czerny premiered.
The same is true of the many pianists who claimed to have been taught by Liszt. What a crock of potatoes. Liszt invented the concept of master classes. He would only hear already accomplished pianists. This often talked about unbroken dynastic line that goes all the way form one’s teacher all the way back to Beethoven (and now Haydn!) is but a myth. A figment of the imagination of wishful thinkers for which there is no historical evidence.
So who were the real teachers of all these accomplished pianists/composers? Modest, humble individuals, who never had the satisfaction of being mentioned simply because these pianists were basically a bunch of ungrateful, name-dropping b*****s.
Best wishes,
Bernhard.
Topic: Do you consider Alfred Brendel the best Beethoven interpreter? (Read 19928 times)