Claudio Arrau

Chilean-born pianist

• Born: February 6, 1903
• Birthplace: Chillán, Chile
• Died: June 9, 1991
• Place of death: Mürzzuschlag, Austria

Widely recognized as one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century, Arrau had a legendary international career that spanned eight decades. He was praised by critics and audiences worldwide for his exceptional virtuosity and artistry and was celebrated as a profound interpreter of nineteenth century Romantic music.

Early Life

Claudio Arrau León (KLOW-dee-oh ah-ROW leh-OHN) was born in Chillán, Chile, to Lucrecia León Bravo de Villalba, a piano teacher, and Carlos Arrau Ojeda, an oculist who died when Arrau was only one year old. A child prodigy, Arrau received his early training from his mother and gave his first public performance in Chillán at the age of five. After studying with Bindo Paoli in Santiago for two years, at the age of eight, he was sent on a scholarship from the Chilean government to study at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin, where he worked with Martin Krause, a former pupil of Franz Liszt.

Arrau made his Berlin debut recital in 1914 and his first European tour in 1918. He was the winner of several competitions, including the Rudolph Ibach Competition in 1915, the Franz Liszt Prize in 1919 and 1920, and the Grand Prix International des Pianistes in Geneva in 1927. Throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s, he toured extensively in Europe, South America, and the United States. His international reputation was solidified by his series of highly acclaimed recitals in Berlin between 1935 and 1937, performing the complete solo keyboard works of Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, and Carl Maria von Weber. From 1924 to 1940, he was on the faculty at the Stern Conservatory. With the outbreak of World War II, Arrau returned to his native Chile in 1940, where he founded a piano school in Santiago. In 1941, he and his family moved to the United States, settling in New York.

Life’s Work

In subsequent years, Arrau’s countless concert and recital tours took him to Europe, North America, Latin America, Australia, South Africa, India, Israel, Japan, and South Korea. In the United States, he appeared with all the major orchestras. Not only was he recognized as an authoritative interpreter of Beethoven, whose complete sonata and concerto cycles he performed in several prestigious venues, but he also achieved a special reputation for his interpretations of Liszt, Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann, Frédéric Chopin, and Claude Debussy. Arrau also supervised an Urtext edition of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas, published by C. F. Peter Verlag in Frankfurt in the 1970’s. His extensive discography, mostly on the Philips label, includes the thirty-two complete Beethoven piano sonatas, the five complete Beethoven piano concertos, the complete piano music of Schumann, the two Brahms piano concertos, the complete works for piano and orchestra by Chopin, and numerous solo works of Chopin, Brahms, Debussy, and Liszt, among others.

Arrau received numerous honors and awards throughout his long career, including the International UNESCO music Prize (1983), the Beethoven Medal of New York (1983), the Highest Distinction Award from the Inter-American Music Council and the Organization of American States (1984), and the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society of London (1990). He was decorated as La Orden del Águila Azteca (Mexico, 1982), a chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France, 1965), a commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur (France, 1983), and a commandatore of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Italy, 1984). He received honorary doctorates from the Universidad de Chile (1949), Oxford University (1983), and the Universidad de Concepción of Chile (1984) and was an honorary member of the Robert Schumann Society and the Royal Philharmonic Society of London. Arrau died at the age of eighty-eight in Austria while preparing for a recital at the newly renovated Brahms Museum in Mürzzuschlag.

Significance

In protest against the military government of Augusto Pinochet, Arrau did not visit Chile for seventeen years, from 1967 to 1984. He gave up his Chilean citizenship in 1978 and became a naturalized American citizen in 1979. Nevertheless, he remained an influential figure in his homeland. His return tour to Chile in 1984 was highly acclaimed by the media and the public. During the same year, he received the Premio Nacional de Arte—Mención Música, presented by the Chilean Ministry of Education, and was appointed permanent professor honoris causa by the Universidad del Bío-Bío. In 2005, the Museo Interactivo Claudio Arrau León was inaugurated in his hometown of Chillán, in memory of the prolific musician.

Bibliography

Arrau, Claudio. “Claudio Arrau.” Interview by David Dubal. In Reflections from the Keyboard: The World of the Concert Pianist. 2d ed. New York: Schirmer Books, 1997. An interview with Arrau, who talks about his early musical influences and the performance of the music of Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, and Debussy.

Dubal, David. “Claudio Arrau.” In The Art of the Piano: Its Performers, Literature, and Recordings. 3d ed. Pompton Plains, N.J.: Amadeus Press, 2004. Profiles the life and career of Arrau. Discusses his repertoire, playing style, and recordings.

Horowitz, Joseph. Conversations with Arrau. 2nd ed. New York, N.Y.: Limelight Editions, 1992. Centering on interviews the author conducted with the pianist between May 1980 and July 1981, this is a major book in English on the career and music of Arrau. Includes reprints of a 1909 article, “The Chilean Mozart,” by Antonio Orrego Barros, and a 1967 article, “A Performer Looks at Psychoanalysis,” by Arrau himself. Also contains a comprehensive discography.

Selmon, Diane. “Remembering Claudio Arrau.” Clavier 33, no. 2 (February, 1994): 24-26. Australian pianist Selmon, a former student of Arrau, reminisces about her teacher’s teaching style, precise technical system, and approach to interpretation.