Artur Rubinstein

Polish American pianist

• Born: January 28, 1887
• Birthplace: Lodz, Poland
• Died: December 20, 1982
• Place of death: Geneva, Switzerland

Rubinstein was one of the most highly regarded pianists in the world over the last forty years of his very long career, playing a wide-ranging repertoire of solo pieces, concertos, and chamber music. After his death, he faded somewhat from view but remained famous for his distinctive tone and ability to bring out the particular qualities of whatever work he was playing.

The Life

Artur Rubinstein (AHR-tur REW-bihn-stin) was a child prodigy, teaching himself piano at the age of two or three by listening in on his sisters’ piano lessons. He was born into an upper-middle-class Jewish family in the Polish city ofŁódź, but at the age of ten he was sent to Berlin to study music under the supervision of the renowned violinist Joseph Joachim, with whom his family had a connection. His piano instruction at this time was provided by Karl Heinrich Barth, who taught him for six years. He also received coaching from the famous Polish pianist Ignace Paderewski and had his official professional debut with the Berlin Philharmonic at the age of thirteen.

Feeling limited by Barth, Rubinstein left him and moved to Paris at the age of seventeen, in February, 1904, after which he had no further formal instruction. Over the next three decades he became a popular performer, especially in Spain and South America, but was less well regarded in the United States. He himself said that he was not as good as he could have been at this time; without a teacher to guide him, he lacked discipline, would practice as little as possible, and would surmount the difficulties he encountered in works by changing notes or just dropping them. During this period he led a nomadic life, traveling widely through Europe and the Americas, spending much of his time moving in high society, entertaining at private parties, and engaging in numerous love affairs. In 1908, at a low point in his career, he made a halfhearted attempt at suicide; he took the failure of his attempt as a sign that he should persevere.

In 1910 Rubinstein won an honorary first prize in the Russian piano competition named for the nineteenth century pianist Anton Rubinstein (no relation). This led to a tour of Russia with the conductor Serge Koussevitzky. Rubinstein met and performed with such notable figures as the cellist Pablo Casals and the violinist Jascha Heifetz. He also befriended the composers Igor Stravinsky and Heitor Villa-Lobos, both of whom composed works for him, and associated with numerous celebrities, from actorCary Grant to novelist Thomas Mann.

In 1932 Rubinstein married Aniela (Nela) Młynarska, the daughter of a Polish conductor. The marriage is generally seen as the turning point in his career. Rubinstein himself said that he did not want his children to think of him as second-rate, so in 1934 he went on a retreat in Switzerland, during which he practiced and restudied the many works in his repertoire.

After his retreat, Rubinstein for the first time became a success in the United States, and he maintained a high reputation there and in the rest of the world for the next forty years. He moved to the United States at the beginning of World War II and became an American citizen in 1946. He also saw himself as a Polish patriot, a strong supporter of the state of Israel, and a citizen of the world.

In 1977 Rubinstein left his wife for Annabelle Whitestone, a young woman almost sixty years his junior. He performed until he was almost ninety, stopping only because of failing eyesight.

The Music

Through his main teacher, Barth, Rubinstein learned the Germanic approach to the piano, a calm, correct attitude with an emphasis on sitting up straight, producing a full but not harsh sound, and being direct and straightforward rather than adding showy effects. However, Rubinstein eventually broke with Barth and in his early career was known for his showmanship, which he often introduced to cover up technical difficulties. At the same time, however, he rejected the romantic approach to the music itself (which characterized the playing of Paderewski, among others) and spurned the notion of taking liberties with the music as written.

Over the years critics saw different things in Rubinstein, some calling him romantic and passionate, others regarding him as austere and intellectual. Some saw him as best with the works of his compatriot, the Polish composer Frédéric Chopin, while to others he was best with the Germanic works of Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms. Still others preferred his performances of early twentieth century works, such as those of the French composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Because Rubinstein had such a long career, with a midcareer change of direction from showy performer to serious musician, these different views of his accomplishments may be the result of changes in his interpretations and his emphases; they may also be the result of his immersion in each individual work in order to bring out its special character.

Berlin, December 1, 1900. Despite complaints that his teacher, Barth, limited his repertoire, in his professional debut while still under Barth’s tutelage Rubinstein played a wide-ranging concert, including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto in A Major and the second piano concerto of Camille Saint-Saëns, two works he would perform frequently in the early part of his career. He also played solo pieces by Chopin and Robert Schumann, and his performance was highly praised by the critics, who saw him as more than an ordinary child performer, someone who already demonstrated maturity and brilliant technique.

Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 2, 1917. During World War I, unable to continue touring in central Europe and so distressed by reports of German atrocities that he never again performed in Germany, Rubinstein sought out alternative venues, including Spain and South America. He had come to feel an affinity for Spanish music and added some to his program, notably works by Isaac Albéniz and Manuel de Falla. He had great success with these works, especially with de Falla’s spectacular “Ritual Fire Dance” (from his 1915 El amor brujo), but later said that this was tragic in a way because, although this music was popular and helped him create a powerful connection with his audiences, especially in Spanish-speaking countries, in fact his heart really belonged to the classics from nineteenth century Germany, along with the works of Chopin, Debussy, and Ravel.

In fact, Rubinstein did play the classics in South America. His July 2, 1917, debut concert in Buenos Aires, a highly successful solo recital, included works by Beethoven, Chopin, and Franz Liszt as well as “Navarra” (1912), by Albéniz. Rubinstein mounted a similar concert in Montevideo, Uruguay, and went on to perform concertos by Beethoven, Brahms, and Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky at later Buenos Aires concerts. In 1918, he had another series of successful solo recitals in Brazil, including works by Beethoven, Ravel, Chopin, and Liszt as well as Albéniz.

New York City, Carnegie Hall, January 7, 1938.Rubinstein appeared at New York’s Carnegie Hall as early as 1906 and toured the United States several times in that decade and the next, but with only mixed success, so in the late 1920’s he vowed never to return. However, after the transformation of his career in the mid-1930’s, he returned triumphantly with a concert tour that began with a performance with the New York Philharmonic on November 17, 1937, at which he played Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto. This performance was overshadowed by another work on the program, a premiere of a new American symphony, but later performances on the tour won an enthusiastic response from both critics and the general public.

One of the high points was the January 7, 1938, Carnegie Hall solo recital, including works by César Franck, Frances Poulenc, Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, and Chopin. The critics praised Rubinstein for his verve, power, imagination, and great dynamic range, and the audience cheered excitedly.

Chopin’s Mazurkas, 1939. Although Rubinstein left Poland at the age of ten, he returned frequently to perform and considered himself a Polish patriot. He felt especially attracted to the Polish spirit of the music of Chopin and wanted to convey to the world what Chopin’s music meant to the Polish people. He especially felt this way about Chopin’s fifty-one mazurkas, and he recorded all of them during sessions that ended in May, 1939, not long before Poland was invaded by Germany at the beginning of World War II.

Music Marathon, London and Paris, November, 1955. In 1955 Rubinstein showed off his wide-ranging repertoire and the stamina he still had at the age of sixty-eight by performing a series of concerts in London and Paris in the course of one month, during which he played all of Beethoven’s piano concertos, along with concertos by Brahms, Chopin, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Schumann, Edvard Grieg, and Sergei Rachmaninoff. He repeated the feat at Carnegie Hall in New York in February, 1956, marking the fiftieth anniversary of his Carnegie Hall debut. In 1961, he reprised his marathon performance by playing ninety different pieces by seventeen different composers during ten solo recitals spread over six weeks at Carnegie Hall.

Musical Legacy

At his farewell concerts, first at New York’s Carnegie Hall in March, 1976, and then in London in May of that year, Rubinstein played to rapturous audiences. His career had lasted more than seventy-five years, for the last forty of which he had been regarded as one of the foremost pianists of his time. Critics praised his verve, power, and imagination, and he was awarded the Medal of Freedom in the United States, membership in the French Legion of Honor, and knighthood in England.

In 1996, fourteen years after his death, one critic said that Rubinstein had vanished from the public consciousness owing to his lack of a distinctive personality as a pianist; it had been his stage presence rather than his music that had won applause. On the other hand, three years later, in 1999, a ninety-four-disc set of all of Rubinstein’s recordings was released to much acclaim for his lyricism, elegance, and full, round tone. One commentator singled out his distinctive tone, at the same time noting that one of Rubinstein’s greatest accomplishments was to make Spanish music sound Spanish, French music French, and so on. His greatest legacy may thus have been the respect he paid to the music he played rather than imposing his own personality.

Principal Recordings

albums:Schumann: Symphony No. 1—Spring, 1929; Chopin: Scherzos, 1934; Bach: Toccata in C Major, 1936; Chopin: Nocturnes for Piano, 1937; Mozart: Concerto in A Major, 1940; Ravel: Trio in A Minor, 1950; Tchaikovsky: Trio for Piano and Strings in A Minor, Op. 50, 1950; Chopin: Complete Waltzes, 1955; Chopin: Ballades for Piano, 1959; Beethoven: Sonatas No. 21 in C and No. 18 in E-Flat, 1960; Mozart: Piano Concertos, 1961; Schubert: Impromptus, 1961; Schumann: Quartet for Piano and Strings in E-flat Major, Op. 44, 1966; Brahms: Three Piano Quartets, 1969; Johannes Brahms, 1971; Mozart: Quartet for Piano and Strings, No. 1 and No. 2, 1971; Saint-Saëns: Concerto No. 2: En sol mineur, Op. 22, 1971; Brahms: Trios/Schumann: Trio No. 1 in D Minor, 1975; Chopin: Ëtudes for Piano, 1975; Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 15, 1976; Schubert: Trios Nos. 1 and 2, 1976; Beethoven:Piano Sonata No. 18 in E-Flat, 1978; Beethoven: Sonata No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 5, 1978.

writings of interest:My Young Years, 1973; My Many Years, 1980.

Bibliography

Gillespie, John, and Anna Gillespie. “Artur Rubinstein.” In Notable Twentieth-Century Pianists: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook. 2 vols. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1995. Brief biography, along with excerpts from critics and analysis of recordings. Bibliography, discography.

Kaiser, Joachim. “Artur Rubinstein.” In Great Pianists of Our Time. Translated by David Woolridge and George Unwin. London: Allen & Unwin, 1971. Analyzes specific performances by Rubinstein. Includes excerpts from musical scores and a discography.

Rubinstein, Artur. My Young Years. New York: Knopf, 1973. The first volume of Rubinstein’s autobiography is the only source for much of the information about Rubinstein’s early life.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. My Many Years. New York: Knopf, 1980. The second volume of Rubinstein’s autobiography is at times a catalog of romances and concerts, along with self-justifications.

Sachs, Harvey. Rubinstein: A Life. New York: Grove Press, 1995. A detailed biography, correcting the inaccuracies of earlier accounts and providing information about Rubinstein’s love affairs and other personal relationships. Includes commentary on selected recordings and a discography compiled by Donald Manildi. Illustrations, bibliography.

Schönberg, Harold C. “Arthur Rubinstein: Joie de Vivre.” In The Glorious Ones: Classical Music’s Legendary Performers. New York: Times Books, 1985. Analyzes Rubinstein’s style of playing. Illustrations.

Teachout, Terry. “Whatever Happened to Arthur Rubinstein?” Commentary 101, no. 2 (February, 1996): 48-51. Suggests that Rubinstein has been forgotten because of his lack of a distinctive performance style.