Artur Schnabel

Artur Schnabel (17 April 1882 – 15 August 1951) was an Austrian classical pianist, composer and teacher. He was one of the best pianists of the twentieth century. He was most famous for playing music by Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert.

Life

 Early life 
Schnabel was born in Kunzendorf, near a town called Bielitz in Austria-Hungary. Today Bielitz is called Bielsko-Biała and is in Poland, while Kunzendorf is called Lipnik.Schnabel, Artur (1961, republished 1988). My Life And Music. New York & London: Dover/Smythe 

When he was two years old, Schnabel's family moved to Vienna. He started to play the piano when he was four. 

When he was nine he started to take piano lessons with the famous teacher Theodore Leschetizsky.Saerchinger, Cesar (1957). Arthur Schnabel: A Biography. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co.88 notes pour piano solo, Jean-Pierre Thiollet, Neva Editions, 2015, p. 356.  He studied with Leschetizsky for seven years, until 1897. He also studied music theory and composition with Eusebius Mandyczewski. 

He gave his first concert in Vienna in 1897. After that he played more concerts in Budapest, Prague, and Brno.Artur Schnabel: Musiker 1882-1951, Archives of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin. Berlin: Wolke-Verlag.

 In Berlin 
Schnabel moved to Berlin in 1898. He gained fame by playing concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. He also played chamber music, which he loved and played throughout his life. Many famous musicians played chamber music with Schnabel, including violinists Carl Flesch, Joseph Szigeti and Bronislaw Huberman; violist Paul Hindemith; and cellists Pablo Casals, Gregor Piatigorsky and Pierre Fournier.

 Marriage & children 
Schnabel also played piano for the contralto singer Therese Behr (1876-1959). In 1905 they married. They had two sons. Karl Ulrich Schnabel (1909-2001) was a pianist and Stefan Schnabel (1912-99) was an actor.

 World War II & after 
In 1933 Adolf Hitler became the leader of Germany, and Schnabel, who was Jewish, moved to England. He moved to the United States in 1939. 

After the end of World War II, Schnabel went back to Europe. He gave concerts there and in the United States for the rest of his life.  

 Death & burial 
Schnabel died in Axenstein, Switzerland, in 1951. 
He was buried in the nearby town of Schwyz. His wife Therese was buried in the same grave. 

Their son Karl Ulrich and his wife Helen (1911-1974), who was a pianist as well, were buried in the same tomb as Schnabel and his wife. So was their grandson Claude Alain Mottier (1972-2002), also a pianist, who was killed in a traffic accident. 

In 2006, the town of Schwyz declared the family grave a monument. This means that the site is protected and will not be dissolved.

 References

Other websites

Category:1882 births
Category:1951 deaths
Category:Austrian composers
Category:Austrian classical musicians