The Piano Master Classes of Hans Von Bulow: Two Participants' Accounts by Richard L. Zimdars
The renowned concert pianist and teacher Hans von Bulow gave a series of piano master classes in the summers of 1884-1887. Detailed notes of the lessons by Theodor Pfeiffer, entitled Studien bei Hans von Bylow, were published around the turn of the century along with a Nachtrag (Supplement) by Jose Vianna da Motta. In the classes, students played compositions by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Raff, Liszt, and Brahms, and Bylow pointed out special techniques and effects that apply to specific measures in the pieces. His remarks ranged from the brilliant to the hilarious, including, regrettably, some insulting comments about women. Richard Zimdars has rendered Pfeiffer's and da Motta's often cryptic notes into fully understandable instructions and has transcribed the more than 250 musical examples in the original volume. Particularly valuable is an appendix containing finger exercises from a contemporaneous book by Pfeiffer, now long out of print. Bulow's teaching, which is in the Liszt tradition, is as vital today as it was more than one hundred years ago. Students, performers, and teachers have much to learn from his high standards and artistic insight.