Articles

FIFTY YEARS OF MUSIC WITH MY HUSBAND,
ARTURO MICHELANGELI - Continued

 
Was Michelangeli happy with the conservatory curriculum?

He believed all piano teaching was too easy, especially in Italy, where the simple examination consisted of five preludes and fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier, one Romantic sonata, one modern, and so on. He wanted students to have more years of study and more knowledge of the repertoire.

Before the war Arturo wanted to start an academy in Bologna to teach advanced players from all over the world with national scholarships from their countries. State approval was necessary, however, to give official status to international masterclasses in the conservatory. This was never granted, even by the post-fascists, and it became one of his greatest sorrows. Nevertheless some friends managed to organize summer masterclasses for him in Arezzo in 1952-53 and 1955-65. He listened to literally thousands of young people who would come with their mothers. If he did not like the playing, at the end of an audition he would ask the mother whether the son went to normal school. When the response was in the affirmative, he replied, "Let him continue there."
 
Arturo expected pupils to know all the repertoire and be grounded in technical principles. He often said, "When the public comes out after a concerto and complains they don't like Beethoven, there Rhapsodies. He once played the Second Rhapsody for me. "Listen how nice it is! Do you like this music?" "Yes, it's fine, I like it."

He loved Robert Schumann. Listen to his Carnaval, Op. 9, the Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op. 26. In Schumann he could find all the fantasies, the foolishness, the characters, and the personalities of his own temperament. Schumann died mad, so you can understand why my husband loved him so much: madness is close to genius.

What about the virtuoso war-horses of the repertoire?

He often played Balakirev's Islamey, Stravinsky's Petrushka, Suburbis by Moupou, Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales. La valse, too, which was phenomenal but never recorded, unfortunately. He liked jazz, playing it wonderfully, and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. He played the Beethoven sonatas, although again in public he played only those he liked best. I remember his Moonlight well. He did it very simply: at the beginning the moon came out. He didn't like the nicknames of these pieces and often said pianists played the Moonlight like a cartoon about the sky and the stars. When he wanted to express all of himself, he played the Op. 111 sonata, which he recorded for Decca.

Were there any composers he didn't like?

He never said. It was "this one I play with pleasure; this one I don't." Some had to wait a long time. He didn't play Schubert until after he was 50, and then the public heard only one sonata, the A Minor, D. 537.

Was he interested just in Piano repertoire or did he know all the literature?

I was his wife for more than 50 years. By the time we married in 1940, Arturo knew all the literature and had memorized everything he played. He was 20. While never underestimating the expectations of an audience, he didn't think all the repertoire was good enough to play in public and that included concertos. To play at home privately was one thing; to play on stage publicly another.

How do you reply to those who say Michelangeli was a cold pianist, a little distant?

They don't understand his art. Endlessly fine things are difficult to understand immediately. They make your feet rise from the ground - both of them. The majority of people only raise one. He never played to be loved by the public. He played, and that was enough. One day in Arezzo, where he had 12 good friends, he gave a recital in the town's wonderful little theater. The day before the concert he told his friends, "Tomorrow I will play 20 or 30 minutes for the public, then two hours only for you." They thought it was a joke, and so did I. The day of the recital he announced a short program of no longer than 45 minutes. It was a great success with much applause - a triumph. He waited in the dressing room and when the public left, he returned to the stage, called the 12 friends and played for two hours.
 
What was the secret of Michelangeli's ability to communicate with the Piano?

There was no secret, but I can tell you one thing: I still go to many concerts and listen to all the pianists of today, major and minor. Never do I hear the emotions I heard from Arturo. I was in tears during his concerts. He amazed audiences and could move them with the color, the light, the sounds he drew out of the keyboard. It was joy; the joy of life. He opened windows on music. He was both intellectual and emotional because the two have to complement each other. He played with his head and his heart.

<Previous | 1 | 2