Heidelberg Piano

Dear friends of piano music, Actually today I wanted to introduce you to possibly the most musical pharmacist of all time, possibly the most musical Danish pharmacist of all time, to be precise. Nothing will come of it, unfortunately. Full of zest for action, I threw myself into research in order to find next to nothing. I hadn't really expected that, because a relatively large number of works by Ludvig Schytte, who was the subject of today's discussion, have survived. Above all, he has written a lot for his numerous piano students, but also a lot that is pianistically demanding. So we know when he lived (1848-1909), that he initially dealt with pharmacy and did not receive any professional musical training before he was 22, that he studied with Gade in Copenhagen and Liszt in Weimar, among others. He lived and taught mainly in Vienna, a few years before his death he moved to Berlin, where he also taught. His daughter Anna was a violinist. Unfortunately, that's all I coul...

Dear friends of piano music, today I'm doing something quite absurd: I'm writing something positive about Corona. No, don't worry, I didn't suddenly take this disgusting virus into my heart, on the contrary. But now that I'm sick, I realize it's the first time since the pandemic broke out. The children are back in school and kindergarten, and the various viruses and bacilli that are there are already backing up with us. I cough, I sneeze, I sniff, I'm half deaf. The pathogens seem to feel particularly comfortable with me. they really let off steam. Therefore, there is no video recording today either, because no one can be expected to watch me cough and blow my nose. Yes, I did not miss that during the time of social isolation ...... But there is still something positive to report in connection with the disgusting virus, and I am downright proud of that. When my parents were vaccinated, it was a bureaucratic show of strength that was unparalleled in absurdi...

Dear friends of piano music, in Heidelberg every stone breathes history. I love walking through the streets and reading the plaques on so many houses as I pass by, on which it is written which historical greats of science and art lived and worked here. But I miss a sign like this on a house, and it took me a long time to even find it - it's only a few streets away and I walked past it innumerable times unsuspecting. It is the house in which Louise Héritte-Viardot lived from 1904 until her death in 1918. Yes, I have to admit that I didn't know her until recently, or at least I didn't see her for what she thought of herself as: as a composer. Even during her lifetime she was unable to assert herself, was perhaps too much overshadowed by her famous parents, but above all she was too much ahead of her time. A woman, born in 1841, who insists on being regarded as a composer and taken seriously. Vain. She earns her living as a singer as long as she is able to do so for health rea...