Hailed as one of the greatest and most prolific musicians of the last century, his birthday wish is for the speedy return of live performances.
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Having performed concerts for 60 years from the age of 17, Alfred Brendel is qualified to bemoan the lack of live music in these pandemic times as he celebrates his 90th birthday.
"We all long for the physicality of the concert, to be there, to be inside, to breathe the same air, to share the risk and success," he told the German Press Agency. And speaking to public broadcaster NDR, the self-confessed "old pessimist" said that 2021 "can only get better."
It's been 13 years since Brendel himself ended his concert career. His farewell concert at the Vienna Philharmonic on December 18, 2008, was voted one of the 100 greatest cultural moments of the decade by The Daily Telegraph.
Shortly afterward, he suffered an acute hearing loss, and was only able to hear distorted tones. His "retirement" however saw him traveling extensively to give lectures on music, read from the 11 eleven books he has penned, recite his own poems, and hold master classes for young pianists or string quartets.
And throughout, the now nonagenarian retained his wry sense of humor. "If one had to hear Verdi incessantly in Paradise, I'd ask for leave and the occasional visit to Hell," he once said regarding the after-life.
Pianist and cosmopolitan
Brendel was born on January 5, 1931 in northern Moravia in the present-day Czech Republic. The boy of German, Austrian, Italian and Slavic heritage grew up on the Adriatic coast in what is now Croatia. He went to school in Zagreb, studied at the Conservatory in Graz, then moved to Vienna in 1950 and on to London in 1970, which has since been home.
"I'm not somebody who looks for or needs roots," Brendel once said. "I want to be as cosmopolitan as possible. I prefer to be a paying guest. That's a lesson learned in the war."
He gave his first concert at age 17 and won the Busoni Competition in Bozen a year later. Decades of global concerts soon followed for which he amassed several distinctions: three honorary doctorates (from the universities of London, Oxford and Yale), numerous prizes (including the Ernst von Siemens and the Herbert von Karajan awards) and for lifetime achievement at the MIDEM Classical Awards in Cannes, the Edison Awards in Holland and Germany's ECHO Klassik in October 2016.
He was also made an Honorary KBE in 1989 for his "outstanding services to music in Britain," awarded the Légion d'Honneur in 2004, and received the highest rank in the Order of Merit of the German Federal Republic in 2007.
Besides his astonishing productiveness onstage, Brendel has written numerous poems and essays and published books, including Music, Sense and Nonsense in September 2015.
'Philosopher at the piano'
During his long luminous career, critics often praised the lightness and aplomb of his playing style. With minimal body language and a dose of modesty, the "philosopher at the piano" — tall, gaunt and with thick horn-rimmed glasses — placed himself in the service of the composer. Yet, as London's The Guardian observed, he was "not a passive recipient of the composer's commands."
"I often feel like a character actor," explained Brendel in an interview with DW in 2002. "I like — as far as possible — to slip into different roles." Brendel thus executed far more than just a blind trust in the score, once giving a possible explanation for that, too: "The years I spent under Nazi rule made me immune to blind trust."
The notes he played and that are preserved on record and CD have left their mark on generations of musicians and music lovers. "Music that is not played, but seems to happen all by itself," are the words Brendel found to describe two musicians he highly revered: his teacher Edwin Fischer and the conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler.
That description might also apply to his own expansive body of work included on 114 CD releases.
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A few choice composers
He was and remains an artist with a wide repertoire, even if he has his favorites.
During the 1960s, he became the first pianist ever to record the complete works of Ludwig von Beethoven. One critic remarked that the set still contains "some of the finest Beethoven ever recorded."
Commenting on how he celebrated his beloved composer's 250th centenary last year that the pandemic reduced to a muted affair, he told the NDR that he discovered several rarely performed works such as the oratorio "Christ on the Mount of Olives."
Brendel was also described by German music critic Joachim Kaiser as "the Schubert performer since 1950." Haydn, Mozart, Liszt, Busoni and Brahms were also among his other favorites.
In later years, Brendel focused on fewer composers, explaining to DW in 2002: "If you play the right pieces, the ones worth spending a life with, they become sources of strength that always radiate new energy and regenerate the performer's powers."
And Brendel also finds strength and creativity in things that far removed from music. "I've always had a need not only to read but also to write," he once said. "In my younger years, I painted for a while. Now I find visual perception increasingly important. I go to museums, exhibitions, to the movies and the theater."
Robert Schumann, the quintessential Romantic
Düsseldorf is planning a new museum dedicated to Robert Schumann. Here's more on the ingenious composer, pianist, poet, music journalist, who was also a melancholic manic-depressive plagued by suicidal fantasies.
Image: picture-alliance/Luisa Ricciar
Schumann House in Zwickau
Robert Schumann was born in the small Saxon city of Zwickau on June 8, 1810. His father August Schumann was a book merchant, publisher, author and translator who introduced the English authors Lord Byron and Sir Walter Scott to German readers. August was an adherent of the "Sturm und Drang" (Storm and Stress) movement upholding the ideals of genius, innocence and the sanctity of love and nature.
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The 'bright spot'
The young Robert Schumann was of a cheerful disposition. His mother, Johanna Christiane, called him her "bright spot." Hearing a recital by the pianist Ignaz Moscheles at age nine, he demanded a piano — and was soon improvising on it as though possessed. He was equally talented in poetry and music. At age 15, he suffered his first serious bout of depression.
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Virtuosos' assembly line
After studying law for two years in Leipzig and Heidelberg and traveling to Italy, the 20-year-old Robert decided to dedicate himself to music and moved into the household of the notoriously strict piano instructor Friedrich Wieck in Leipzig. To strengthen individual fingers, he devised a contraption that would hold other fingers up in the air. As a result, his hand was paralyzed.
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Condemned to compose
That was the end of the dream of becoming a piano virtuoso. A bout of depression resulted in his first suicide attempt in the autumn of 1833. Robert Schumann could only come to terms with his diverse interests and mood swings through creative work — by writing music. Even early works such as the "Abegg-Variationen" and "Papillons" showed a mastery of technique.
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Forbidden love
Also under Friedrich Wieck's tutelage was his daughter Clara; the gifted girl played concerts as a child. The love between Robert and Clara was first openly expressed in 1835 when she was 16 years old. Her father sought to prevent any contact between the two with every means at his disposal. They secretly got engaged in 1837 — but weren't able to marry until 1840 after a court decision.
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Writing about music
The convivial young Schumann spent time with like-minded artists in "Kaffeebaum," a coffeehouse in Leipzig. Calling themselves "Davidsbündler," they railed against petty bourgeois artistic tastes and mediocrity. In 1834 Schumann founded the "Neue Zeitschrift für Musik" (New Music Journal) and wrote for the periodical for 10 years. His critiques had a major impact on the music world.
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Flood of productivity
Schumann wrote mostly piano music at first. Then, after his marriage in 1840, he penned more than 130 Lieder in that year alone. Music in nearly every genre followed in the years to come: an opera, four symphonies, choral and chamber music. Clara wrote music as well, but was not permitted to enter the public eye as a composer. Robert even wanted her to discontinue her concert appearances at first.
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Mouths to feed and pangs of depression
The Schumanns had eight children — and for financial reasons, Clara soon found herself back on tour. Periods of high productivity during Schumann's time in Leipzig and Dresden alternated with phases of depression. Today his illness would likely be diagnosed as a bipolar disorder. An earlier syphilis infection may have contributed to his symptoms.
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Short-lived respite in the Rhineland
In 1850, the Schumann family moved to Dusseldorf, and Robert was warmly greeted as the city's new music director. Buoyed by the upbeat mood of his new surroundings, he composed his Third Symphony, the "Rhenish." Soon, however, he was at loggerheads with the municipal chorus and orchestra. He seemed unsuited for the organizational aspects of the job.
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The future of music
In 1853, Johannes Brahms visited the Schumanns in Düsseldorf — and Schumann promptly wrote an essay proclaiming the young man as the greatest composer in the years to come. Bolstered by optimism, Schumann had a brief surge of creativity, but professional conflicts erupted that same year — after which he withdrew from his conducting responsibilities and stopped composing.
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Final home
In a downward spiral, sounds raging through his head robbed him of his sleep. On February 27, 1854 he leapt into the Rhine but was rescued and sent home. On March 4, at his own request, he was admitted to the Institution for the Treatment and Care of the Emotionally Ill and Insane in Endenich near Bonn — and died there two and a half years later on July 29, 1856.
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Grande dame of music
Surviving her husband by 40 years, Clara Schumann remained a star of the music world. Johannes Brahms was more than a close friend to her, though their love most likely remained platonic. Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms destroyed late works by Robert Schumann, considering them to have been impaired by his illness. Musicologists have only recently come to see Schumann's work in a new light.
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Final resting place
Clara and Robert Schumann lie interred at the Alter Friedhof (Old Cemetery) in Bonn. Funds for the ornate gravesite were raised at a major Schumann festival in 1873. The memorial was designed by sculptor Adolf von Donndorf and unveiled in 1880 at a festive ceremony with Clara and her children in attendance. Today it's a destination for those who love the music of Robert Schumann.
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A new museum planned in Düsseldorf
Until he was admitted to the Bonn hospital, Schumann lived from 1850 to 1854 in Düsseldorf, where he was a musical director. He composed about a third of his works in the city. The musician's former house has served as a memorial institute for years, but now it will be extended into a museum that is planned to open in October 2020.