Mieczyslaw Horszowski Collection

Mieczyslaw Horszowski was born in Lvov, Poland on June 23, 1892 and received his first piano lessons from his mother, a student of Karol Mikuli, who had been a pupil of Chopin. He went on to study in Vienna with Theodor Leschetizky, who was a pupil of Beethoven's protege Karl Czerny and the most important piano teacher next to Franz Liszt. In 1905, the young pianist played for Gabriel Faure and he met Camille Saint-Saens in Nice. The following year, he met Arturo Toscanini and Pablo Casals, both of whom later became close musical associates and personal friends. Horszowski began concertizing throughout Europe in 1900 as an eight-year-old prodigy. At 10 he gave his first recital in Vienna. Within five years he was touring North and South America. In 1911, Horszowski interrupted his career to devote himself to the study of literature, philosophy, and the history of art at the Sorbonne in Paris. Upon Casals' insistence, he returned to the concert stage and, after World War I, he settled in Milan. At the outbreak of World War II he was on a tour of Brazil; instead of returning to Europe, he came to the United States, where he made his home until his death. Though he initially established his reputation as a young soloist, Horszowski subsequently devoted much of his adult career to chamber music. His longstanding collaboration with Casals is well known, and he took a major role in many of the prestigious chamber music festivals around the world, such as the Prades Festival, Casals Festival, Marlboro Festival, etc. Among the many famous musicians with whom he collaborated were Joseph Szigeti, Alexander Schneider, Walter Trampler, and the Budapest Quartet. Other highlights of his performing career include appearances with Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony; a cycle of Beethoven's entire solo piano works, presented in twelve New York recitals in 1957; a similar cycle, also in New York, of all of Mozart's piano sonatas in 1960; and a series of ten Mozart concertos two years later at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He performed at the White House for Presidents Kennedy and Carter. In 1973, Horszowski participated in an unique concert at the American Museum-Hayden Planetarium commemorating the 500th anniversary of the birth of the great Polish astronomer, Nicholas Copernicus. Also at the Metropolitan Museum he recorded for the first time in history on the earliest surviving piano - an instrument built in 1720 by its inventor, Bartolommeo Cristofori. On this occasion Horszowski played sonatas by D. Ludovico Giustini di Pistoia, which were commissioned by Cristofori and are the first known compositions written for the pianoforte. Contemporary music also occupied a part of his repertory. He performed works by Honegger, d'Indy, Martinu, Villa-Lobos, Stravinsky, Szymanowski, and Joonas Kokkonen. Horszowski made numerous recordings, beginning with his mid-1930s HMV discs with Casals, and continuing with solo, chamber and concerto releases for Columbia/CBS/Sony, Mercury, Vox, RCA Victor, Vanguard, Deutsche Grammophon, and Nonesuch. Many are now available on compact disc, and newly-discovered live Horszowski performances have continued to appear after his death. As a link between the great musicians of the past and the young artists of the future, Horszowski provided an inestimable contribution to the world of music not only through his performances and recordings but also through his teaching. For many years he was a distinguished member of the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Among his more famous students are Seymour Lipkin, Anton Kuerti, Peter Serkin, Murray Perahia and Richard Goode. Horszowski died in Philadelphia on May 22, 1993, at the age of 100.