The Artist Teaching of Alexander Goldenweiser: Fingers in Service to Music

Abstract

This paper examines the life, teaching methods, and critical editions of Alexander Goldenweiser (1875-1961), a major figure of the Russian music scene in the first half of the twentieth century. A pianist, teacher, and composer, Goldenweiser left an important legacy with his teaching philosophy and editions of piano scores. Many of his students have become renowned pianists and teachers themselves, who have transmitted Goldenweiser’s teaching philosophy to their own pupils, thus strengthening the widely recognized Russian school of piano. An examination of his teaching methods reveals his teaching philosophy, which focuses on the development of a piano technique that seeks a faithful interpretation of the music scores. In his view, children should start taking piano lessons at an early age to acquire the necessary skills to master all sorts of passages in the piano literature, and to these purposes, he was influential in the creation of the Central Music School in Moscow, where musically-gifted children study the elementary and secondary school levels. As a music editor, he innovated aspects of fingering and pedaling, and emphasized the significance of a faithful score reading that respects the composers’ markings and intentions with their music. More specifically, this paper analyzes Goldenweiser’s edition of three piano sonatas by Beethoven—Op. 10 no. 2 (B-flat Major), Op. 22, and Op. 28 (D Major), —comparing his fingerings to those of the Henle’s and Schnabel’s editions in order to understand Goldenweiser’s editing choices. Although Goldenweiser did not publish a book or method of piano playing that codified his ideas on the art of piano, as several contemporary pianists did, he created detailed annotated editions which may give young pianists an even clearer image of his pedagogical methods and musical philosophy.