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Egon PETRI and the PETRIOTS (by Michaele Benedict)
Egon Petri (1881 - 1962)
The legacy of Egon Petri, who is believed by many to
be one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century, lives on in his
grand-students and great-grand-students, that is, in the students of his own
pupils and in the next generation of pianists. This pianistic legacy is so distinctive that it is
easily recognizable in performers, and yet in the absence of description by
Petri himself, the legacy has been passed on from teacher to student almost
entirely by word of mouth. Is there another example of teaching in any field,
which has existed, essentially unchanged, for more than a hundred years
without the benefit of a text? One is reminded of Mary Renault's historical novel, The Praise Singer,
which describes her idea of the aural tradition of music teaching in ancient
Greece, before notation was invented. Petri's way of playing the piano, and the way he
taught, involved a naturalness and an ease which could overcome many
difficulties. Instead of technical studies, Petri advocated taking excerpts
from the keyboard literature itself, so that the skill served the music,
rather than standing alone. Changes in dynamics were achieved by the speed of
the key's descent, rather than by weight. "Weight is our enemy",
Petri would say. Together with his associate, Alexander Libermann, Petri
taught that the proper way to approach the piano keyboard was to
"take" the keys rather than pushing or depressing them. This subtle
difference involved a grasping movement of the hand, which used muscles
rather than brute strength. If one compares the physical approach to the
piano by most excellent contemporary pianists with that of piano players two
generations ago (videotapes allow us to make the comparison), it is easy to
see how things have changed. The tight curved hand has relaxed and extended;
dramatic and sometimes histrionic gestures have given way to an economy of
motion; greater faithfulness to the source of the music has produced
performances with greater subtlety and greater interest. Much of this change may be credited to Petri and his
heirs. Young music teachers today represent about four generations beyond
Petri, who died in California on May 27, 1962, at the age of 81. If the
father of our father is our grandfather, then the teacher of our teacher can
be considered our grand-teacher. The great-great-grand-pupils of Petri are
many thousands in number, and yet they are recognizable by theirs orientation
and playing. While reading the pages of my colleague Stefan Kutrzeba on the Internet, I
thought I recognized some of Petri's principles, and our subsequent
correspondence revealed that two of Stefan's teachers were Petri students.
My teacher, Robert Sheldon, studied with Egon Petri
for many years and tried faithfully to pass on the Petri legacy. He printed
out "Petri-Libermann Notes on the Art and Technique of Pianoforte
Playing", a 33-page, single-spaced treasury of wise advice. This
reference, plus dozens of tape recordings containing Petri anecdotes and
teachings, is the primary source of what I know about Egon Petri. I described
some of this material in an article in the American piano magazine, Clavier,
in November 1997. So who was this paragon whose name these days is so
little known, but whose method has been so influential in piano playing? Egon Petri's family was Dutch, but Petri was born
March 23, 1881, in Germany, where his family entertained such legendary
composers and musicians as Johannes Brahms at their home in Dresden. Petri's
father, Henri Willem Petri, became concertmaster of the Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra in 1889. Music historians tell us
that Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn conducted this orchestra earlier
in the nineteenth century. As a youth, Petri played violin in his father's quartet,
but according to Sheldon's notes, abandoned a promising career as a violinist
for that of a pianist because it gave him more scope. It may well be that
this early expertise on a stringed instrument fostered some of Petri's ideas
about "bowing" and phrasing in piano music. Piano music should be
all curves, Petri said, with no angles, stops or jerks. Petri's teachers were
the legendary Venezuelan pianist Teresa Carreño, who was called the "Valkyrie of the
piano" and Ferruccio Busoni, a family friend. Petri studied philosophy
and earned a doctorate in music from the Manchester Royal College of Music
in England, where he taught from 1906 to 19l0. He taught at the Hochschule
für Musik in Berlin from 1921 to 1925, and taught in Poland from 1925 to
1939. According to a letter from Forrest Robinson, a Petri student, Petri and
his wife left Poland for England in great haste in 1939, leaving his music
books and grand pianos behind. Petri's sister was killed in an air raid in
Hanover during the war, according to Mr. Robinson. Petri's son became an
officer in the British army. Egon Petri was pianist in residence at Cornell
University, Ithaca, New York, U.S.A., from 1940 to 1946 and in 1947
through 1957 held a similar position at Mills College in Oakland,
California, U.S.A. His colleagues on the music faculty were Libermann and the
French composer Darius Milhaud. He returned to Europe to teach at the Basel
Conservatory in 1957. From 1952 to 1962 he taught at the San Francisco
(California) Conservatory of Music. My teacher, Robert Sheldon, succeeded
him at the Conservatory. Petri assisted his former teacher, Busoni, in editing
Bach's keyboard works. Most of the Bach/Busoni treatments are still in print,
and Petri’s own transcription of one Bach work popularly known as "Sheep
May Safely Graze" is still in print and is heard occasionally in
concerts. I recently played for a wedding where the mother of the bride
requested this piece. She proved to have been a student of Claire James, an
English student of Egon Petri. Ferruccio Busoni, whom we know today primarily by his
transcriptions of Bach (thus the Bach/Busoni attributions on concert
programs) encouraged Petri to play piano and taught him in Berlin, Weimar and
Dresden. Recordings of Petri playing Busoni's music as well as performances
by Busoni himself have been re-released in recent years, and recordings of
Petri playing the major piano literature are once again available on compact
disc. Sheldon, however, said that these early recordings, made from 1929 to
1942, are not representative of Petri's playing. Recordings of the day were
primitive, to say the least. Tempi were set according to how much music would
fit on the disc, there was only one microphone, and often the recording
engineer, smoking his cigar in one corner of the room, would wave his arms to
urge the pianist to play faster. There was, of course, no way to correct
mistakes, so in one sense these recordings may be considered
"live", but not necessarily as typical of the artist's playing than
concerts where the player could screen out distractions and set his own
tempi. Harold Schonberg wrote in The Great Pianists
(Simon and Schuster, New York) that Egon Petri was "a superb technician,
and a musician of intellect, refinement and strength." The fifth edition
of Grove's Dictionary (1954) says that Petri was "acclaimed everywhere
as a superb artist whose works is profound, muscled, and subtle...he brings
clear thinking to each composition and the direct action of a pair of
wonderful hands which never make an unnecessary movement." (Petri could
reach an eleventh on the piano.) Sheldon's notes say "Petri's playing
(was always) noted for its breadth and grandeur, power and virtuosity."
The late, great Rudolf Firkusny said "Petri was not merely a great
pianist, but one of the greatest of all time." An article in the San
Francisco Chronicle in 1981, the centenary of Petri's birth, called him
"one of the great pianists of the last generation" and said that he
carried the "Liszt-Anton Rubinstein tradition." He was noted, the
Chronicle article said, "for the integrity and fantastic clarity of his
performances of classical and virtuosic repertory." Arthur Rubinstein,
one of the most famous pianists of the 20th century, often sent students
needing technical help to Petri and Libermann. Sheldon's notes say that the
main personal difference between the playing of Petri and that of Libermann
was the matter of taking jumps and leaps. Libermann believed in preparing
everything on the keys, but Petri preferred what he called "the braver
way" of slowing the preparatory movement over the key instead of
stopping it, and taking the key with a continuous swinging movement from just
barely above the key. Libermann's method made for absolute security but
tended, Sheldon said, to produce a slight jerkiness of stopping and starting
at fast tempos and when exaggerated made for a certain cautiousness in
bravura playing.
Alexander Libermann was born near Kiev in the
Ukraine. After the communist revolution, he was put in charge of music
instruction of Kiev's children. With the rise of the Stalin regime, he made
his way to Berlin, where he studied with Petri, but with the spread of
Hitler's regime, Libermann moved to Paris. When the Germans occupied Paris,
Libermann went to the south of France, where he opened a music school in Nice
with the help of Arthur Rubinstein. Once again, however, he had to flee for
his life. Egon Petri was instrumental in having the Libermanns settle at Mills
College. One anecdote about the move, told by Mr. Sheldon, is nearly as
chilling as the many last-minute escapes. Apparently Petri had invited the
Libermanns to come to Oakland, but in an absent-minded moment forgot about
the invitation. Libermann and his wife had crossed the Atlantic and 3000
miles of the continental United States to arrive in California, speaking
almost no English, owning only what they could carry in a suitcase. Libermann
knocked at Petri's door. Petri answered and said "Why, Sasha, what are
you doing here?"
The following are a few of
Petri's teaching principles, gleaned from Robert Sheldon's notes and remarks: GENERAL APPROACH Never try to gain volume by hitting the
keys. Try to find out how little effort you need. People are too interested in the beginning
of sounds and not in their continuation. Continuity of movement is one of my
obsessions. Draw your attention to the vibration of the
strings rather than the knocking of the hammer. I know all the rules, but if the rules don't
fit, I break the rules rather than break the music. Think primarily in terms of fingers and keys
rather than arm. What happens at the end of the fingertip is
what is important. When you change fingers unnecessarily, you
invite trouble. In very soft playing, the firmer the hand,
the more control you have. The greatest finger activity is in the
knuckle joint. The fingers are prepared for both the black and white keys by
the first two finger joints. At the instant the key reaches the bottom
(keyboard), four things happen: You hear the sound, you feel a resistance
which stops you, you free yourself (either by releasing the key or by holding
the key down lightly. Fourth is the moment you count "one" or feel
the beat. This rebound feeling makes piano playing seem to be upwards. Practice is arranging things in your mind
until they become automatic. Do not try to overcome difficulties; find
another approach that causes these difficulties to vanish. PRACTICE An article in The American Music Teacher in
1939 quoted Petri regarding practice: A pedestrian who was on his way to
Athens met a peasant working by the roadside and asked him "How far is
it to Athens?" The peasant replied, "Walk!" The man said
"I know I have to walk, but tell me how long will it take me to get
there?" The peasant repeated, "Walk!" When the third inquiry
drew forth the same information, the traveler, giving the peasant up as a
hopeless idiot, walked away with great strides. After a few seconds the
peasant called out: "Half an hour!" Greatly surprised, the man
turned back and said: "Why did you not tell me that at once?" Whereupon
the peasant replied, "How could I tell you before I saw how you
walked?" So what would be the use of telling a pupil how long to
practice without knowing how he practiced? You can't help being your own
teacher and pupil when you practice. If you learn quickly and incorrectly,
that's bad. If you learn quickly and correctly, that's good. If you learn
slowly and correctly, that is also good. But is you learn slowly and
incorrectly, that's the worst. If you do the exercises right, you don't need
them. If you do them wrong, they may do you harm. PITHY SAYINGS Art consists of a lot of very fine details
made correctly. I am here to defend the composer. In playing, think everything in curves: no
angles, no stops, and no jerks. This is a principle of life: Calm is based
on confidence. Subtle differences of accent are a case of
mental division. Like "men’s wear" as opposed to "men
swear." Meter is something invented by man, like the
metronome, the clock, etc. Rhythm is something in nature, where nothing
is quite alike. Pedal: A very beautiful but dangerous
instrument. Rubato is like a man walking his dog. Sometimes the dog is
ahead, sometimes behind, but both go and come back together. Phrasing in music is like speaking or reading,
observing punctuation marks, and dynamics are like voice inflection. Don't
overdo or underdo either. Remember that technique is mental rather
than physical. Therefore, it is necessary to will a movement before making
it. Music is so lovely when it's left alone. Any child can make a loud and nasty sound on
the piano. Most pianists spend their expression in
small coin. People who talk too much about
interpretation are apt not to be humble enough. I try not to overshadow the
composer. PETRI ON COMPOSERS Many interesting thoughts of Egon Petri
could be found via this link! Thank you!
The Master with some representatives of First Generation of the
Petriots. Standing, from
left: Newman POWELL, Leonard KLEIN, Alexander LIBERMANN, Egon PETRI, Lois MAER, Phillip MORGAN, Robert SHELDON, John SWEENEY. Seating, from left: John MORIARTY, Terry WOHL, Alice RAY, Ruth ORR, Ruth PREUSSER, Forrest ROBINSON. This photo has been taken at Petri's Studio at MILLS COLLEGE, Oakland,
California (probably in late 1940's). Click on the picture to see it in the
whole extend. Thank you!
Some words about the Author: Michaele Benedict is on the music faculty of Skyline
College in San Bruno, California, U.S.A. She is a nationally certified
member of Music Teachers National Association and has written a piano
method book, A Workbook for Organic Piano Playing, as well as articles
for Clavier Magazine and The American Music Teacher. She
studied with Robert Sheldon, a student of Egon Petri, for 14 years after
graduating from San Francisco State University. She would be delighted to hear from
students and grand-students of Egon Petri. E-mail her at mlbenedict@att.net
Another article related to The Art of Egon
Petri: this way. Thank
you!
Actualized on 2007-10-23 |
