Rudolf Serkin | |
|---|---|
 Serkin in 1962 | |
| Born | (1903-03-28)March 28, 1903 |
| Died | May 8, 1991(1991-05-08) (aged 88) Guilford, Vermont, United States |
| Occupation | classical pianist |
| Years active | 1916–1988 |
| Spouse | Irene Busch |
| Children | 7, includingPeter Serkin |
| Awards | Presidential Medal of Freedom |
Rudolf Serkin (28 March 1903 – 8 May 1991) was aBohemia-born Austrian-American pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatestBeethoven interpreters of the 20th century.[1]
Serkin was born inCheb,Bohemia,Austria-Hungary (now theCzech Republic), to a Russian Jewish family. His father, Mordko Serkin, "had been a Russian basso, and taught him to read music before he could read words."[2]
Hailed as achild prodigy,[3] he was sent to Vienna at the age of 9, where he studied piano withRichard Robert and, later, composition withJoseph Marx, making his public debut with theVienna Philharmonic at 12. From 1918 to 1920 he studied composition withArnold Schoenberg and participated actively in Schoenberg's Society for the Private Performance of Music.
Serkin began a regular concert career in 1920, living in Berlin with the German violinistAdolf Busch and his family, which included a then-3-year-old daughter Irene, whom Serkin would marry 15 years later.
In 1921, at age 17, he made his Berlin debut performing in Busch's ensemble as the keyboard soloist in theBrandenburg Concerto No. 5. At the end of the concert, Busch told Serkin to play an encore to the enthusiastic audience. Serkin later reported that he asked Busch, "What shall I play?" and Busch "as a joke" told him to play theGoldberg Variations "and I took him seriously. When I finished there were only four people left: Adolf Busch,Artur Schnabel,Alfred Einstein and me."[2]
In the 1920s and early 1930s, Serkin performed throughout Europe both as soloist and with Busch and the Busch Quartet. With the rise ofHitler in Germany in 1933, Serkin and the Busches (who were not Jewish but who vehemently opposed theNazi regime) left Berlin for Basel, Switzerland.
In 1933, Serkin made his first United States appearance at the Coolidge Festival in Washington, D.C., where he performed with Adolf Busch. In 1936, he launched his solo concert career in the US with theNew York Philharmonic underArturo Toscanini. His performance ofLudwig van Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto was critically well received;Olin Downes of theNew York Times wrote, "We have seldom heard a pianist's performance which so admirably combined the most penetrating analysis with artistic enthusiasm and warm feeling. Similarly, the technical performance was clean and precise, but also beautiful and of a poetic coloring."[4] In 1937, Serkin played his first New York City recital atCarnegie Hall, again to critical acclaim: Downes wrote, "What Mr. Serkin did was to display a colossal art, which he devoted to the most idealistic purposes."[5]
Shortly after the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the Serkins and Busches immigrated to the United States, where Serkin taught several generations of pianists at theCurtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. From 1968 to 1976 he served as the Institute's director. He lived with his growing family, first in New York, then in Philadelphia, as well as on a dairy farm in ruralGuilford, Vermont. In 1951, Serkin and Adolf Busch founded theMarlboro Music School and Festival in Marlboro, Vermont, with the goal of stimulating interest in and performance of chamber music in the United States. He made numerous recordings from the 1940s into the 1980s, including one atRCA Victor ofBeethoven'sPiano Concerto No. 4 in 1944, with theNBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Toscanini. Most of his recordings were made forColumbia Masterworks, although in the 1980s he also recorded forDeutsche Grammophon andTelarc. Serkin admired the music ofMax Reger, which he discovered while working with Adolf Busch. In 1959, he became the first pianist in the United States to record Reger'sPiano Concerto, Op. 114, withEugene Ormandy and thePhiladelphia Orchestra.
| External audio | |
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 You may listen to Rudolf Serkin with theNew York Philharmonic Orchestra conducted byBruno Walter performingLudwig van Beethoven'sPiano Concerto No. 5 in E flat (Emperor) Op. 73 in 1941here on archive.org |
Serkin was awarded thePresidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 and in March 1972 celebrated his 100th appearance with the New York Philharmonic by playingJohannes Brahms'Piano Concerto No. 1. The orchestra and board of directors also named Serkin an honorary member of the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Society, a distinction also conferred onAaron Copland,Igor Stravinsky, andPaul Hindemith. In 1986, he celebrated his 50th anniversary as a guest artist with the orchestra. He is regarded as one of the primary interpreters of the music of Beethoven in the 20th century.
Revered as a musician's musician, a father figure to a legion of younger players who came to the Marlboro School and Festival, and a pianist of enormous musical integrity, he toured all over the world and continued his solo career and recording activities until illness prevented further work in 1989.
Serkin married Irene Busch, the daughter of German violinistAdolf Busch, in 1935.
He and Irene were the parents of seven children (one of whom died in infancy),[6] including pianistPeter Serkin and cellist Judith Serkin.[7] They had 15 grandchildren, including the composerDavid Ludwig and the bassoonist Natalya Rose Vrbsky.
Serkin died of cancer on 8 May 1991, aged 88, at home on hisGuilford, Vermont farm. His widow Irene Busch Serkin died in 1998.
| External audio | |
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| You may hear Rudolf Serkin withAlexander Schneider conducting theColumbia Symphony Orchestra inWolfgang Amadeus Mozart's: Piano Concerto No.21 in C major, k. 467 Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major, K. 595 in 1957 Here on archive.org |
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