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Chopin had syphilis, too.
During the revolution in Warsaw, he fled to France (while in the process of finishing composing his Op. 10 Etudes - the last of which is the famous "revolutionary" etude). Before he got to France, he paid a short visit to a young lady named Theresa. He gave her money, and she gave him syphilis. What a deal.
After that, he decided that he never wanted to sleep with another woman again, for fear of contracting some other STD. He later met George Sand, and I guess he must have slept with her at least once or twice (since they lived together for 10 years).
Sam
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Bach should be considered as a pianst, since he plays organ, harpiscord or clavier. although there's no such thing as piano we know today then, he was a pianist by any sense.
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Actually Chopin's "souvenir" of Theresa was probably gonorrhea, much more painful than syphllis in the early stages but much less serious. (Unless, of course, Theresa gave him something else altogether, like body lice or a hair ribbon.)
Slow down and do it right.
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CPE Bach probably would have to undergo training to learn how to play a Steinway concert grand. So would Clementi, and Mozart, and Beethoven, and Liszt.
Pianos have evolved over time. The pianos we use today are very different from the pianos used 100 years ago, 200 years ago, 300 years ago.
When calling someone a pianist, does it matter which form of the piano he played? Bach played a clavichord which is very similar to the pianofortes that CPE Bach played. The pianofortes that CPE Bach played are very, very different from a modern Steinway grand, and even he would probably have to undergo extensive training to learn how to play a modern piano.
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Originally posted by Mihaela: And it really does not matter. The whole thread is ridiculous. And people come back to discuss possible illnesses of those great musicians ? Why ? I think it's because polls keep us piano players from getting overly senile (there is some irony in this statement, btw). Did anyone ever here the urban myth of how Alkan died? Supposedly by reaching up to get a bible and the whole bookcase falling down on him. I don't know how true it is, but man would that suck.
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Well on the other end of the spectrum, Horowitz lived a pretty long time (he was 86 i think) and Ashkenazy has been around for quite a while too.
Houston, Texas
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Originally posted by TS: It seems to happen with modern day pianists as well. Coming to mind are Glenn Gould, William Kapell (although not of natural causes), and Alex(?) Sultanov of quite recent. It seems to usually be some sort of stroke or heart attack that does it. Who knows? Gould probably died relatively young because of his pill popping, rather than anything he did at the piano. William Kapell died in a plane crash--again, unrelated to the piano except for the fact that he was returning from a tour of Australia. When commenting on those who've died young it should be remembered that the average human lifespan was never higher than 54 until the late 1930s.
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Well pianists are just people. Regular people. Only thing playing the piano could have had to do with early deaths are: either being dirt poor from it, injuring yourself somehow, more reasons when i can think of them. But really theres no correlation between playing the piano and dying young. (wasnt rubinstein 100?)
Houston, Texas
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Originally posted by BruceD: Er ... excuse me?
It makes about as much sense to ask : "Why do people die so young?" Musical history is filled with people who lived to a ripe old age, pianists included :
Horowitz, 86 Rubinstein, 95 Serkin, 88 Richter, 82 Arrau, 88 Cortot, 85 Heifetz, 86 Verdi, 88 Saint-Saens, 86 Vaughn Williams, 86 Tebaldi, 82
The list goes on, and on, .... OWN3D
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Arthur Rubinstein lived for some 90 years.
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What's the name of that very young pianist who commited suicide? Think he was 22 years old and had curly hair. Played Liszt sonata, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin? Anyone knows?
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In all fairness, IF bar room pianists are included, the average life span would go down. These are "professional" pianists in that they earn their living from performance on the instrument in that environment. Usually, by time they are mid- 50's, the liver, kidneys and sometimes the lungs on these types are pretty much worn out from abuses that go with the territory.
Theodore Alamo Music Center San Antonio,Texas
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Originally posted by Mandel: What's the name of that very young pianist who commited suicide? Think he was 22 years old and had curly hair. Played Liszt sonata, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin? Anyone knows? Terence Judd.
"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." - Aldous Huxley
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I have to mention of my favorite pianists, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, who was still playing in his 101st year. I heard him in 1990 (he was 98) and it was a wonderful experience.
Maybe part of the secret of living long is walking. In his younger years, Horszowski spent a great deal of time mountain climbing, never owned a car, and was taking long walks into his early 90s. In his case, diet does not seem to have been a factor, as it was reported he ate hamburgers nearly every day!
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I don't think this contributed to his stroke, but Glenn Gould used to play sitting on a stick that ran between his buttocks.
That can't be good for you.
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Perhaps we're indulging in wishful thinking of what some of the short-lived composers might have come up with if their lives had been extended by a few years.
At 57, the agonizing finality of Beethoven's death-mask always finds me fashioning the dream of a completed 10th Symphony - with Chopin's expiry at 39, the forlorn hope that an unpublished Nocturne or Waltz will be miraculously discovered in Paris or Warsaw - that someone will find a 1937 crumpled composition in a disused NY attic and chance on an unheard Gershwin song (also a life span of 39 years).
We can but cherish their remarkable legacy. The Waltz, Polonaise, Etude, Mazurka, Ballade and Prelude amongst others, are musical genres indelibly associated with the name of Chopin - and all composed within the space of 20 years - amazing!!
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A rather poignant comment by a dying Chopin to his friend Delacroix. He predicted a productive later life for his friend.
"You will have the enjoyment of your talent, in a kind of serenity that is a rare privilege, and no less valuable than the feverish search after fame."
From Delacroix's Journal 1/29/1849
Slow down and do it right.
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Just had a thought. Individuals of any profession can die young. If a 30 year old lawyer died of a stroke, no one but his family and friends would wonder what he could have achieved, but given a few decades and he might have been made Chief Justice. There's just no knowing, since judicial wisdom requires maturity. A scientist often must put in decades of research before making a significant breakthrough. The lab assistant who died at 25 might have been a Nobel laurelate. Musical talent manifests itself notoriously early. Concert pianists achieve fame and recognition young, often very young, if at all. This puts them in one of the few professions (acting is another) whose members CAN die both very YOUNG and FAMOUS.
Slow down and do it right.
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Piano
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