Paul Badura-Skoda (6 October 1927 – 25 September 2019) was an Austrian pianist.
Career
A student of
Edwin Fischer
Edwin Fischer (6 October 1886 – 24 January 1960) was a Swiss classical pianist and conductor. He is regarded as one of the great interpreters of J.S. Bach and Mozart in the twentieth century.
Biography
Fischer was born in Basel and studied ...
, Badura-Skoda first rose to prominence by winning first prize in the Austrian Music Competition in 1947. In 1949, he performed with conductors including
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Gustav Heinrich Ernst Martin Wilhelm Furtwängler ( , , ; 25 January 188630 November 1954) was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. He was a major ...
and
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, wit ...
; over his long career, he recorded with conductors including
Hans Knappertsbusch
Hans Knappertsbusch (12 March 1888 – 25 October 1965) was a German conductor, best known for his performances of the music of Wagner, Bruckner and Richard Strauss.
Knappertsbusch followed the traditional route for an aspiring conductor in Ger ...
,
Hermann Scherchen, and
George Szell
George Szell (; June 7, 1897 – July 30, 1970), originally György Széll, György Endre Szél, or Georg Szell, was a Hungarian-born American conductor and composer. He is widely considered one of the twentieth century's greatest condu ...
. Along with his contemporaries
Friedrich Gulda
Friedrich Gulda (16 May 1930 – 27 January 2000) was an Austrian pianist and composer who worked in both the classical and jazz fields.
Biography Early life and career
Born in Vienna the son of a teacher, Gulda began learning to play the piano ...
and
Jörg Demus
Jörg Wolfgang Demus (2 December 1928 – 16 April 2019) was an Austrian classical pianist who appeared internationally and made many recordings. He was also a composer and a lecturer at music academies. In composition and playing, he focused on ...
, he was part of the so-called "Viennese Troika".
He was best known for his performances of works by
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
,
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
and
Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
, but had an extensive repertoire including many works of
Chopin and
Ravel
Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...
. Badura-Skoda was well known for his performances on
historical instruments
In the historically informed performance movement, musicians perform classical music using restored or replicated versions of the instruments for which it was originally written. Often performances by such musicians are said to be "on authentic ...
, and owned several (his recording of the complete piano sonatas of Schubert is on five instruments from his private collection) (see "Recordings"). A prolific recording artist, Badura-Skoda made over 200 records, including many duplicates created to highlight the sound of different pianos. For instance, in a 2013 record, he recorded Schubert's last sonata three times on instruments from the 1820s, 1920s, and early 2000s (having already recorded the piece several times before); one of his box sets of the complete piano sonatas of Beethoven similarly included three different versions of the
"Hammerklavier" Sonata. Indeed, he is the only person to have recorded the complete piano sonatas of Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert on both historic and modern instruments.
His frequent collaborations with Demus included several duet recordings and performances, and a book on the interpretation of Beethoven's piano sonatas. Badura-Skoda also collaborated with
Frank Martin, producing editions and recordings of his music, and several articles on it. In 1974 he completed an extensive tour of all the large cities in Southern Africa.
Badura-Skoda, who was considered one of the major pianists of his time, served on the jury of some of the most prestigious piano competitions (eg
Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition in 1987). He was also well known for his musical scholarship, often along with his wife
Eva Badura-Skoda. The Badura-Skodas edited one of the volumes of
Mozart's piano concertos for the ''
Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
The ''Neue Mozart-Ausgabe'' (''NMA''; English: ''New Mozart Edition'') is the second complete works edition of the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. A longer and more formal title for the edition is ''Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791): Neue A ...
'' (Serie V/Werkgruppe 15/Band 5, consisting of
K. 453,
456, and
459). They also produced books on the interpretation of the piano music of Mozart and the keyboard music of
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
, which were translated into several languages. Badura-Skoda also offered completed versions of several Schubert works never finished by the composer.
Badura-Skoda often played and recorded on modern piano and he also collected and restored pianos dating from the late eighteenth through the mid-nineteenth centuries. In 1980s he started working on a series of recordings of a selection of Haydn's sonatas and the complete piano sonatas of Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert—twenty-seven CDs—on about a dozen of his historical instruments.
He died after a three-year battle with cancer on 25 September 2019.
Honours and awards
*
Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class
The Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (german: Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria and forms part of the Austrian national honours system.
History
The "Austrian D ...
(1976)
* (1978)
* Knight of the
Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...
(1993)
* Commander of the
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...
(1997)
* Gold Medal for Service to the City of Vienna (2007)
*
(2006)
* Honoris causa doctorate from
Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mannheim (2006)
* Honoris causa doctorate from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (2010)
*Honoris causa doctorate from
Academy of Music in Kraków
The Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Kraków ( pl, Akademia Muzyczna im. Krzysztofa Pendereckiego w Krakowie) is a conservatory located in central Kraków, Poland. It is the '' alma mater'' of the renowned Polish contemporary composer Krz ...
Polish Centre of Music news
/ref> (2013)
Recordings
* Paul Badura-Skoda. Mozart. Pianoforte Sonatas. Played on a 1790 Johann Schantz fortepiano. Label: Astree Naive.
* Paul Badura-Skoda. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Works for piano. Played on an Anton Walter
Gabriel Anton Walter (5 February 1752 – 11 April 1826) was a builder of pianos. The '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' describes him as "the most famous Viennese piano maker of his time".Latcham (2009)
Life
Walter was born in Neuha ...
1790 fortepiano. Label: Gramola.
* Paul Badura-Skoda with Musica Florea
Musica Florea is a Czech Baroque music ensemble in Prague, founded in 1992 by conductor and cellist Marek Štryncl.
Profile
The group of young professionals with a common interest in the study and authentic performance of Baroque music engag ...
. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Piano concertos K.271, K.414. Played on a Walter 1792 fortepiano replica by Paul McNulty. Label: Arcana.
* Paul Badura-Skoda. Franz Schubert. Fantaisie Pour le Piano-forte. Played on a Conrad Graf
Conrad Graf (17 November 1782 in Riedlingen, Further Austria – 18 March 1851 in Vienna) was an Austrian-German piano maker. His pianos were used by Beethoven, Chopin, and Robert and Clara Schumann, among others.
Life and career
Graf began his c ...
1824 fortepiano. Label: Astree.
* Charles Mackerras
Mackerras in 2005
Sir Alan Charles MacLaurin Mackerras (; 1925 2010) was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. He was long associated with the Engli ...
(conductor), Paul Badura-Skoda, Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra
The Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra ( pl, Polska Orkiestra Radiowa) is a Polish radio orchestra founded in 1945 in Warsaw by Stefan Rachoń. Initially, the orchestra made records only for Polish radio and television. In 1970, the orchestra bega ...
. Shostakovich. Symphony No.9; Scriabin, Piano Concerto; Dvořák, Symphonic Variations. Label: Pristine Audio.
* Paul Badura-Skoda, Vienna Symphony Orchestra
The Vienna Symphony (Vienna Symphony Orchestra, german: Wiener Symphoniker) is an Austrian orchestra based in Vienna. Its primary concert venue is the Vienna Konzerthaus. In Vienna, the orchestra also performs at the Musikverein and at the Thea ...
, Henry Swoboda Henry Swoboda (October 29, 1897 – August 13, 1990) was a Czechoslovakian conductor and musicologist
Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and ...
(conductor). Rimsky-Korsakov. Piano Concerto. Label: Pristine Audio.
References
External links
*
CDs of Badura-Skoda released by label GENUIN
*
*
by Bruce Duffie, March 7, 1989
*
Essence
' (2018) - a short film based on Paul Badura-Skoda's 1967 essay "Look to the Guiding Stars!"
* , WNCN-FM
WAXQ (104.3 FM) is a classic rock- formatted radio station licensed to New York City. WAXQ is owned by iHeartMedia and broadcasts from studios in the former AT&T Building in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan; its transmitter is located ...
New York City, 26 March 1982
{{DEFAULTSORT:Badura-Skoda, Paul
Austrian classical pianists
Male classical pianists
Austrian fortepianists
Mozart scholars
Musicians from Vienna
École Normale de Musique de Paris alumni
Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition prize-winners
Recipients of the Grand Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria
Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class
Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur
Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Austrian people of Czech-Jewish descent
Jewish classical pianists
1927 births
2019 deaths
20th-century Austrian musicians
20th-century Austrian male musicians
20th-century classical pianists
20th-century Austrian musicologists
21st-century Austrian musicians
21st-century classical pianists
21st-century male musicians
21st-century musicologists
Music & Arts artists
Burials at Ottakring Cemetery