Siegfried Rapp
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Siegfried Rapp (1915 - 1982) was a German pianist who lost his right arm during World War II and then focused on the left-hand repertoire. He is now mainly remembered for being the first to perform Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 4 for the Left Hand, Op.53.


Life

Rapp was born in
Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...
, Germany. He studied piano at the
Leipzig conservatory The University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig (german: Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig) is a public university in Leipzig (Saxony, Germany). Founded in 1843 by Felix Mendelssohn ...
with
Robert Teichmüller Robert Teichmüller (4 May 1863, in Braunschweig – 6 May 1939, in Leipzig) was a German concert pianist and music educator. He studied piano and music theory with Carl Reinecke at the Leipzig Conservatory where he later became a faculty member ...
. During World War II he served on the Russian front, where he lost his right arm to
shrapnel Shrapnel may refer to: Military * Shrapnel shell, explosive artillery munitions, generally for anti-personnel use * Shrapnel (fragment), a hard loose material Popular culture * ''Shrapnel'' (Radical Comics) * ''Shrapnel'', a game by Adam C ...
. Afterwards he resumed his piano studies, specializing in playing with one hand. Rapp was a popular pianist in
East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
in the 1950s. He often performed
Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
's ''
Diversions for Piano Left Hand and Orchestra ''Diversions for Piano Left Hand and Orchestra'', Op. 21, is a concertante music composition by Benjamin Britten. History Britten wrote the work for the Viennese-born pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm in World War I. Britten me ...
'' to general acclaim; in fact, a recording of one of his performances was made without his knowledge and sold by a radio station. Around 1950, Rapp sought permission from
Paul Wittgenstein Paul Wittgenstein (November 5, 1887March 3, 1961) was an Austrian-American concert pianist notable for commissioning new piano concerti for the left hand alone, following the amputation of his right arm during the First World War. He devised nove ...
, the left-handed dedicatee of Prokofiev's 4th Piano Concerto (for the left hand), to perform the work himself. Prokofiev had written the concerto in 1931 for Wittgenstein, who had the exclusive right to play it during his lifetime, but 19 years on, it still lay unperformed because the pianist could not come to terms with its inner logic. Wittgenstein refused Rapp's request to premiere the piece in no uncertain terms, writing to him in June 1950:
You don't build a house just so that someone else can live in it. I commissioned and paid for the works, the whole idea was mine ... But those works to which I still have the exclusive performance rights are to remain mine as long as I still perform in public; that's only right and fair. Once I am dead or no longer give concerts, then the works will be available to everyone because I have no wish for them to gather dust in libraries to the detriment of the composer.
However, Wittgenstein must have relented, as Rapp did premiere the concerto on 5 September 1956 in Berlin, with the
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (''Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin'') is a German symphony orchestra based in Berlin. In Berlin, the orchestra gives concerts at the Konzerthaus Berlin and at the Berliner Philharmonie. The orchestra has also ...
conducted by
Martin Rich Martin Rich (October 8, 1905October 23, 2000) was a German opera and symphonic conductor. Rich played the piano from the age of 5. He studied in Berlin under Franz Schreker. He conducted at venues in Bologna in Italy, and Grant Park, in Ill ...
. Reaction to the performance was lukewarm, leading Rapp to say, "Right after the war, with so many disabled veterans around, I found genuine sympathy among audiences. Today it has become much more difficult for me. Today's audiences are spoiled by technical perfection, and they look for force of expression in addition. The two together are hard enough for a man with two arms". Rapp later recorded the work with the Loh-Orchester Sondershausen under Gerhart Wiesenhutter. Rapp was one of the first to play
Sergei Bortkiewicz Sergei Bortkiewicz (russian: Сергей Эдуардович Борткевич; – 25 October 1952) was a Russian-born Austrian Romantic composer and pianist. He moved to Vienna in 1922 and became a naturalized Austrian citizen in 1926. Li ...
's Piano Concerto No. 2 for the Left Hand, Op. 28. It had been premiered in 1923 by Wittgenstein but had quickly fallen into oblivion. In 1952, the year of Bortkiewicz's death, Rapp obtained a copy of the score and played it that year in
Reichenhall Bad Reichenhall (Central Bavarian: ''Reichahoi'') is a spa town, and administrative center of the Berchtesgadener Land district in Upper Bavaria, Germany. It is located near Salzburg in a basin encircled by the Chiemgau Alps (including Mount Staufe ...
, and in
Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
in 1953 with the
Staatskapelle Dresden The Staatskapelle Dresden (known formally as the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden) is a German orchestra based in Dresden, the capital of Saxony. Founded in 1548 by Maurice, Elector of Saxony, it is one of the world's oldest and most highly re ...
conducted by
Kurt Striegler Kurt Emil Striegler (7 January 1886 – 4 August 1958) was a German composer and director. Life and career Born in Dresden, the son of a chamber musician at the Saxon State Theatre, he attended the Royal Saxon Kapellknaben Institute in Dres ...
. He died in 1982, aged about 67.


Recordings

* His 1964 recording of
Lucijan Marija Škerjanc Lucijan Marija Škerjanc (December 17, 1900 – February 27, 1973) was a Slovene composer, music pedagogue, conductor, musician, and writer who was accomplished on and wrote for a number of musical instruments such as the piano, violin and ...
's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand (1963) with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under Lothar Seyfarth is available on . * He recorded
Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...
's Concerto for the Left Hand with the
Gewandhausorchester The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Gewandhausorchester; also previously known in German as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig) is a German symphony orchestra based in Leipzig, Germany. The orchestra is named after the concert hall in which it is bas ...
conducted by
Kurt Masur Kurt Masur (18 July 1927 – 19 December 2015) was a German conductor. Called "one of the last old-style maestros", he directed many of the principal orchestras of his era. He had a long career as the Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Or ...
. * He recorded
Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
's '' Diversions'', Op 21, with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under
Franz Konwitschny Franz Konwitschny (14 August 1901, Fulnek, Moravia – 28 July 1962, Belgrade) was a German conductor and violist of Moravian descent. He started his career on the viola,Schwinger playing in the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Wilhelm Furtw ...
and again under
Artur Rother Artur Martin Rother (12 October 188522 September 1972) was a German conductor who worked mainly in the opera house. He was born in Stettin, Pomerania (now Szczecin, Poland). His father was an organist and music teacher. He studied under Hugo Kau ...
.


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rapp, Siegfried 1915 births 1982 deaths German classical pianists Male classical pianists Classical pianists who played with one arm German amputees 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century German musicians 20th-century German male musicians