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The Vladimir Horowitz Archives – Wikipedia – Facebook
Kiew, September 18, 1903 – New-York, November 5, 1989)
Vladimir Horowitz was born in Kiev, Russian Empire (now the capital of Ukraine). There are unsubstantiated claims that Horowitz was born in Berdychiv (a city near Zhytomyr in Ukraine), but his birth certificate unequivocally states Kiev as his birthplace.
Horowitz was the youngest of four children of Samuil Horowitz and Sophia Bodik, who were assimilated Jews. Samuil was a well-to-do electrical engineer and a distributor of electric motors for German manufacturers. Horowitz was born in 1903, but in order to make him appear too young for military service so as not to risk damaging his hands, his father took a year off his son’s age by claiming he was born in 1904. The 1904 date appeared in many reference works during the pianist’s lifetime.
Horowitz’s uncle Alexander was a pupil and close friend of Alexander Scriabin. When Horowitz was 10, it was arranged for him to play for Scriabin, who told his parents that he was extremely talented.
Horowitz received piano instruction from an early age, initially from his mother, who was herself a pianist. In 1912 he entered the Kiev Conservatory, where he was taught by Vladimir Puchalsky, Sergei Tarnowsky, and Felix Blumenfeld. His first solo recital was in Kharkiv in 1920.
Chopin Scherzo No 2 in B-Flat minor, op. 31, was composed and published in 1837, and was dedicated to Countess Adèle Fürstenstein. Schumann compared this scherzo from Frédéric Chopin to a Byronic poem.
The Piano Concerto No 1 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 23, was composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky between November 1874 and February 1875. It was revised in the summer of 1879 and again in December 1888.
Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor was written in Dresden and completed on September 23, 1909. The concerto was first performed on Sunday afternoon, November 28, 1909, by Sergei Rachmaninoff himself.
Thirteen Preludes Op. 32, is a set of thirteen preludes for solo piano, composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff in 1910. The prelude No 12 in G-sharp minor is one of the most famous, especially under Horowitz fingers.
Danse Macabre, Op. 40, is a tone poem for orchestra, written in 1874 by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. It is in the key of G minor. It started out in 1872 as an art song for voice and piano with a French text by the poet Henri Cazalis, which is based on an old French superstition.
Liszt’s Third Consolation in D-Flat Major is the most popular of the six Consolations and also a favorite encore piece. Its style is similar to the Chopin Nocturnes, in particular, it seems to have been inspired by Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 27 No. 2.
Etude Op. 8 No. 12 in D-Sharp Minor, was composed by Alexander Scriabin in 1894. It features many technical challenges, including treacherous stretches with intervals up to an eleventh, numerous jumps in the left hand, repetitive chord strikes, and abundant octaves.
The Waltz No. 7 in C-Sharp Minor is the second work of Frédéric Chopin’s opus 64 and the companion to the Minute Waltz (Op. 64, No 1). It was composed in 1847 and have three themes with different speeds.
Written in October 1849 in response to the crushing of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 by the Habsburgs, Funérailles is the 7th and one of the most famous pieces in Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (Poetic and Religious Harmonies).
Träumerei (Dreaming) is the 7th piece from Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood), Op. 15, by Robert Schumann, a set of thirteen pieces of music for piano written in 1838.