That is why they call me Rolf!: Two early female piano celebrities
(13 downloads)Monday, Jan 28, 2008
“Petite Valse” was written in 1898 by the Venezuelan born composer, concert pianist and opera singer, María Teresa Carreño García de Sena. This piano miniature also goes by the title “Mi Teresita”, 'Teresita' referring to Carreno’s daughter, Teresa Tagliapietra, to whom this is piece is dedicated. Teresa Carreno was born in 1853 in Caracas, Venezuela and her family moved to the United States when she was a very young. By the age of 8 she performed her debut at Irving Hall and in 1863, at the age of 10 she performed at the White House for President Abraham Lincoln.This short, introspective and quietly syncopated dance miniature provides a nice foil to the reverse side of this disc, Debussy’s “Feux d’Artifice” and its dramatic exposition of modern tendencies. Carreno’s romantic sentimentality and maternal instincts are conveyed just as accurately as Debussy’s objective of spectacle. The uneven rhythms suggesting perhaps the uncertain motions of a young aristocratic girl attempting a new ballet routine.
Elly Ney (1882-1968) performs on this 1927 recording. Ms. Ney was in fact compared to Teresa Carreno early in her career. Prior to Ney, it was Carreno who reigned as queen of the concert pianists. Ney quickly established her own identity, surpassing the reputation of any woman preceding her on the instrument. She studied under Emile von Sauer, Teodor Leszetycki and Clara Schumann among other icons of the time and developed a noticeably physical manner of playing, capable of drawing out very lyrical qualities in her performance while still exploiting the fundamentally percussive aspects of the instrument.
Ms. Ney was born in Düsseldorf, Germany and grew up in Bonn; she joined the Nazi Party in 1937 and she was clearly an enthusiastic advocate of their political beliefs including their anti-Semitic campaigns. On an ironic note, her first important distinction (at the age of 16), was as recipient of the highly coveted Mendelssohn Prize. Her performances were banned for a period after WWII and her legacy has been obscured ever since.
She is also a direct descendant of Marshal Michel Ney of France, the military commander in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Marhsal Ney was one of the original 18 Marshals appointed by Napoleon I. After Napoleon’s fall he was arrested and sent before the firing squad. Known by his soldiers as ‘Le Brave des Braves’ (Bravest of the Brave), he is reported to have refused a blindfold and called the order to fire in his own execution.
Brunswick 15094, 1927