Backhaus began his training at the Leipzig Conservatory at the age of ten under Alois Reckendorf. He then had some lessons for around a year with Eugen d’Albert in Frankfurt, but after this received no more formal training. Although he had played in public since he was eight, he made his professional debut in 1900, following it with a tour. He had, by this time, a large repertoire of more than 300 pieces and at least twelve concertos. At his London debut he played Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor Op. 25 and Brahms’s Variations on a theme by Paganini Op. 35. A year after this he substituted at short notice for Alexander Siloti at one of the Hallé concerts in Manchester, and three years later took up a post as professor of piano at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. In the same year Backhaus won the prestigious Anton Rubinstein Prize in Paris, adding a further boost to an already burgeoning career as a pianist that continued until a few days before his death.

Backhaus continued touring Europe, and a programme from a 1911 British tour shows the repertoire he favoured at that time. He began with Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Op. 111, followed it with Chopin’s Piano Sonata in B minor Op. 58, and continued with a Chopin group containing études, waltzes, a nocturne, a prélude and the Scherzo in C sharp minor Op. 39. The recital ended with Debussy and Liszt. Not long after this he decided to play in the USA. For his debut he chose Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Concerto which he played with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and Walter Damrosch at Carnegie Hall. He returned to Germany for the duration of World War I and took Swiss citizenship between the two world wars.

During Backhaus’s early career his repertoire was based around Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, Brahms and Beethoven, but during the 1930s he was already favouring more homogenous programmes. A Queen’s Hall recital from 1938 consisted of just three works, in variation form: Beethoven’s ‘Diabelli’ Variations Op. 120, Bach’s ‘Goldberg’ Variations BWV 988 and Brahms’s Variations on a theme by Paganini Op. 35. Apart from the utter reliability of Backhaus’s pianism, his playing had incredible integrity and conviction. It was always devoid of any personal idiosyncrasies, yet one can detect a difference in his recordings made after World War II. They have a more solid seriousness about them as he began to discard Chopin and Liszt from his programmes in favour of the German Classicists; his playing seemed to become more prosaic and less emotionally involved.

Backhaus was one of the pioneer pianists of recording. He became one of three pianists to join the roster of The Gramophone Company/HMV when he began to record in September 1908. The other two were Mark Hambourg and Percy Grainger. Grainger defected to Columbia and Hambourg continued to record for the company until 1936, when producer Walter Legge gained control of some aspects of the company. Backhaus was a pioneer in more ways than one, as after recording eleven sides he then made the first-ever recording of a piano concerto (by Grieg), in July 1909. It is heavily abridged (lasting just over six minutes) and it is interesting to note that HMV did not record another piano concerto until 1922. These early discs, recorded just three years after Backhaus’s win at the Anton Rubinstein Competition, display all his youthful vigour, poetry and amazing technique. All these acoustic recordings have been reissued on compact disc by Pearl.

World War I put a stop to Backhaus recording for HMV in London, and his next discs were made for Polydor in Berlin in 1916. They are some of his finest: he was thirty-two at the time, and he recorded one of his specialities, Brahms’s Variations on a theme by Paganini Op. 35. It was abridged to fit onto two 78rpm sides (though when he returned to HMV after the war he recorded the work again in 1924, and electrically in 1929). The fluidity of his technique is breathtaking; he never sounds under duress and the Polydor discs have remarkably good sound, making this one of the best of his early recordings. All the Polydor discs have been reissued on compact disc.

Backhaus continued to record for HMV until 1948. The 1920s saw the production of such classic recordings as that of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos 4 and 5 (Backhaus stating at the time that his version of the ‘Emperor’ was the recording he would most like to be remembered by) and the first complete recording of the Chopin études in 1928, whilst from the 1930s comes one of the most glorious versions of Schumann’s Fantasie in C Op. 17. The sweep, grandeur and powerful conviction of this interpretation make it still one of the best on record. The same decade produced Backhaus’s famous Brahms recordings; both piano concertos and much of the late solo piano music are given authoritative performances. Also from this time comes a superlative Grieg Piano Concerto, with the New Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Barbirolli, and this time it was recorded complete. This excellent performance is like a breath of fresh Scandinavian air as Backhaus does not linger or sentimentalise the work and sets the last movement off at a terrific pace. The last sessions for HMV, recorded in Zürich and supervised by Walter Legge, produced an effective Italian Concerto of Bach.

Backhaus continued to record, this time for Decca, and now his recordings were issued on LP. One of the first things he embarked on was a project to record all thirty-two of Beethoven’s piano sonatas. After completing this, he recorded them again in stereo, but at the time of his death he had recorded only thirty-one, so the stereo version is not quite complete. He also recorded much of his core repertoire again: both Brahms’s concertos, all of Beethoven’s except No. 1, and some Schumann, Schubert and Mozart. Works he had not previously recorded include Beethoven’s ‘Diabelli’ Variations Op. 120 and Chopin’s Sonata in B flat minor Op. 35 plus an impressive Bach LP containing the English Suite No. 6 and French Suite No. 5.

Backhaus kept up his technique into his old age and was programming Chopin études as late as the 1950s. He said that scales were the basic foundation of his technique and to keep it in optimum condition he would practise them twice a week. Perhaps one of the most important later recordings is that of a live recital at Carnegie Hall from March 1954 where a seventy-year-old Backhaus delivered no less than five Beethoven sonatas.

© Naxos Rights International Ltd. — Jonathan Summers (A–Z of Pianists, Naxos 8.558107–10).

Born in Bonn in 1770, the eldest son of a singer in the Kapelle of the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne and grandson of the Archbishop’s Kapellmeister, Beethoven moved in 1792 to Vienna. There he had some lessons from Haydn and others, quickly establishing himself as a remarkable keyboard player and original composer. By 1815 increasing deafness had made public performance impossible and accentuated existing eccentricities of character, patiently tolerated by a series of rich patrons and his royal pupil the Archduke Rudolph. Beethoven did much to enlarge the possibilities of music and widen the horizons of later generations of composers. To his contemporaries he was sometimes a controversial figure, making heavy demands on listeners by both the length and the complexity of his writing, as he explored new fields of music.

Stage Works

Although he contemplated others, Beethoven wrote only one opera. This was eventually called Fidelio after the name assumed by the heroine Leonora, who disguises herself as a boy and takes employment at the prison in which her husband has been unjustly incarcerated. This escape opera, for which there was precedent in contemporary France, ends with the defeat of the evil prison governor and the rescue of Florestan, testimony to the love and constancy of his wife Leonora. The work was first staged in 1805 and mounted again in a revised performance in 1814, under more favourable circumstances. The ballet The Creatures of Prometheus was staged in Vienna in 1801, and Beethoven wrote incidental music for various other dramatic productions, including Goethe’s Egmont, von Kotzebue’s curious The Ruins of Athens, and the same writer’s King Stephen.

Choral and Vocal Music

Beethoven’s most impressive choral work is the Missa solemnis, written for the enthronement of his pupil Archduke Rudolph as Archbishop of Olmütz (Olomouc) although finished too late for that occasion. An earlier work, the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives, is less well known. In common with other composers, Beethoven wrote a number of songs. Of these the best known are probably the settings of Goethe, which did little to impress the venerable poet and writer (he ignored their existence), and the cycle of six songs known as An die ferne Geliebte (‘To the Distant Beloved’). The song ‘Adelaide’is challenging but not infrequently heard.

Orchestral Music

Symphonies

Beethoven completed nine symphonies, works that influenced the whole future of music by the expansion of the traditional Classical form. The best known are Symphony No. 3, ‘Eroica’, originally intended to celebrate the initially republican achievements of Napoleon; No. 5; No. 6, ‘Pastoral’; and No. 9, ‘Choral’. The less satisfactory ‘Battle Symphony’ celebrates the earlier military victories of the Duke of Wellington.

Overtures

For the theatre and various other occasions Beethoven wrote a number of overtures, including four for his only opera, Fidelio (one under that name and the others under the name of the heroine, Leonora). Other overtures include Egmont, Coriolan, Prometheus, The Consecration of the House and The Ruins of Athens.

Concertos

Beethoven completed one violin concerto and five piano concertos, as well as a triple concerto for violin, cello and piano, and the curious Choral Fantasy for solo piano, chorus and orchestra. The piano concertos were for the composer’s own use in concert performance. No. 5, the so-called ‘Emperor’ Concerto, is possibly the most impressive. The single Violin Concerto, also arranged for piano, is part of the standard violin repertoire along with two romances (possible slow movements for an unwritten violin concerto).

Chamber Music

Beethoven wrote 10 sonatas for violin and piano, of which the ‘Spring’ and the ‘Kreutzer’ are particular favourites with audiences. He extended very considerably the possibilities of the string quartet. This is shown even in his first set of quartets, Op. 18, but it is possibly the group of three dedicated to Prince Razumovsky (the ‘Razumovsky’ Quartets, Op. 59) that are best known. The later string quartets offer great challenges to both players and audience, and include the remarkable Grosse Fuge—a gigantic work, discarded as the final movement of the String Quartet, Op. 130, and published separately. Other chamber music includes a number of trios for violin, cello and piano, with the ‘Archduke’ Trio pre-eminent and the ‘Ghost’ Trio a close runner-up, for very different reasons. The cello sonatas and sets of variations for cello and piano (including one set based on Handel’s ‘See, the conqu’ring hero comes’ from Judas Maccabaeus and others on operatic themes from Mozart) are a valuable part of any cellist’s repertoire. Chamber music with wind instruments and piano include the Quintet, Op. 16, for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon. Among other music for wind instruments is the very popular Septet, scored for clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello and double bass, as well as a trio for two oboes and cor anglais, and a set of variations on a theme from Mozart’s Don Giovanni for the same instruments.

Piano Music

Beethoven’s 32 numbered piano sonatas make full use of the developing form of the piano, with its wider range and possibilities of dynamic contrast. Other sonatas not included in the 32 published by Beethoven are earlier works, dating from his years in Bonn. There are also interesting sets of variations, including a set based on ‘God Save the King’and another on ‘Rule, Britannia’, variations on a theme from the ‘Eroica’ Symphony, and a major work based on a relatively trivial theme by the publisher Diabelli. The best known of the sonatas are those that have earned themselves affectionate nicknames: the ‘Pathétique’, ‘Moonlight’, ‘Waldstein’, ‘Appassionata’, ‘Les Adieux’ and ‘Hammerklavier’. Less substantial piano pieces include three sets of bagatelles, the all too well-known Für Elise, and the Rondo a capriccio, known in English as ‘Rage Over a Lost Penny’.

Dance Music

Famous composers like Haydn and Mozart were also employed in the practical business of providing dance music for court and social occasions. Beethoven wrote a number of sets of minuets, German dances and contredanses, ending with the so-called Mödlinger Dances, written for performers at a neighbouring inn during a summer holiday outside Vienna.

Born in Hamburg, the son of a double bass player and his older seamstress wife, Brahms attracted the attention of Schumann, to whom he was introduced by the violinist Joachim. After Schumann’s death he maintained a long friendship with the latter’s widow, the pianist Clara Schumann, whose advice he always valued. Brahms eventually settled in Vienna, where to some he seemed the awaited successor to Beethoven. His blend of Classicism in form with a Romantic harmonic idiom made him the champion of those opposed to the musical innovations of Wagner and Liszt. In Vienna he came to occupy a position similar to that once held by Beethoven, his gruff idiosyncrasies tolerated by those who valued his genius.

Orchestral Music

Brahms wrote four symphonies, massive in structure, and all the result of long periods of work and revision. The two early serenades have their own particular charm, while Variations on a Theme by Haydn—in fact the St Anthony Chorale, used by that composer—enjoys enormous popularity, as it illustrates a form of which Brahms had complete mastery. A pair of overtures—the Academic Festival Overture and the Tragic Overture—and arrangements of his Hungarian Dances complete the body of orchestral music without a solo instrument. His concertos consist of two magnificent and demanding piano concertos, a violin concerto and a splendid double concerto for violin and cello.

Chamber Music

Brahms completed some two dozen pieces of chamber music, and almost all of these have some claim on our attention. For violin and piano there are three sonatas, Opp 78, 100 and 108, with a separate Scherzo movement for a collaborative sonata he wrote with Schumann and Dietrich for their friend Joachim. For cello and piano he wrote two fine sonatas: Opp 38 and 99. There are two late sonatas, written in 1894, for clarinet/viola and piano, Op 120, each version deserving attention, as well as the Clarinet Trio, Op 114, for clarinet, cello and piano, and the Clarinet Quintet, Op 115, for clarinet and string quartet, both written three years earlier. In addition to this, mention must be made of the three piano trios, Opp 8, 87 and 101; the Horn Trio, Op 40 for violin, horn and piano; three piano quartets, Opp 25, 26 and 60; the Piano Quintet, Op 34; and three string quartets, Opp 51 and 67. Two string sextets, Opp 18 and 36, and two string quintets, Opp 88 and 111, complete the list.

Piano Music

If all the chamber music of Brahms should be heard, the same may be said of his music for piano. Brahms showed a particular talent for the composition of variations, and this is aptly demonstrated in the famous Variations on a Theme by Handel, Op 24, with which he made his name at first in Vienna, and the ‘Paganini’ Variations, Op 35, based on the theme of the great violinist’s Caprice No. 24. Other sets of variations show similar skill, if not the depth and variety of these major examples of the art. Four Ballades, Op 10, include one based on a real Scottish ballad, Edward, a story of parricide. The three piano sonatas, Opp 1, 2 and 5, relatively early works, are less well known than the later piano pieces, Opp 118 and 119, written in 1892, and the Fantasias, Op 116, of the same year. Music for four hands, either as duets or for two pianos, includes the famous Hungarian Dances (often heard in orchestral and instrumental arrangement) and a variety of original compositions and arrangements of music better known in orchestral form.

Vocal and Choral Music

There is again great difficulty of choice when we approach the large number of songs written by Brahms, which were important additions to the repertoire of German Lied (art song). The Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op 52, for vocal quartet and piano duet are particularly delightful, while the solo songs include the moving Four Serious Songs, Op 121, reflecting preoccupations as his life drew to a close. ‘Wiegenlied’ (‘Cradle Song’) is one of a group of five songs, Op 49; the charming ‘Vergebliches Ständchen’ (‘Vain Serenade’) appears in the later set Five Romances and Songs, Op 84, and there are two particularly wonderful songs for contralto, viola and piano, Op 91: ‘Gestillte Sehnsucht’ (‘Tranquil Yearning’) and the Christmas ‘Geistliches Wiegenlied’ (‘Spiritual Cradle-Song’), Op 91, based on the carol ‘Josef, lieber Josef mein’(‘Joseph dearest, Joseph mine’).

Major choral works by Brahms include the monumental A German Requiem, Op 45, a setting of biblical texts; the Alto Rhapsody, Op 53, with a text derived from Goethe; the Schicksalslied (‘Song of Destiny’), Op 54 (a setting of Hölderlin); and a series of accompanied and unaccompanied choral works, written for the choral groups with which he was concerned in Hamburg and in Vienna.